Aaron Gordon ready to steal the show . . . again

Aaron Gordon heads to the Dunk Contest with a ton of expectations to top what he did last year. And the personal expectation he can leave his dunking legacy.

Last year, Aaron Gordon was the unknown.

Zach LaVine was the champion. He defeated Gordon’s then-teammate Victor Oladipo, who put up his own gargantuan effort that would have won almost any other year. . . except against LaVine.

The anticipation for LaVine was great. No one was sure who could challenge him.

Gordon’s first dunk — an icebreaking throwback to his McDonald’s All-American Dunk Contest — did not foreshadow what was going to come. LaVine had the early lead and nobody believed anyone else would touch him.

Then the show began. Gordon jumped clean over STUFF, putting the ball between his legs, throwing down the gauntlet.

One-handed scoop 360, taking the ball from STUFF while rotating on a hoverboard? No problem.

Vaulting over the mascot with his legs nearly perpendicular to the ground? He did that in the first try, creating the iconic moment of the 2016 Slam Dunk Contest. The dunk nobody had seen or even imagined beforehand.

Aaron Gordon arrived.

He did not win the Dunk Contest. Zach LaVine had more tricks in his bag — leaping gracefully from the free throw line while throwing in more tricks and variations with the time he had waiting for gravity to take hold. Their battle of power vs. grace was a joy to watch until both ran out of ideas they had prepped for.

But Gordon returned to Orlando from Toronto last February as the People’s Champion. He said the only thing that really changed for him was the number of people coming up to him telling him how he was robbed. Gordon has never suggested he deserved to win last year.

But that loss certainly stuck in the back of his head, it would appear. Gordon had unfinished business.

LaVine is not going to be in New Orleans. The runway is clear for Gordon to win. But that too is not enough.

Gordon is preparing and ready to up the bar this year. The stage belongs to Aaron Gordon this year as he participates in tonight’s Slam Dunk Contest.

Gordon has turned dunking into an art. His art. And he has been waiting for this opportunity and to take the crown home so he can be remembered as one of the greatest dunkers of all time.

"Recently, [Graham] Betchart [Gordon’s personal visualization coach] has been flying to Orlando, and after each practice Gordon will try out a few dunk ideas. When one sticks, he’ll stand on the sidelines and begin visualizing himself inside Smoothie King Center in New Orleans bounding toward the rim, the crowd on its feet. “We do the mental prep. Your brain is so powerful that it doesn’t know the difference between imagining and reality,” Betchart says."

Gordon has indeed been dreaming up something special it would seem. His entrance into this Slam Dunk Contest was not something he decided on a late whim, as he sometimes suggests in press availabilities. He has been thinking about returning and being the dunk champion for some time.

As Gordon often does with his goals, he has been visualizing his dunks and ideas for some time. Ideas like the ones he came up with last year do not just happen.

Everyone would not expect less. Gordon is the favorite to take home the trophy over an inexperienced field of four players Saturday night. But he also has to face expectations. All the pundits and national commentators say Gordon will have to find a way to top what he did last year. And that seems virtually impossible.

A 10 will be harder to get this year for Gordon because his bar is so high. Both he and LaVine made the concept of a ’10’ last year a complete joke. It was assumed they would keep throwing down 10s until the night ended (conspiracy theorists would say Gordon’s final dunk — the double pump — should have been a 10 too).

Yet Gordon remained coy about what he had planned for Saturday’s Dunk Contest in the run up to the show. Everyone will have to wait and see what he can do. And whether he can do the seemingly impossible.

He told reporters, including Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, Friday his goal is to outdo what he did last year.

"“Just being able to one-up myself — that’s what I’m looking to do,” Gordon told reporters Friday in New Orleans. “I’m not looking to play it safe nor maintain. I’m looking to excite and get a whole bunch of 10s on my dunks. It would be nice to come back the second straight year and show people I have more.”"

Gordon is not resting on his laurels. He is not going to show up and expect to win without putting on his best show. Considering some of the highlights from Derrick Jones  in the D-League, Gordon will need his best.

Gordon promises his dunk contest performance this year will be different. It will be technologically driven — rumors of using drones are everywhere.

One thing seems certain, Gordon is ready to put on a show and lay down a legacy of his own. As he told Bleacher/Report, he wants to be known as the greatest dunker of all time. He ingratiated himself with the community of street dunkers, holding his own dunk contest on Long Beach this summer perhaps stealing some ideas and thoughts from professional dunkers.

The only way he can do that is by winning this dunk contest. And by topping what he did last year.

Both are difficult tasks. Tasks Gordon is ready to undertake.

Next: It's time for Aaron Gordon to show out

This time the stage is his. Everyone is eager to see what he can do.