Defending dunk-contest champion Terrence Ross names his desired challengers: Tony Mitchell, Andre Drummond and Victor Oladipo

If Paul George can stump for his desired dunk-contest field – even if he likely has no real intention of participating – the event’s defending champion should have a say, too.

The man who can do this probably knows a little something about dunking:

So, Terrence Ross, who should join you in the dunk contest this season? Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun:

Specifically though, the first name that Ross came up with in terms of guys he would like to see challenge him was Detroit’s Tony Mitchell.Now Mitchell isn’t exactly a household name in the NBA yet, but then again neither was Ross a year ago when he won.“In my opinion, if he gets in it he’ll be in the position I was in last year,” Ross said. “Nobody kind of knows he can dunk, I mean they know he can dunk, but they don’t know what he can do. I know he’s a freak athlete from what I’ve heard.”

Ross also named Detroit’s Andre Drummond and Orlando’s Victor Oladipo as guys he would like to see before running out of ideas.

That would be a pretty fun dunk contest.

Mitchell has played just 37 minutes during his rookie year, but he proved his dunking bona fides before the season even started:

Drummond is more of a, relatively, questionable choice. He’s mostly a no-nonsense dunker in games. His biggest highlight – an off-the-backboard finish on a lob from Brandon Jennings – was more impressive due to Jennings’ pass than Drummond’s finish, and that was before an (unscientific) increase in off-the-backboard lobs this season became apparent. Drummond also dunked on Chris Brown once, so I guess there’s that.

Perhaps lacking slightly in resume, Drummond has incredible size and athleticism. The potential is definitely there for a fantastic dunk-contest showing.

Oladipo is probably the best choice of the bunch.

He’s shown the requisite style:

And power: