Nate Robinson Knicks guard to defend All-Star dunk contest title Feb. 17 at Thomas & Mack Center

The challengers to Nate Robinson's defense of his NBA All-Star Saturday slam dunk title were announced Monday, but the story isn't so much about who will be competing as who will be judging.

Leading the field of judges for the Feb. 17 event at the Thomas & Mack Center is Michael Jordan, the career NBA All-Star Game scoring leader with 262 points in 14 appearances, and 11-time All-Star and Pro Basketball Hall of Fame member Julius "Dr. J" Erving.

Jordan and Erving will be joined by 1985 and '90 dunk winner and Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins; 1997 dunk winner Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the starting guards for the Western Conference in the Feb. 18 All-Star Game; and Eastern Conference reserve Vince Carter of the New Jersey Nets.

Robinson, the New York Knicks' 5-foot-9-inch guard, will defend his title against three first-time entrants: 6-8 Boston Celtics forward Gerald Green, 6-11 Orlando Magic center-forward Dwight Howard and 6-9 Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas.

Last year at the Toyota Center in Houston, Robinson outlasted 6-6 swingman Andre Igoudala of the Philadelphia 76ers 47-46 in a controversial "dunk-off" to become only the second sub-6-foot winner in contest history. Spud Webb, at just 5-7, won the competition in 1986.

To reach the dunk-off last year, Robinson used a bounce pass from Webb and then jumped over the former player as he stood under the basket for his only 50-point dunk.

Controversy surrounding Robinson's victory in the dunk-off resulted in two rule changes for this year's contest. Last year the judges allowed Robinson 14 tries to get off a successful effort following Igoudala's playoff dunk in an obvious crowd-pleasing effort to ensure that he won.

Now, after receiving the ball from the referee, a player will have two minutes to successfully complete his dunk. If a player hasn't completed a dunk in that time, he will have two more attempts to do so.

Also, at the discretion of the referee, instant replay can be used for clarification of rules compliance.

The competition is held in two rounds, with the two lowest scorers eliminated after the first round.

The dunk contest is one of four competitions on All-Star Saturday. There also will be a 3-point shooting contest, a skills challenge and a "shooting stars" competition. The latter uses one current and one former star from selected NBA franchises, teamed with a respective WNBA player from the franchise city.