Post by cviller on Jan 20, 2009 9:07:17 GMT -5
Shawn Falkenstein
We may never know what Joe Alexander had in store for us.
The former Mountaineer men's basketball player and current NBA rookie lost his bid to participate in this year's NBA dunk contest. He was one of three rookies vying for the fourth and final spot in the dunk contest next month during NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix.
Portland Trail Blazer rookie Rudy Fernandez, a native of Spain, will become the first international player to participate in the Sprite Slam Dunk competition, beating out Alexander and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook.
More than 500,000 total votes were cast on NBA.com/dunk to determine one of this year's dunkers as part of Sprite's "They Dunk. You Decide" campaign. Fernandez received 251,868 votes, beating out fellow rookies Westbrook (147,279) of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Alexander (114,963) of the Milwaukee Bucks. Fernandez, who is among rookie leaders in scoring, assists, steals, three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage, will compete against the Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard, the reigning Sprite Slam Dunk champion, the Memphis Grizzlies' Rudy Gay, who participated in last year's contest, and the New York Knicks' Nate Robinson, winner of the 2006 contest in Houston.
Alexander put a lot of work into the campaign, cutting several commercials and blogging on seejoedunk.com
The Sprite Slam Dunk competition will be held NBA All-Star Saturday Night Feb. 14, at US Airways Center (8 p.m. ET on TNT) in Phoenix.