Iman Shumpert pulled himself out of Saturday's Dunk Contest because of knee tendinitis, which is both disappointing and relieving, since we wouldn't want him dunking on a knee with tendinitis. One does wonder what he would have done, though, and Marc Berman got a little insight from Shump:
Yes, he and Jeremy Lin had talked about doing a dunk in which Shumpert would vault over a couch ? the symbol of Lin?s humble sleeping conditions.
"He was going to help me out,?? Shumpert told The Post. "Once my knee was so sore, I started thinking about it: ?Am I going to be able to jump over the couch?? All kinds of things to think about.??
Curmudgeon that I am, I'm kind of happy that this didn't happen. For one, we all predicted the move well in advance. For two, it seems unnecessarily Lin-centric. Jeremy was supposed to be a prop, not the protagonist of the dunk! (That Kia Blake Griffin jumped over, which also happens to be named Jeremy, is like "deal with it, bro"). Third...Griffin jumped over a goddamn Kia last year and that wasn't even that cool! Fourth, given the way Shump and his cranky knee had been botching take-offs during games, I'm not totally confident that he would have made it cleanly over the couch. Well, maybe I am, but it still would have been nerve-wracking.
So, I'm kind of relieved that this isn't going down. I worry that it would have invited disappointment or ridicule, and I wouldn't want that for my beloved Shump 'n' Lin. The only thing I'm wondering now is whether the couch would have been facing toward or away from the basket. Or would they have set it up lengthwise!?!? Wait just a second!
