A new way to judge NBA dunks. Plus, we preview the Rockets and Magic

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The Bounce Newsletter  | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.

Last call for our Hope-O-Meter survey! You can participate in the poll here, and we’re going to unveil the results right before the season. Let us know how much you believe in your team and why!

Introducing the BIDS dunk scale

Welcome to The Bounce’s dunk-grading system

Dunks! We love them! And we’re getting fewer and fewer of them every year with how many 3-pointers are being shot. I actually don’t know if that’s true. I kind of just made it up because it sounded good and plausible. In reality, we’re probably just seeing more and more midrange shots eliminated, but we know we love dunks.

There might not be a more visceral moment in sports than a basketball player leaving the terrain and dunking all over a defender who decided to stop him in mid-flight. A dunk getting blocked can be a fantastic moment. But someone getting dunked on still fills the majority of highlight reels. It’s such a cool thing that people have wondered if that should be included in dunk contests – without ever thinking about the liability of it all.

Here at The Bounce, we celebrate a great poster dunk as much as anybody. And we’ve finally refined a dunk scoring system that has been years in production. It’s called the Bounce Index Dunk System. Or BIDS. Some might wonder if something called BIDS will make people think we’re auctioning collectible cards. That’s not our department! That’s Brooks Peck and company! And we can’t help what this gets shortened to. It’s a Bounce Index Dunk System, and that’s just how it is abbreviated.

NBA.com has a dunk scoring system. BIDS is more of a tribute and offshoot of what Shea Serrano was doing at The Ringer when he debuted his index nearly a decade ago. The Disrespect Dunk Index measured things like difficulty of the dunk, backstory of the players, reactions by the dunker and people who weren’t involved in the play, among other categories.

There are elements of Shea’s index I love, but we need to make our own. That’s what we’ve accomplished. Here are the five factors for the BIDS score:

• Convulsion/Jump Scare: This is about your physical reaction to watching the dunk. Did you violently contort your body as a reaction? Did you let out an intelligible sound involuntarily? Did you jump out of your seat or scoot back farther into it?
• Bench reaction: It’s great if the dunker gets his own teammates to react. Can you get bonus points by making the opposition react?
• Dunker reaction? On a scale of “act like you’ve been there before” to Shawn Kemp pointing at a dunk victim, how did they react?
• Where is the damn replay? The dunk happens and you immediately want a foul, a turnover, a stoppage in play, or some kind of shot-clock malfunction to stop the game and get us a TV replay.
• Witness Protection Scale: Do you feel like you just witnessed a crime? Pretty self-explanatory.

These five factors are all scored on a scale of 1-10, with a 50 being the absolute highest score a dunk can get from The Bounce. It’s like a dunk contest, only we promise we’ll never have DJ Khalid or a social media influencer as a judge.

Over the last couple of days, the NBA preseason has actually given us three examples of some big-time dunks to evaluate with BIDS. We start with Jonathan Kuminga on a fast break throwing it down with the left hand over Jake LaRavia.

• Convulsion/jump scare: 6/10. The sound of the dunk and use of the left hand helps.
• Bench reaction: 8/10. You see the Lakers’ bench try not to react, but Jarred Vanderbilt moves his legs unnaturally.
• Dunker reaction: 6/10. A little slow step back up the floor and shoulder flex. Pretty calm.
• Where is the damn replay? 7/10. We had to wait an excruciating 18 seconds for a stoppage in play.
• Witness protection scale: 5/10. No big fall from LaRavia here.

Total BIDS score for Kuminga: 32/50.

That’s not a bad start. But I have a feeling our next dunk will top it. Meet Wendell Moore Jr. of the Boston Celtics. He caught the ball in transition with Norchad Omier waiting for him in the paint. He cocked it back and brought judgment.

• Convulsion/jump scare: 8/10. I violently shook my head a few times.

• Bench reaction: 9/10. The announcers lose it, and the Celtics bench loves it. Bonus points for the cop behind the bench.

• Dunker reaction: 7/10. Briefly flexed and walked toward the baseline.

• Where is the damn replay? 8/10. Less than five seconds later, a Killian Hayes turnover (of course) stopped play. Also, this dunk happened with 31.5 seconds left in the game.

• Witness protection scale: 9/10. I didn’t know who Omier was before this, but I was screaming for a body bag.

Total BIDS score for Moore: 41/50

We have one more submission from this recent stretch of preseason games. It happened with the Indiana Pacers’ Johnny Furphy, who has been catching bodies since Las Vegas Summer League. This time, it was Malevy Leons of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Except it was Malevy who got the thunder dropped on him.

• Convulsion/jump scare: 9/10. I stood up out of my seat.

• Bench reaction: 9/10. Pretty similar to the Celtics bench, but the Pacers are expecting it from Furphy now. Pascal Siakam lost it.

• Dunker reaction: 9/10. He stops and looks to his teammates on the bench to absorb their reaction.

• Where is the damn replay? 10/10. Play didn’t stop for 31 seconds and people were manic about it.

• Witness protection scale: 8/10. Subtle arm around Leons’ back as they land actually helps the Thunder victim from possibly having a worse landing.

Total BIDS score for Furphy: 45/50

This is the Bounce Index Dunk System! It may get tweaked here and there, but we’re pretty excited to have it for the 2025-26 season and beyond.

The Last 24

Kristaps isn’t committing to the Hawks … yet

🏀 No rush. Kristaps Porziņģis is eligible for an extension with the Hawks. He’ll be patient with that decision. 

💰 Another extension. The Dallas Mavericks didn’t let Jason Kidd interview in New York. Now he’s extended. 

🤔 Does it work? Lots of NBA stars are becoming GMs of their alma maters. Is this a real job for them?

🙅 Cuban denies. There have been questions about the Mavs and Dirk Nowitzki’s pay cut. Mark Cuban denies any cap circumvention. 

🏀 It’s your fantasy. Stan Son has the goods when it comes to your fantasy basketball team. Are Giannis and Trae Young bad for your team? 

🔐 Lockout coming? The WNBA’s collective bargaining deadline is nearing. What’s going to happen with the league?

🏀 Who’s missing? John Hollinger reveals his top 10 players for 2025-26, and some notable superstars are not included.

🏀 Stick to writing. Jay King and some other Celtics writers played pickup against the team’s coaching staff. It went about as you’d expect.

Time for blastoff

2025-26 Season Preview: Rockets take flight

It’s pretty rare that a young core can win. Yes, we just saw the Thunder win it all last season with one of the most dominant campaigns ever, but that’s an anomaly. The Houston Rockets are looking to put their own spin on that idea. The Rockets started rebuilding in 2021 after trading James Harden away. They won 17, 20 and 22 games over a three-season stretch. Then two years ago, they jumped to 41 wins with Ime Udoka as the coach.

Last season, the Rockets rode a great defensive effort to 52 wins and the No. 2 seed. They hadn’t even made the Play-In Tournament or better in four seasons, and all of a sudden had the second-best record in a ridiculous Western Conference. But they couldn’t score and knew they needed to address it this offseason. Solution? They moved Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green for Kevin Durant and signed Dorian Finney-Smith. Unfortunately, Fred VanVleet tore his ACL last month, but the Rockets still want to compete for it all. Can they? Let’s dive in!

Drama Meter: Maybe there should be more drama because the 37-year-old Durant is involved and people love to attach it to whatever he’s involved in. But this Rockets team is very sure of itself and believes in its identity. Yes, VanVleet being out adds pressure to role players, but this team’s drama will mostly come from being in the West.

Hot Seat Meter: Udoka should be fine, but you never know when Tilman Fertitta decides to get involved. This team will win a lot of games and be in a position to contend, so Udoka is safe.

Offseason question: A lot of that question is supposed to be answered by the addition of Durant. Between him and Alperen Şengün, that’s a lot of playmaking and shot-making. Losing VanVleet will affect the offense a lot, though. Reed Sheppard has to step up in some role. And maybe Amen Thompson exploring more playmaking could help figure this out too.

2026 free agents: Kevin Durant | Fred VanVleet (player option) | Tari Eason (restricted) | Josh Okogie | Jae’Sean Tate | Aaron Holiday | Jeff Green

Durant said he expects to sign an extension with the Rockets, so they should be fine. If Eason doesn’t get an extension, his restricted free agency could get really dramatic and expensive next summer.

Expectation for this season: The goal is 55-plus wins, a top-three seed and a deep playoff run. And it’s a very attainable goal. The biggest question will be about Durant remaining healthy and available. Even without VanVleet, this team can definitely compete for the West title.

Abracadabruh

2025-26 Season Preview: Do you believe in Magic?

The Orlando Magic enter this season with high expectations. That’s rare for a team that just went 41-41, but there’s plenty of logic to it. The reason they were only .500 last season is that Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner both went down with oblique injuries, and that time overlapped with each other. Other than that, the Magic were actually pretty good, coming off a 47-win season.

Then they got more serious this summer. They recognized their offensive limitations and decided to trade a lot of picks and a couple of role players for Desmond Bane. They also signed Tyus Jones to be their point guard. Now they have a backcourt that can shoot and set up Banchero and Wagner for easier buckets. With those additions and the East looking wide open, Orlando is looking to make a deep run. Can it? Let’s dive in!

Drama Meter: Even though the expectations are high, it doesn’t feel like they have much drama. If they sputter out, it’ll come. If they get a year or two into this core and haven’t really advanced, then the drama becomes how expensive the roster is. But they’re in a good spot right now.

Hot Seat Meter: There were some whispers about Jamahl Mosley possibly needing to hire an offensive coordinator assistant and maybe that indicated not all was well with his position. Personally, I think he’s a good coach and shouldn’t have a hot seat. But that’ll be determined this season, considering how coaches are treated with their lack of job security.

Offseason question: The Bane and Jones additions helped answer this, but the system still needs to help set up their main guys. Banchero and Wagner had to drag possessions through mud just to create shots. Bane and Jones should help make shot creation much easier.

2026 free agents: Tyus Jones | Moe Wagner | Orlando Robinson

This team is pretty locked in! Jones might just perpetually be on one-year deals, but the Magic won’t have much upheaval immediately ahead of them.

Expectation for this season: This should be the No. 3 seed in the East. Barring injuries, the Magic are expected to be ahead of everybody not named Cleveland and New York. Anything short of a second-round appearance will be a failure. But whether they can get through to the conference finals will depend on how much their offense grows.

This news was originally published on this post .

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