Video / Mar 23, 2010 / 11:00 am

Gerald Green vs. James White: The Best Dunk Contest That Nobody (In America) Saw

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Judging by the headline, you might think that this dunk contest took place back in the early 2000s. Widely known as two of the best dunkers around, Gerald Green and James White never quite made it in the NBA. But nonetheless, the two have resurfaced halfway around the world in Russia, as Green (Lokomotiv Kuban) took on White (Spartak St. Petersburg) in the dunk contest of the Russian Cup. Check out the battle after the jump.

What do you think?

Shout to Ball Don’t Lie for putting us on to this.

Other Dunks You Can’t Miss:
- Amar’e Stoudemire Savagely Dunks On Anthony Tolliver
- Al Horford Delivers Tim Duncan A Facial
- Corey Brewer Posterizes Robin Lopez
- Trey Starks With The Dunk Of The Year
- The Dunk Of The Year Candidate That Nobody Saw

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  • jm

    Damn James White made that foul line dunk look too easy. But seriously this video would have been much better if they replayed each dunk 2 – 3 times, not the 10 replays from every angle possible and half in slow motion.

  • life-p

    Hands downs! Other than the 2000 NBA dunk contest, this is the greatest dunk contest thus far in basketball history!

  • svigi

    Sure, it was better than the NBA version this year but the second greatest goes a little bit too far… In my opinion M.J. vs Dominique was better. But this is relative i guess.

  • isotope

    Yeah, I saw a different video of the contest including the other contestants yesterday. There was one non-American dude that was pretty sick too. It looked like that dude got 2nd place actually but it’s hard to tell without words.

  • Pig

    I’m speechless
    Those guys are crazy..

  • control

    Guy jumps from the fucking free throw line, and STILL has to duck to avoid banging his face on the rim. What the fuck, that is inhuman!

    I wonder how long it is going to be before someone jumps from almost the 3point line. If someone COULD jump from the 3 point line and still dunk (or at least get a good layup), then would that shit be considered a 3 point play or just 2?

  • Chaos

    While Green is more creative, James white athleticism is off the charts!!! are we sure that there isnt any rubber in the floor or the rim is 6 inches too low because he looked like he was flying. two hand double pump from the free throw line?! he moved thr ball around so much he looked like he didnt know what he wanted to do with the ball

  • Kermit The Washington

    That was weird…I looked at the picture at the top of this page, and it totally looks like a screenshot from a Sega Genesis game.

  • fallinup

    Wowza… White didn’t even extend all the way on the free throw line dunk. That was plain sick.

  • isotope

    Here’s the vid I was talking about:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1tK9WSJIYI

    music is horrible though. Horrible.

  • http://dime eyes

    They both should be in the N.B.A. PERIOD. Again dumb scouts,gm’s,coaches alike. Their as talented & useful as anybody in the league. They both could thrive under the right coach & system. Any PG namely Paul,Nash,Kidd,
    Jennings,Billups,Williams could make them a threat on the wings. Athletes like Moon,Thomas,Warrick make for giving your team & fans a extra boost.

    Where do you go if you supposedly can’t cut it in the states because people have no clue. Overseas & star. Hmmmmmmmmm. Yet the overseas player for $$$ reasons mostly are more respected & in demand than the American born players. Something smells fishy. Rubio isn’t better than any european guard in the league now & before. I’m pretty sure D’Mustache thinks he’ll be the savior. NY knicks fans will boo him home. He can’t handle the pressure. I also beg him to play NYC summer ball or Chi or DC. Test out his real man skills. Your a star home. Just not that good over here. I don’t see anything when I watch him play. He’s not even better than Khalid El Amin or Sean Singletary. Thus far Brandon Jennings has been right about his alleged comments.

    James White & Gerald Green would both be perfect for a run & gun style of play. Namely the Suns & Warriors.
    You can’t tell me there aren’t any roster spots in the league for them. They’d be fan favorites & help rekindle that dunk contest fire. Lebron will never participate. Give up already.

    These 2 with Derek Rose,Will Bynum,JrSMith/Josh Smith,D.Howard Domenique,MJ,DR. J,Spudd,DThompson judging the contest. James White has that Vince Factor. Also Taurean Fontennte”Air Up There” has to participate. It would be the most watched & talked about dunk contest ever or to date. Anything is better than that wheel idea. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Might as well have used flash cards. Let basketball minds make basketball decisions. Controlling every outcome or person can’t work. The System will & has failed. Come on guys for the life of everybody else. Turn it around while you can. The money will always be there for everyone. Greed isn’t the answer.

    Lastly the blackballing of athletes by players,coaches & agents has to stop. The Fraternity is getting diluted.

  • sweetv0mit

    its sad this dunk contest was 10x better than the one we previously had…

    some random thing i noticed in the video after reading Austins article:

    Check out the players reaction on the right side at the 3:07 mark. Hmmmmm, makes u think if he is or not

  • isotope

    Pops-mensah-bonsu was also a contestant. Funny how all three players (pops, white, & green) are ex-Rockets.

  • danocasa

    @ eyes

    the reason gerald green and james white arent in the nba isnt because theyre arent adequate enough athletes, its that their basketball IQ, work ethic, and defensive skills arent adequate enough. Not to mention that being able to score in different situations (not just catch alleyoops) is also a necessity for wings. Its not like theyre bigs and are going to negate their offensive ineptitude (and their one on one defensive limitations) by blocking lots of shots and grabbing rebounds. Theyre on the perimeter. Guys like those two are a dime a dozen. Theres no conspiracy theory, they arent in the nba for a reason.

  • YO MOMMA

    gerald green might be the best two-footed dunker in the world in terms of how high he gets and creativity besides maybe the air up there. while james white is without a doubt the best one-footed dunker on the planet (sorry lebron). that double pump from the free throw line was so beautiful to look at, it looked like he was literally flying through the air. he’s unbelieveable. the nba dunk contest sorely needs these two freaks of nature

  • jackass

    james white has been around a long time. he competed in 2000 high school mcdonalds all american dunk contest and he pulled a between the legs from the free throw line out of no nowhere. completely blew my mind. i couldn’t believe my eyes. remind you this was 2 years after kobe bryant pulled a regular between the legs and won the NBA dunk contest.

  • Dan

    on the foul line dunk. that basket had to be lowered. had to be.

  • hadoken

    im just glad that the russians dont let fools get up there and miss a dunk a million times before they get scored. not like gg or flight would ever pull a nate/birdman, i’m just sayin…

  • barons beard

    he does that double pump, 2 handed from the free throw line so easily, it unreal. looks like he could go a few feet back!!

    how sad is it that the Russian dunk contest pisses all over the NBA equivalent? the L needs to see this and have a long hard think about how they can get NBA fans amped about next years contest

  • Kermit The Washington

    James White is the greatest free-throw line dunker in the history of the WORLD.

    Every time I see him do it, I’m like Dan:
    “that basket had to be lowered. HAD to be”

  • http://twitter.com/PoppiGEE POPPI GEE

    NBA should be embarrased with what they had compared to something in what was it RUSSIA?

    Wow!

    That was amazing. To many replays but amazing lol.

  • Kermit The Washington

    @ Poppi Gee:

    The NBA REALLY needs to let TFB up in there.

  • puhhhlease

    kinda anti-climatic when they both miss every dunk at the end… should’ve just cut the clip shorter haha

  • JAY

    @danocasa
    I don’t buy that. I’ve been watching ball since the late 70s-early 80s and have seen the shittiest players on some rosters. Guys who can’t shoot, nor dribble, nor rebound, or defend, or do anything. Milt Palacio is one. Jack Haley is another. I could name a bunch of guys if you had the time. You say there’s a reason why White isn’t in the league… then there must be a reason Milt and Haley in the league?? I can’t see the reason. They were absolute garbage. You could find 1-2 guys on every current roster that you make you wonder why are they in the league. Hell, some players are in the league only because they’re tall. As scouts say, you can’t teach height. The same can be said for freaky athleticism combined with a long reach. Can’t teach it. So why not sign these guys? What is there to lose?
    I disagree with your comment that guys like these are a dime a dozen. How many guys in the NBA can do what White can do? Green is a different story, he had his chances and from what I heard, he rubbed people the wrong way. On the other hand, White has been very professional since college and has been plugging away, trying to catch on with a team long-term but he’s had no luck.
    From your comments I get the impression your saying that scouting is infallible. There are lots of players who fall through the scouting cracks. Then once they land in the league with the right team, they prove they are more than borderline NBA players. Anthony Mason and John Starks were both ABA players who were lucky enough to get their chance. Starks started and Mason was 6th-man of the year for a team that went to the NBA Finals.
    I’m convinced that once White gets into the right situation. He belongs in the L. No doubt in my mind.

  • http://dimemag.com Austin Burton

    It’s not all about talent. When you’re talking about a guy who’s gonna be a 10th-12th man on the roster, talent isn’t as important as intangibles. If White and Green are considered knuckleheads by NBA people — not saying they are, just saying it’s possibly why they don’t have NBA jobs — teams would rather take somebody like Palacio or Haley because they know they’re just gonna show up, do their job, not complain about playing time, not oversleep and miss any flights, etc. Teams will put up with headaches from star players or key rotation guys, but when you’re getting down to the end of the bench, you want a good employee even more than a potentially good player.

  • JAY

    @Austin
    I agree 100%, which is why I said that i understand why Green isn’t in the league anymore. But I’ve been following White since he was a High schooler. I’ve never once heard, or read anything that portrays him as a knucklehead. In facy, I’ve read coaches praising his work ethic and attitude.
    In the same point, Anthony Mason was a knucklehead. Knicks gave him a fair chance. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

  • http://www.twitter.com/all_worlds David Brandon

    damn, james white was killin on that free throw dunk. he took it easy. basically everything control said…

    and AB, i agree w/ you A HUNNIT percent lol

  • http://twitter.com/PoppiGEE POPPI GEE

    DB what up fam! Kermit I agree that would be ill!

    This was very entertaining!

  • JH

    So how many breakaway dunks involving 0 defenders and 90 feet plus of court do you think White would get in the NBA? The kid is amazing…but a dunk contest and NBA play aren’t the same. White should compete for the long jump though – Summer Game Olympics 2012.

  • http://www.lifeofagiant.com Big Aaron

    I love how James White’s jersey looks like it says CRAPTAK on the front.

  • pat

    @JAY

    Yeah, I agree with ya. Sometimes, things just don’t work out. Not every player is given the proper opportunity to prove himself. Honestly, how many ball players are there in our country who try to make it every year. NBA pick up, what, 60 players every draft while we have thousands of young players on the outside looking in? Sometimes, a misjudgment from a scout could make or break a player’s career by being able to make the draft on late second round or not make it at all. I understand that the D-League is for this very purpose where guys who slip through are given a “second chance” but it’s honestly not the same.

    I personally don’t really know what happened to James White as he seemingly keeps bouncing around everywhere, but it’s not like he was never given the opportunity though. He had his chances with the Pacers, Spurs, Rockets and eventually Nuggets. Honestly he traveled, practiced, and played with NBA teams for over 4 years, even getting a ring with Spurs. I just don’t think his game translated well into professional basketball despite having obvious athletic gifts. It’s hard to believe that 4 different sets of NBA Coaches and GMs would give up on White if he was indeed a productive player, which I supposed he isn’t. I mean even in Russia, on his current team, he doesn’t start. I highly doubt the whole WORLD is against him and not letting him play. We all know he is an amazing dunker and possibly best in the world, but I just really don’t think he is that great of a player.

    As with @danocasa’s comment, I think he just wanted to respond to the stupid comment that @eyes made lol.

  • me

    still haven’t seen a true free throw dunk. hard to see the line (if there was one). every one i’ve seen the guy had his foot over the line. this one looks the same.

  • Gerard

    Gerald Green looks like Juvenile with cornrows.

    Who were those judges? I swear I saw Hasselhoff holding up a ’10′

  • http://mykeinthecity.blogspot.com kingmyke23

    had to be good even the Russian judges gave 10s

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