2013 Slam Dunk Contest: Jeremy Evans will defend title against Green, Bledsoe, Ross, Faried, and James White

Utah’s Jeremy Evans — the human pogo stick — will be back to defend his All-Star weekend Sprite Dunk Contest title.

But a repeat will not be easy because the NBA has lined up some high flyers to step up to challenge him — Gerald Green of the Pacers, James White of the Knicks, Eric Bledsoe of the Clippers, Terrence Ross of the Raptors, and Kenneth Faried of the Nuggets. It all takes place All-Star Saturday night, Feb. 16 — and on paper this should be fun.

A lot of casual fans will look at the lineup and shrug. Who are these guys? The six participants lack the star power the league would love — LeBron James has said no, and Blake Griffin is not going to try and top himself — but if you follow the game you know these guys may be the best choices for this event. Guys like White and Green are dunk contest legends in other venues.

Then there is Evans, the little used Jazz forward (he’s stuck behind a good and deep front line) but is tall and skinny and jumps out of the building. He won it all last year with this dunk.

He’s going to have to top himself this year because there are some smaller guys who can get up — and little guys dunking usually beats big guys dunking.

That starts with Indiana’s Gerald Green, the 6’8″ forward who was built for this competition. He may have the best hops in the NBA — he can get his entire head over the rim. He has put together a collection of monster dunks in the past year or so, here is a personal favorite.

James “Flight” White is another guy where fans watching at home on TNT may say “who?” but who people who follow the game go “oh yes, nice choice.” White has bounced around the NBA and Europe since 2006 and he’s still getting paid because he is a freak athlete. And freak athletes can dunk the rock. White won a D-League dunk contest, he won one when he played in Russia, and he’s a plague all over YouTube with dunks. Here White is winning a dunk contest in Europe last season.

Finally there is Eric Bledsoe, who can get overlooked in the Lob City show with the Clippers but who can get up and throw down with the best of the guards in the league. Everybody likes his dunks… well, except Mark Cuban in this clip. And really, Cuban’s reaction is the reason to watch this.

Ross and Faried can each bring it, as well. This might be one of the more exciting dunk contests in recent years.