James White - Flight Action

We all know that James White can jump. And we all know that he is not the consistent player his Euroleague team may have wished he was. But what our reader Kerem Oktemus send us today was worth to be talked about.

This recent weekend, the Turkish All-Star game took place in front of a sold-out crowd in Istanbul’s Abdi İpekci arena. The organization consisted of the classic All-Star activities, the foreigners vs. the locals, 3-point shootout and the most fun of it all, the Slam Dunk Contest. The foreigners’ team was coached by well known David Blatt, who’s probably having the most dramatic season by any means this year with the ups and downs of Efes. He competed against the domestic team, which was coached by ULEB Cup quarter-finalist Besiktas ColaTurca’s coach Ergin Ataman. Blatt took it home, as Quentin Hosley was chosen the MVP, whilst beating the locals 106-102.

Preston Shumpert and local talent Omer Unver fought for the ‘rainmaker’ title as crowd favorite reached the honors by shooting a lights out performance and collecting 17 points on his way, leaving ULEB Cup’s proficient shooter Preston Shumpert behind.

Well, skipping right ahead to the Slam Dunk contest, the spectators were in for a treat this, rather different from any other dunk contest before. The contestants were James White, who is in no need of any sorts of introduction, Quentin Hosley, the athletic wing player of Karsıyaka, who is on every EL team’s wish list for next year, and Richard Chaney, the league’s quiet jumper. Hosley was eliminated in the first round, and the duel was between White and Chaney for the 10k prize. Chaney came up with a few tricks of his own, but when James’ name was announced, those who had known James before the contest knew it was over. I’m talking about the ’06 NCAA contest, where James ‘Flight’ White raised the bar on dunking just a little when he repeated his favorite dunk in Istanbul for the title.

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