The dunk contest has lost much of its flare recently as it is no longer the marquee event among all sports All-Star festivities, but there is still something about NBA athletes flying through the air with the greatest of ease that brings out excitement.

While this contest should feature the NBA’s greatest superstars, instead featuring guys who barely get off the bench, it should be an entertaining contest nonetheless.

With that being said, let’s look at the odds for each participant to win the contest (odds via Bovada Sports Book).

Jeremy Evans, Utah Jazz (8-to-1)

Evans won last year’s dunk contest. The event has changed from a real dunk contest to a who can use more props contest.  Evans has experience at doing that, so he can’t be counted out. But with the fans voting, the guys who see the floor and the guys in the bigger markets likely have more of a chance than the little used Evans. But despite his lack of playing time he is a tremendous athlete who can leap. My gut feeling is that there is no repeat title for Evans.

Kenneth Faried, Denver Nuggets (8-to-1)

Faried is simply a beast. He will bring power and energy to the dunk contest. However as I mentioned before, things like power are being overlooked for things like props. Ultimately that could hurt Faried’s chances. But he is a guy that is fun and a player the fans like, so the “Manimal” is a definite sleeper.

Eric Bledsoe, Los Angeles Clippers (5-to-1)

At only 6’1″, Bledsoe could be the best pure athlete in this contest, which gives him a chance. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan get all of the attention in Los Angeles as great dunkers, but Bledsoe is as good if not better. Fans like the little guy so Bledsoe will have a chance to win. I’m sure a former dunk contest winner like Griffin is in his ear helping him come up with something spectacular.

Terrence Ross, Toronto Raptors (4-to-1)

The rookie has developed a reputation as a great dunker already. He brings athleticism and power to the table, as Ross dunks with more power than most guards typically do. Ross is an exciting player, but does he have enough fanfare so early in his career to win this thing?

Gerald Green, Indiana Pacers (7-to-2)

I agree with the odds here, as judging by the people involved, a final two that include Green and James White should produce some pretty exciting stuff. Green hasn’t lived up to the hype of being a former first round pick, but the guy can flat out soar through the air and is one of the better  pure dunkers in the game today. Few can match White’s ability to fly, but Green is certainly one of them.

James White, New York Knicks (5-to-4)

White is the overall favorite and New York City has his back. He can soar and adds a lot of flair to his dunks, which should make him the favorite. If this were an old school dunk contest, White would win, but because it is a prop-fest, he may not stand a chance, especially since he has already said he won’t be using any.

White and Green are the two best pure dunkers in this group and it should come down to them dunking against each other, but that likely won’t be the case.

In today’s day and age of dunking, all that matters is who can use the most props.

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On TNT’s pregame broadcast earlier this evening, it was announced that Steve Novak would represent the East in the Footlocker Three-Point Contest, and James White would participate for the East in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.

This year’s contests will go in a different direction. In each competition, the Eastern and Western Conferences will have three representatives on their “teams”. All six players will compete the opening stages, and for the final stage, one player (based on highest score) will represent each conference to compete head-to-head.

Steve Novak’s teammates in the Three-Point Contest will be Paul George of the Indiana Pacers and Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The West will be represented by Ryan Anderson of the New Orleans Hornets, Matt Bonner of the San Antonio Spurs, and Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Novak is second in the bunch in three-point percentage at 44%, behind only Steph Curry.

November 20, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; New York Knicks shooting guard James White (4) dunks against the New Orleans Hornets during the fourth quarter of a game at the New Orleans Arena. The Knicks defeated the Hornets 102-80. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

James “Flight” White will have solid competition as well. The East will also be represented by Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors and Gerald Green of the Indiana Pacers. The West will have Jeremy Evans of the Utah Jazz, Eric Bledsoe of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets. It’s possible that the East has the top three dunkers in the whole competition, and the new format unfortunately eliminates the chances of seeing Green and White go head to head. White, though the oldest of the group, earned the nickname “Flight” with good reason.

All-Star weekend just got a lot more interesting for Knicks fans.

Jason Kidd is the latest New York Knicks player that is sidelines with an injury, as the 39-yer old guard is officially out Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic with a sore lower back.

Jan 11, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks point guard Jason Kidd (5) during the third quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden. Chicago won 108-101. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

James White will be in the starting lineup in Kidd’s absence and will start alongside Raymond Felton, Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler.

Kidd only played five minutes Sunday’s win against the Atlanta Hawks after only playing 15 Saturday in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Knicks’ head coach Mike Woodson planned on lowering Kidd’s minutes once Raymond Felton and Iman Shumpert returned, but this isn’t the way he likely preferred to do it.

The future Hall of Famer missed four games earlier in the season with back spasms, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here as it looks like Kidd is just sore and will be given the night off. It looks as if he could be good to go Friday night against Milwaukee.

White gets the start because he is athletic and a good defender, but Kidd’s leadership will be missed as he is very tough to replace.

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Their rankings are based on votes from 104 “experts,” as they rate each player on a 0-to-10 scale, in terms of “the current quality of each player.”

On a bit of a comical note, former New York Knicks center Eddie Curry checked in as the worst player in the NBA at No. 500.

Let’s take a look at the first Knicks’ player on the list in forward James White, who had an overall score of 1.89 in the rankings. For comparison purposes, I’ll note that Xavier Silas checked in just ahead of White and Donald Sloan came in just after.

One of the first moves the Knicks made this offseason was to sign the athletic White, who played the past two seasons in Italy. While there, he became one of the best scorers in Lega Basket Serie A- the highest level of basketball in Italy. White led the league in 2011, averaging 21.0 points per game and finished third last season, averaging 17.7.

White adds some athleticism to the Knicks rotation as he’s known as a high flyer and pretty much just a dunker, but he worked on becoming more of a complete player the past two seasons.  He proved he could adjust to two different offensive styles in Italy, but he also averaged about five rebounds, three assists and two steals per game.

He is expected to be a spark off the bench for the Knicks this season, with his athleticism to draw fouls and defensive abilities against multiple positions, but didn’t show many signs of that during Summer League play in Las Vegas.

White has some NBA experience, he was a member of the Spurs and Rockets during the 2006-07 and 2008-09 seasons, respectively, but he only played in a total of 10 games, averaging 5.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

I don’t expect much out of White off the bench this season as the Knicks are a very deep team even without him, but with a bench that is up there in age, coach Mike Woodson could fall in love with his athleticism. If White could show signs of producing early on, he could turn into a pretty nice find.

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However, despite the winless trip to Vegas, it wasn’t a total loss as the franchise got a look at evaluating several young players.

July 17, 2012; Las Vegas, NV, USA; New York Knicks player Chris Copeland (14) in the first half of the game against the Denver Nuggets at Cox Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

Here’s a look at how the eight guys who played the most performed.

James White: Let’s start with the two guys on the Knicks roster for next season. white is a fantastic athlete, but that doesn’t always make you a good basketball player. He showed that in Vegas.

White did average 4.3 rebounds per game, but he shot the ball miserably, connecting only 29 percent of the time. He scored only four points in his first two games, but ended up scoring 11 against the Denver Nuggets, but did so shooting only 4-of-12 from the floor. Grade: D

Chris Copeland: I liked what I saw from Copeland and he’s also signed to the Knicks for the 2012-13 season. He averaged  13.6 points per game, shooting 47.3 percent from the floor and also knocked down an impressive 41.7 percent of his shots from behind the arc.

He scored 17 points on two different occasions and was the only Knicks player who played in at least three games to average double figures in scoring. Grade: B+

Jeremiah Rivers: Well he’s not as good as his brother Austin, that’s for sure. He  shot only  38.5 percent from the field and scored only 3.5 points per game in 17 minutes of action per game. Grade: D-

Chris Smith: J.R.’s brother wasn’t very impressive either, averaging only 5.2 points and 1.4 assists per game. In addition, he shot only 29 percent from the floor and  62.5 percent at the free-throw line. Grade: D-

Mychel Thompson:Thompson was overall very unimpressive in Vegas. He averaged only 5.6 points per game and grabbed 3.4 rebounds per game shot only 32.1 percent from the floor.

Thompson did do a little on the defensive end, recording three steals in a game against Denver. Grade: C-

Artsioum Parakhouski: Parakhouski went to Radford and doesn’t have exceptionally great size at 6’9″, but he opened up my eyes as much as anyone during the Knicks five game stretch.

He shot 58.2 percent from the field and averaged 8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Unlike the rest of the unrestricted free agents that were on this team, I can see some team inviting Parkhouski to training camp. Grade: B+

Wesley Witherspoon: The Memphis product looked pretty good through three games, averaging 12.5 points per game through the Knicks first three contests. However he went scoreless in the fourth game vs. Toronto and scored only three points in the finale against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Grade: C

Mustapha Farrakhan: To say Farrakhan was not impressive would be kind. He had the same amount of turnovers as assists (1.8 per game). He showed no ability to run an offense consistently and shot the ball very poorly throughout. Grade: D

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Well, there is one clear way to move past all the uncertainty, and that’s by forecasting. At this point in time, I think Knicks fans are split down the middle on the Jeremy Lin situation. Some are willing to move forward without the dynamic point guard, while others still believe matching the offer is the best course of action for the team. Me? Personally, I understand both sides of the story. I’m totally going to remain on the fence. You can convince me to choose a side, but until you do, I’ll let the pundits do what they do best, which is letting their opinions be known

For me, I’m more obsessed with trying to figure out how Mike Woodson is going to play the pieces he does have. Just what will his rotation look like moving forward in 2012-13?

Keep in mind, Iman Shumpert is likely to miss the beginning of the season after having knee surgery during the 2012 Playoffs. So, for the sake of this article, he will start the season on the end of the bench, and we will look at who will be in orange and blue come opening night.

The Starters - 

Point Guard – Jason Kidd – 2011-12 numbers: 6.2ppg, 5.5apg, 4.1rpg, 36.3 FG%, 28.7mpg (with Dallas Mavericks)

Kidd was brought on to be the stabilizing force in the Knicks rotation. He has played with a wide variety of players, and has historically been a winner in his career. Many believe Kidd will find the perfect balance between getting Carmelo Anthony his touches, while re-energizing Amar’e Stoudemire’s game inside. Add in the fact that Kidd is still a sharp-shooter from deep (35.9% from 3 last year), J-Kidd should be able to provide the defense and leadership while playing crunch time minutes for the Knicks.

Shooting Guard – J.R. Smith – 2011-12 numbers: 12.5ppg, 2.4apg, 3.9rpg, 40.7 FG%, 27.6mpg

Smith slides into a starting spot for the Knicks because of the injury that will sideline Shumpert at the beginning of the season. Smith’s going to be destined for the Sixth Man on this team, as he is the perfect Irrational-Confidence-Guy that can come off the bench and score in bunches. He’s a bit of a dead end as far as ball movement goes, but I think a full year with the team and practicing with the regulars, he should be able to find his niche easily.

Small Forward – Carmelo Anthony – 2011-12 numbers: 22.6ppg, 3.6apg, 6.3rpg, 43.0 FG%, 34.1mpg

This may be the make-or-break season for ‘Melo. The Nets are talking a big game in Brooklyn, and he’s already called the contract Jeremy Lin received from Houston “ridiculous”. At times, the media blamed a lot of the Knicks problems last season on Carmelo’s play. This will be his first true full-season in MSG, and he has a lot of proving wrong to do in order to restore the shine on his star.

Power Forward – Amar’e Stoudemire – 2011-12 numbers: 17.5ppg, 7.8rpg, 1.0bpg, 48.3 FG%, 32.8mpg

A lot of people have been critical of Amar’e's play last season. I’ve gone as far to say that if the Knicks still had their amnesty clause, there would have to be some serious consideration about using it on Stoudemire. He seemed worn out by playing D’Antoni minutes in the two season he’s been a Knick, and battled injury after injury last year. The best news for STAT, the Knicks have a lot more depth inside that will spell him minutes he doesn’t need to be on the floor. I’m very eager to see what STAT has to offer next season. He will be the X-Factor for determining how high the Knicks can climb.

Center – Tyson Chandler – 2011-12 numbers: 11.3ppg, 9.9rpg, 1.4bpg, 67.0 FG%, 33.2mpg (2011-12 Defensive Player of the Year)

Chandler was the anchor for the Knicks inside. He led the defensive renaissance the Knicks experienced after Mike D’Antoni was let go. He will be expected to do more of the same on defense next year, but will get more help from the players the Knicks have added this off-season. The team didn’t anticipate the things he did on offense last year, and will likely continue to work under the notion that Chandler is in town for key rebounds, blocked shots, disruption on defense and easy put back slams. Anything more would be, well, unfair.

Sixth Man – Raymond Felton – 2011-12 numbers: 11.4ppg, 6.5apg, 2.5rpg, 40.7 FG%, 31.8mpg (with Portland Trail Blazers)

The big question moving forward post-Lin will be which point guard starts for the Knicks. My guess is Kidd will get the starting assignments, but Felton will play more minutes. Felton can flex to play shooting guard alongside Kidd at times, and will head the second unit at the point. Felton averaged career-best numbers when he was in New York for half a season playing alongside Amar’e before being part of the Carmelo package. I don’t know if Felton will ever reach that high again, but I fully expect him to put up better numbers than he did last season, even if he sees a dip in playing time.

Bench – C Marcus Camby – 2011-12 numbers: 4.9ppg, 9.0rpg, 1.4bpg, 44.6 FG%, 22.9mpg (with Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets)

Camby is going to give the Knicks something they haven’t had in a very long time, a true back-up big. Playing Jared Jeffries off the bench as their main big had put the Knicks at serious disadvantages in critical moments in big games. Having Camby gives the Knicks a huge security blanket if Tyson Chandler gets into foul trouble. While there is still a drop off defensively from Camby to Chandler, it isn’t as evident as it was last year from Chandler to Jeffries. Having a second 7-footer on the team is a huge addition.

Bench – F Steve Novak – 2011-12 numbers: 8.8ppg, 1.9rpg, 47.8 FG%, 47.2 3-pt%, 18.9mpg

Outside of Jeremy Lin, Novak was the biggest surprise the team had last season. He led the league in 3-pt percentage, and hit some critical shots from the corner when the team needed them most. There were games where he was just lights out and would put up 15-20 points off the bench almost exclusively from beyond the arc. He isn’t much of a defender, but has the flexibility to play both the 3 and 4. With players like Landry Fields and Jared Jeffries no longer with the team, Novak is likely to see some more minutes next year and play a bigger role in the offense.

Bench – G James White – 2011-12 numbers: spent the season in Europe

White was called one of the most athletic players in the Euro leagues last year and he will see some minutes early in the season, especially before Shumpert is healthy. We know he’s super athletic, but we’re not certain how his game will translate to the NBA. I don’t think anyone is expecting him to perform like Landry Fields did, or even Bill Walker in spurts last year. But, that’s not what the Knicks need. All they need is a player that provides significant depth to the bench and can hold his own defensively.

Bench – F/C Kurt Thomas – 2011-12 numbers: 3.0ppg, 3.5rpg, 0.6bpg, 46.5 FG%, 15.2mpg (with Portland Trail Blazers)

Thomas is here to stabilize the locker room and serve as a mentor to Amar’e Stoudemire. His role on the team will be seen more off the court than on it, but he is going to be very important to the coaching staff. I’m excited to have him back in town, and he’s another big body the Knicks have in case of injury.

Bench – PG Pablo Prigioni – 2011-12 numbers: played last season in Argentina

Prigioni is, uhm, a very old rookie. The Knicks front office clearly sees value in adding him to the end of the bench, and he is very experienced as far as leading an offense. I’m uncertain what he’s going to provide to the team, but its going to be worth watching.

Injured – G Iman Shumpert – 2011-12 numbers: 9.5ppg, 2.8apg, 3.2rpg, 40.1 FG%, 28.9mpg

Shumpert burst onto the scene towards the end of last season, playing critical end-of-game minutes. He’s proven to be a top class perimeter defender that can hold his own against some of the league’s best. The Knicks desperately needed his presence last year during the playoffs. Once they lost Shump, any hopes of them knocking off the Heat went out the window. He’s a huge part of the Knicks present and future, really the only young, controllable player the Knicks have on roster. He is going to get better the more he plays, and he should be in the starting rotation once he returns to health. How he continues to develop his game will determine a lot about the team.

Berman tweeted the following about the signing and wrote (vis Sulia):

Prominent agent just spoke to never heard of forward James White, who has played in Italy last two seasons with Dinamo Sassari and VL Pesaro. White is a scorer, led Serie A in 2010-11 with 20.2 ppg. He averaged 17.1 ppg last season. He’s played 10 NBA games, with Spurs and Rockets. Understand Glen Grunwald loves Knicks Euro scout Kevin Wilson. Which is why I think they make offer also to Spanish League PG Pablo Prigioni.

White spent last season playing for Scavolini Pesaro of Serie A, whom he helped to the playoff semi-finals as a starter. He stands at 6’7″ and 200 lbs. and should bring some athleticism to the team as a player who once appeared in the NCAA College Slam Dunk Contest.

White played his freshman year at the University of Florida in 2001–02 helping the Gators to a 22–9 record. He saw action in all but two games, making a pair of starts and averaged 20.5 minutes of playing time. He posted averages of 6.1 points and 2.9 rebounds.

He transferred to the University of Cincinnati, and after sitting out in 2002–03, he became a starter for the Bearcats in his three years with them, including his senior year when he averaged 16.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks.

White has outstanding athleticism and leaping abilities, earning himself the nickname “Flight White,” thanks to his high-flying dunks.

White is actually an NBA champion, despite having only played in 10 career games, as he spent his rookie season with the 2007 world-champion San Antonio Spurs. During those 10 career games, White averaged 5.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game in only 14.8 minutes.

The Knicks will hope White can provide some rebounding off the bench, especially with the potential loss of Landry Fields, who signed a three-year offer sheet with the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.

With the Knicks having only the taxpayer exception of $3.09 million and the bi-annual exception of $1.96 million to spend this offseason, they will have to look into more moves like these will be needed to fill out the roster.

The next in line to make his way to New York could be Argentinian point guard Pablo Prigioni, who could become the third point guard on the team.

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