The King has declined

You wouldn't ask Bill Gates to personally defrag your hard drive.
You wouldn't ask Queen Elizabeth II to change a flat tire in the royal motorcade.
You wouldn't ask the President to tie on a "Texans do it better" apron and grill up some bratwursts at your Labor Day picnic (OK, maybe this President you would).
So why would you be offended when LeBron James says "thanks but no thanks" yet again to the most overblown event of the NBA all-star weekend?
For the third straight year, LeBron has declined to participate in the slam dunk contest. And for the third straight year, I say "bravo."
Why should a tremendous all-around talent like LeBron, who performs one or two poster dunks in just about every game, need to cheapen himself and risk injury to display a talent we already know he has?
In previous years, the national media chided LeBron by saying he could save the dunk contest, and was willfully letting the contest wither on the vine by declining to participate.
My answer to that is, the contest isn't worth saving.
Twenty years ago, the dunk contest was uncharted waters. Michael Jordan taking off from the free-throw line was a mind-blowing feat. The victory of 5'-7" Spud Webb in the 1986 contest was a true David-versus-Goliath moment.
Since then, the limits of the contest have been reached ad nauseum. Superstars like Jordan and Dominuque Wilkins have given way to the likes of Harold Miner, Cedric Ceballos and Brent Barry.
We've seen the high-bounce dunk 1,000 times. We've seen the 360 mid-air pirouette 1,000 times. We've seen the free-throw line takeoff 10,000 times.
Through the legs. Off the backboard. The two-ball dunk. It's all been done before.
Unless someone is going to vault a donkey this year, I fail to see where originality is going to play a part.
The slam-dunk contest is beneath LeBron. It's beneath Kobe Bryant. It's beneath Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Dwyane Wade or anybody else you'd pay to see.
The dunk contest has gone from a spectacular show of athleticism to a circus sideshow of tired, overplayed maneuvers. If the NBA finally decides to bury it, I won't shed any tears.
I don't think LeBron will, either. He has signed up to participate in the skills competition during all-star weekend, which is indicative of the type of player he is.
If you've got the whole package, might as well display it all.