A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I remember watching a dunk contest on a cold February evening. I was watching with someone unfamiliar with the history of the contest who didn’t really understand the treasured legacy of between-the-legs dunks — passed down from Isaiah “Don’t Call Me J.R.” Rider to Kobe “I Have a Shaved Head” Bryant to Vince “It’s OVA” Carter to Jason “The Undisputed Through-The-Legs Master” Richardson. (It was a girl, so let’s give her a pass on not knowing all this stuff.)

The excitement of the contest had been revived by Vince Carter a few years earlier, and even though J-Rich was utterly amazing the prior two contests while winning back-to-back dunk titles, he was never all that compelling from a showmanship standpoint, and it was getting to the point where it seemed like he actually might be out of new dunks, happily resigned to just do through-the-legs stuff from different angles. My expectations weren’t anywhere near as low as they were for, say, Nate Robinson in his third contest, but my thought process was sort of similar: “Great dunker, but what else can this guy actually do that I haven’t seen?”

As I was trying to explain all this to the lady — who was either surprisingly interested or just a great actress — I vividly recall saying “This guy might be the second-best dunk-contest dunker of all time, but you probably just saw everything he can do in the pre-contest highlights. I mean, unless he throws the ball off the backboard and puts it through-the-legs … Hahahahaha.”

I was laughing at the time because this seemed entirely preposterous.

Given the cyborg-like athleticism we have seen from LeBron and Dwight Howard in recent years, this possibility might not seem as absurd now as it did at the time (then again, no one has done it since either…). But in 2004, the concept of a human being having enough hangtime and dexterity to (1) through the ball off the glass, (2) catch it, (3) put it through his legs, and (4) then dunk just did not seem possible without a trampoline.

Sure enough, Jason did it.

And he did it easily.

And I lost my s***.

Jason would go on to miss a dunk in the finals and lose the contest to Fred Jones. But no one cares nor remembers that that happened. All they remember is J-Rich’s off-the-glass, through-the-legs dunk, which remains near the top of the conversation for best dunk-contest dunk of all time.

Given the fact that J-Rich is a guy who literally re-defined what I thought was possible in a dunk, it was with much flabbergastedment, disbelief and sadness that I watched what transpired in the final minute of yesterday’s Suns/Spurs game. I think I went through all five stages of grief in about a minute.

I’ll let our friend at Basketbawful break down exactly what happened:

There is a long and storied history of bizarre incidents preceding a Suns loss to the Spurs. Like the time Joe Johnson busted his face. Or the time Steve Nash busted his face. Or the time Robert Horry body-slammed Nash and thereby caused a dual suspension that swung a playoff series. Then, of course, there was Tim Duncan’s three-pointer.

Now we have a new entry into the Suns-Spurs lore, as Jason Richardson — a two-time NBA Slam Dunk Champion, by the way — blew a game-tying dunk with about 42 seconds left in the fourth quarter. And not just any dunk. It was an uncontested breakaway dunk. Two-time slam dunk champ!!

Two-time slam dunk champ and redefiner of my dunking dreams.

Did the following. In crunch-time.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go bludgeon myself with The Book of Basketball.

Don’t get all worked up, this post has nothing to do with HP.

The last few seasons have felt like we were simply adorning an already established base with additional decorations. Kevin Durant. Derrick Rose. A few re-alignments: Brand goes to Philly, Baron goes to LA, the Lakers re-establish themselves as the best franchise in basketball. There was movement at the top, but no major shifts in the NBA globe, so to speak.

The continents were the same, we just had population shifts, if you think about it.

Now, though, we’re looking at a re-alignment of the way this NBA Universe works. It’s not unexpected or unheard of, it occurs fairly regularly, just as the 2004 class established itself over a two year period, we’re seeing a different kind of shift, and the time period of last June through this upcoming August should leave us with some violent changes, if not any variations on the overall theme: LAKERS WIN.

The upcoming free agency has a lot to do with it; even if two of the big three stay where they’re at (LeBron, Wade, Bosh), that still leaves a mountain of players looking for greener pastures in an uncertain environment loaded with money and a looming CBA restructuring. The development of some players has to do with it in part. We watch Kevin Durant and obviously see this middle-child of excellence, so to speak. But there’s also the possibility of Oden bouncing back (again), and players like Luc Richard Mbah A Moute and Andrew Bogut coming into their own roles, Dwight Howard being the dominant center, and Derrick Rose entering the top levels. There’s some fade going on as well, with Baron Davis being the least relevant he maybe has ever been, Iverson close to fading out due to his family’s health problems, McGrady looking like a shell of himself, the uncertainty Yao, and Elton Brand being nothing more than a footnote.

But this draft class has more to do with it than any of us thought. A class many regarded as “terrible,” has turned out to be sensational. Seemingly every game you see a player that makes an impact. It’s managed to not only be top-heavy, but deep.

Evans is a revelation, and even if his ROY is challenged by Collison/Curry, he’s still had more of an overall impact on his team than either one. He’s a complete player, effective on both sides of the ball, and a constant threat that has the ball in his hands all the time, and with a worse core than either one. After all, the Hornets aren’t talking about trading CP3 this summer, and the Warriors… well, let’s just leave that wasps’ nest be, shall we?

But this isn’t to say those two haven’t been phenomenal. Curry has stunned me with his passing acuity. I thought he’d fail at this level, being primarily a shooting guard with low vertical, watching his shot be blocked at every turn and getting beat up by larger players. In that respect, maybe it’s a blessing that he landed on terrible Golden State. The freewheeling style plays to his strengths, but it also keeps him out of physical situations which could impact him. His passing is leaps and bound s above what I anticipated, and he’s looking like instant-offense, even in the context of a “add water and mix” offensive system. Collison? Collison is a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. The turnovers are horrendous, no doubt. But his speed and shooting touch simply shred the other team. Watching him, I look like I’m trying to deal with some sort of epileptic seizure-inducing film. It’s almost painful to see how good this kid is, baseline to baseline.

This is before we get to Casspi’s playmaking ability, Harden’s fit in OKC, Serge Ibaka being the big we all thought OKC needed, Ty Lawson breaking the sound barrier on a regular basis, DeMar DeRozan flying through the air, Brandon Jennings being part of a possibly playoff-bound Bucks, Jeff Teague adding significant minutes, Taj Gibson being better than anyone expected, Beaubois looking like a potential DPOY in four years, Marcus Thornton, Jonas Jerebko, Jonny Flynn, Hansbrough when healthy, or Eric Maynor.

And don’t even get me started on Blair.

The Thunder may be shifting what we look at as “how to build through the draft.” I’ve argued that Presti may be taking Pritchard’s prototype and improving on it, simply by not improving on the team with veterans. The Nets and Knicks: one of them will come out of this summer with tremendous potential for contention. The Magic have shook the previously held ideas about what a defensive team looks like. And the Celtics have set an impossible quandary with “Should you sell out your future for a thirty second shot at glory?” question.

We’re in a new era, and the future is more uncertain than ever. There’s a lot of fear (CBA) to go along with the excitement (new paradigms on contention-building), but we’re remiss if we don’t take a second to absorb the whole amount of change we’ve seen in this sport. We have a New King, a potential new Dynasty (LA), and new pillars of greatness (Durant, Rose, potentially Evans if he doesn’t fall), and in a year, a new CBA. The times they are a changin’.

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Which corresponds with some other changes I want to touch on, that are phenomenally cool.

I haven’t really talked much about it, but I think it’s worth mentioning the awesome work being done by Kurt Helin at one of my other shops, PBT. Kurt ran the best Lakers blog on the planet for 5 years, and has brought the same high level of discussion and style to NBC sports. That Helin has been granted that kind of an opportunity shows that quality is being rewarded, and that we will probably be able to see more and more blog authors producing terrific content with an actual voice through major portals in the future. Throw in Mahoney and Krolik being the young guns laying in their usual brilliance in shorter doses, and you have a hell of a team over there. Plus, I get to get called a moron 25 times every weekend,which is pretty fun. (Side note: Paroxi-Wife: “I do not think I like Lakers fans. They are mean to you.” Me: “I’m mean to them, honey. I’m mean to them.”  Also funny? Five days a week we’re “biased towards LA” and on the weekend we’re “nothing but a bunch of Laker-haters.”)

Bethlehem Shoals returned to FanHouse, and I have to say, as a longtime reader of FD, I think the style at FH fits him amazingly well (and SN has found a prolific replacement). I write over at FH as well, and can tell you that it’s stunning to be able to have my work next to Tom Ziller, Bethlehem Shoals, Brett Pollakoff, Matt Watson, Will Brinson, Rob Peterson, Chris Tomasson, and Tim Povtak. It’s an incredible lineup over there, and instead of waiting until I’m gone for whatever reason, I think it’s important to note now how much I think of their work. There’s a balance at FH that’s difficult to duplicate. Matt Watson doesn’t get nearly enough credit publicly for the job he’s done there, balancing a new style, format, and approach with the blog-style that made FanHouse famous. So just know, Watson kills it. And there has to be kudos to FanHouse for bringing in Shoals to do what he does, riff on the NBA in a style that at once cuts to the heart of the matter and flies wildly over your head. And having he and Ziller next to each other is like teaming LeBron and Wade. You’re just in awe.

This is before we get to the great work being done at SBNation.com, which is building a new type of portal with what I feel is one of if not the best content integration I’ve seen from any network-type site on the planet. They have a tremendous crew over there, featuring Mike Prada, and Andrew Sharp, and with Seth Pollack managing the NBA blogs, that’s a simply fierce alignment of team-centric work.

This is also before we talk about all the great young talent out there. John Krolik and Rob Mahoney freelancing various places. Holly MacKenzie who continues to be one of the most marketable personalities in the blogosphere, and it has very little to do with her being a woman. Jared Wade, Zach Harper, both of whom you’ll recognize from this site and others. It’s been just a little over a year since I started to read those two, and I’m constantly blown away by both their talent, and ability to connect with people (read: I am insanely jealous of their popularity).

This is before we start to talk about the TrueHoop Network, and how much it’s grown under Henry and Kevin, and all the bloggers they’ve brought on board. THN provides content you really can’t get elsewhere, an attempt to bring insight, humor, and a passion for the game into every post. We’re doing something which hasn’t been before in NBA circles, bringing blog-coverage to a major platform affiliation and working to combine the two. It’s an incredible opportunity, and given the support, you’re seeing great work out of everyone in the network, particularly Kyle Weidie, Rahat, and Graydon, Tim, and the new guys, just to name a few (and to leave out a ton of great talent). That HP is a part of that, I’m pretty grateful, and excited for our future.

Finally, there’s been a new change, announced today, that I want to cover. Ball Don’t Lie has been a daily part of my blog-life since its inception, and I was thrilled when Dwyer was given his chance to kill it daily there, and even more thrilled when they brought in Skeets to run the blog-version of pick and roll with him. Skeets has been a valued supporter of this blog and a solid bro since I met him. That he and Tas are getting the opportunity they’ve worked so hard for is more heartwarming than that show I watched about the one-legged puppy getting adopted. They built a product, not just a name, and they’re taking what they’ve built, this original creation, to the next level. Cheers, mates.

Which brings me to the interim editor, Trey Kerby ,who you may recognize from such films as “The Morning Bell” and “Chill Out, Juwan Howard.” I consider myself lucky to call Trey, one of the funniest, goofiest, most-awesomest bros around a friend, and I’m thrilled for this opportunity for him. I know he’ll do great things, be it in the short-term or the long-term. It’s an amazing opportunity, one Trey and I used to talk about after some epic BDL live-chats back in the day. Seeing him succeed is just good vibes. Plus, we get more Brad Miller (I have suggested multiple times this morning that the blog be renamed ‘Brad Don’t Lie’ to no avail).

Being a part of this community is incredible, and unless specifically limited by something legally in the future, I won’t stop linking to great work, wherever I see it. The internet’s big enough for all this great talent to have a home, a readership, a subscription, and in a time of uncertainty in every walk of life, it’s good to know there will always be voices to entertain us, to inform us, to shed a little light on things like Danny Granger’s batcave or how much Vince Carter sucks.

To make a long story short (TOO LATE), the internet is awesome. Embrace the future, people. Go read some blogs.

This wouldn’t be cheap. I spoke with an NBA executive who estimated it would cost the franchise anywhere from $3 million to $10 million to rebrand the team. There are so many signs and logos that would have to be replaced, and any pre-existing merchandise gets deeply discounted or thrown away. (Example: You could have bought an Adam Morrison jersey REALLY cheap last March.)

By the way — that same NBA insider who estimated the cost at $3-$10 million said it would be money well spent.

via Inside the NBA: Should “Bobcats” name depart, too?.

Bonnell followed up on what was apparently an avalanche of reader comments about ditching the woeful “Bobcats” moniker.

It’s a horrid name for a professional basketball team. I’m a guy that likes new stuff. I think most of the classics are ridiculous. The Celtics aren’t pronounced right, you don’t talk about the lakes in LA, and there is no music in Utah. So I fully support going with something new. But you have to make sure it doesn’t, quite frankly, suck. And the Bobcats? That sucks.

I had never made the connection with Bob Johnson as a reason for the adaptation, and that makes it even worse. Maybe they should just rename them the Mikecats. That sounds like some sort of middle-European mountain cat, but whatever, that’s exactly what I think of when I see Boris Diaw. That and Cheetos.

I’m a D-League guy. And I like a lot of the D-League names, and feel that they have more connection with the local culture and/or are more awesome than most of the NBA names (Reno Bighorns, Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Iowa Energy), but the Bobcats reek of a D-League team.

The money definitely doesn’t warrant such a move in these financial times directly after a sale in a small-market that was struggling to just stay afloat. But it’s something to think about going forward.

WALLACE! DIAW! AUGUSTINE! IT’S THE MIKECATS, ON ESPN!