CLEVELAND — Even though he was an afterthought this time around, if the NBA asks DeMar DeRozan to compete in the Slam Dunk Contest again, he’ll do it.
DeRozan’s good friend Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks will take part in the 2011 event in Los Angeles along with the hometown favourite Blake Griffin of the Clippers, Washington centre JaVale McGee and Oklahoma City big man Serge Ibaka.
DeRozan was the runner-up last year, falling to Nate Robinson.
“No they didn’t ask (and) I wasn’t really paying too much mind to it,” DeRozan said prior to his team’s tilt with the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
“(But) it would be fun to do it, it’s at home.”
When queried on whether he would jump in for Jennings, also from Compton, if the point guard is not healthy enough to take part (Jennings is currently out wit a broken foot), DeRozan confidently responded: “Yeah, I’d go. I’ll win it.”
DeRozan said he lost last year’s dunk off because he was not fully confident that his body was 100%.
“There’s a lot of stuff I wanted to do, but I just came off the injury.
“I was kind of timid because my leg was still bothering me,” he said.
DeRozan added he had never lost a dunk contest until falling to Robinson.
