Size doesn't matter, unless you're in the NBA. A place where being the tallest, having the most bounce, agility, athleticism, speed are celebrated. What about heart?? How often is the heart of an NBA revered and remembered??
What about the passion??
Combine the heart and passion with a registered height of 5'7', that's even stretching it, and a listed weight of 133 lbs and yet he was able to play in the NBA for 13 years. In that 13 years, he was able to become a legend that gave undersized ballers hope, and even more than that, this is the same person that WON a slam dunk contest.
While Spud Webb, Anthony Jerome Webb, isn't the shortest player to ever play in the NBA (Mugsy Bogues and Earl Boykins have him beat) it's the fact he won the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest that makes his legend that more legendary.
Webb was drafted in the 4th round by the Detroit Pistons in 1985, but would spend his first 6 years in the league on the Atlanta Hawks. It would be the following year that he would participate in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
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He would go on to surprise the media, amazed his teammate and defending 1985 Slam Dunk winner Dominque Wilkins and bedazzle the audience. Just imagine being the ONLY member of the Slam Dunk contest registering UNDER 6 feet?? It's always a preconceived notion that "shawties" can't dunk, but how Spud proved us all wrong. He would go on to beat Dominque Wilkins and his airness himself, Michael Jordan, with a combination of "two-handed double pump dunk, the one-handed off the backboard one-handed jam, a 360-degree helicopter one-handed dunk, a 180-degree reverse double-pump slam, and finally, the 180-degree reverse two-handed strawberry jam from a lob bounce off the floor."
Twenty years after Webb's victory in the Slam Dunk contest, he used his talents and aided the 5'9" Nate Robinson win the event. Webb tossed the ball to Robinson, who leaped over Webb and dunked, earning 50 points. Robinson went on to become the victory, and in the process, it would make him the first player under six feet to win since Webb.
While it wasn't as much as the dunks themselves, that was so awe inspiring of Spud Webb, but I will say this: How many 5'7" guys, that you know, can dunk in that manner??
I rest my case.
Spud, in the process of bamboozling and hoodwinking his teammate, along with many NBA players, critics, fans, he was able to insert himself into the NBA record books as well becoming a legend.
I think Michael Jordan sums up Spud Webb's 13-year NBA career best in this quote:
"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don't do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results."
-- Michael Jordan
Until next time,
Mrs. NBA
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