Blazers' Fernandez Is Final Dunk Contestant

By WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

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It’s not exactly on the scale of Barack Obama becoming the first African-American president, but, hey, Portland rookie Rudy Fernandez is breaking ground too!

Yes, the Spaniard has won the fan voting to be the fourth and final contestant in this year’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest on All-Star Weekend in Phoenix. In a first-time balloting by fans, Fernandez earned more than half of the vote (251,868 total) to surpass fellow rookies Joe Alexander of Milwaukee and Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City and become the first international player to compete in the dunk contest.

And, yes, there will be some very unique prop bets available on this and other events for All-Star Weekend (Feb. 14-15) on WagerWeb.com.

Fernandez really is known more for his no-look passing and 3-point shooting, so it will be interesting to see what he has in store. He will be competing against Rudy Gay of Memphis and two past champions, Orlando’s Dwight Howard (2008) and New York’s Nate Robinson (2006). Howard gave this event a huge boost in popularity again with his Superman dunk last year. He will be the huge odds-on favorite when they are released on WagerWeb.com that week.

Fernandez believes he won the voting because he is an international player.

“I think it’s for the dunk in the Olympic Games,” he said. “I have an advantage over Alexander and Russell Westbrook because I played in Europe. Not only in Spain, but Italy. They voted me.”

Fernandez said he has participated in one other slam dunk competition in Europe four years ago, in which he finished second. But Fernandez said he expects the American version of the event to be much more competitive.

“It’s a good experience, but in Spain it’s not like here,” Fernandez said. “I think here there is more competition than in Spain. But, you know, for me, it’s for the fans. The slam dunks, that’s for fans.”

Fans will have the final say in the winner of the event by casting votes by text message or at the NBA Web site.

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