The Memphis Grizzlies raised a lot of eyebrows this off season when they offered Rudy Gay an $80 million extension. Considering he had never been an All Star or led his team to the playoffs that is a whole lot of money for an unproven commodity. While the jury is still out of how prudent that deal was, there is no denying that Rudy Gay has elevated his level of play and is not shying away from the added pressure of being his teams highest paid player.

Gay already having a buzzer beating jumper over Lebron and 30 point effort against the Lakers in this young season. The 4th year player from UCONN, coming off of his World Championship experience this summer, is beaming with confidence. On this play he barely even acknowledges the crazy ass dunk he just pulled off. To be able to dunk while jumping away from the basket on a defender is pretty sick.

On a side note I am not sure what is more impressive: Rudy’s dunk or the fact Zach Randolph was even sober enough to see him cutting to the hole after I am sure was a late night out at Magic City?

JR SMith on the other hand is as frustrating a player as their is in the entire league. He has All world physical attributes, and teenage rapper mentality. He has unlimited range on his 3 pointer, and underrated handle and obviously some ridiculous springs. So why does he back up UCLA legend (Bill Walton voice) Aaron Affalo? BEcause Aaron plays defense and does not attempt And 1 mixtape passes, or take off balance 3 pointers with 18 seconds on the shot clock.

But at the same time when he gets it going Denver is an entirely different animal. You already know Melo is one of the 2 or 3 best scorers in the world. Chauncey is gonna space the floor, hit open 3′s and make all his free throws. Nene now fully healed from cancer, is a borderline All Star. But Smith can give you 15 in a half a quarter as fast as anyone playing today. And do it so effortlessly. So even on those nights where George Karl wants to strangle him, he has to live with the immaturity in order to get explosive game changing plays like this:

Which dunk is better?