We're still not sure how many millions of dollars Chase Budinger donated so he could enter the dunk contest, but let's be honest: You know he's going to have fun with it. Today, we got our first glimpse of that. If Iman Shumpert can Linject some creativity into his attempts, you'd best believe Budinger will call on Lin's supposed mentor to square the score.
In this unequivocally legitimate piece of unedited, one hundred percent real footage (like that commercial in which a Toyota Tacoma takes down the Loch Ness monster ), Budinger drags a cardboard Yao Ming onto the Toyota Center court, lines himself up and proceeds to dunk over the life-sized cutout, prompting the whitest dunk celebration in dunk history.
Okay, okay, we're pretty sure this was staged, but you can't help but enjoy the sight of a media crew and a rookie trying to sell the thing while Budinger quietly jumps over a seven-foot-sixer in the background. Care for the sobriety check? See the ClutchFans forums, where someone has gone Snopes on the video.
I'm not sure what to expect from Budinger in the dunk contest and I can't seem to convince myself that he'll do any better than, say, Joe Alexander could. But that's not the point. The point is that the Rockets are sending two caucasian Americans to All-Star weekend who play the same position, and the odds of that happening back at the start of the season probably equal the chances Chase could hypothetically clear the real Yao.
"So you're telling me there's a chance...?"