Pro Basketball Talk On Nbc Sports Podcast

Kobe Bryant. Kevin Garnett. LeBron James. They are the most captivating players of the past couple decades in the NBA — and they all went straight from high school to the NBA. But there were a lot of others that had nice careers, and some who flamed out. Jonathan Abrams new book "Boys Among Men" takes a detailed look at the high school to NBA generation, and he joins NBC's Kurt Helin to discuss that trend, what happened to the players, and the future of the one-and-done rule.

There has been no more injury riddled team this season than the Utah Jazz, with Dante Exum, Alec Burk, Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, and others missing all or part of the season. Yet, with a month to go before the playoffs, most projection sites have the Jazz passing the Mavericks to make the postseason. Jody Genessy of the Deseret News joins NBC's Kurt Helin to talk all things Jazz, from Gordon Hayward to Quin Snyder. Plus they discuss ketchup potato chips.

Is it somehow a surprise that Phil Jackson wanted his friend Kurt Rambis to succeed in New York? Or that Kevin Durant isn't interested in the Knicks? Or that DeMarcus Cousins is frustrated and lashing out in Sacramento? It shouldn't be, but those are the news stories of the day, which Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman of NBC Sports' ProBasketballTalk discuss in this podcast. Other topics include your Twitter questions on the Bucks, Lakers and if Durant could end up in Toronto.

Nobody saw the Lakers beating the Warriors. Nobody is quite sure what LeBron James is tweeting. Nobody is quite sure what Ty Lawson will bring to Indiana. Nobody is quite sold on the up-and-down rockets. There's a lot to talk about in NBA as teams gear up for their playoff runs, and Kurt Helin and Sean Highkin of NBC Sports get to it all in this latest podcast. 

LSU's Ben Simmons is going No. 1, but how good is a guy who doesn't have a jumper? Is Duke's Brandon Ingram better? Who should be drafted third? Kurt Helin of NBC's ProBasketballTalk asks Rob Dauster of NBC's CollegeBasketballTalk talk about the top of the 2016 NBA draft, sleepers worth watching in the second round, the rise of the upper classman, plus some Big West basketball and even a little beer talk. 

Joe Johnson has been set free from Brooklyn — at a cost of $3 million to himself — and seems headed to Cleveland, although in this PBT Podcast NBC's Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman discuss how Oklahoma City might be a better landing spot. They also get to the other news of the day such as James Harden reportedly forcing Kevin McHale out, Marc Gasol's broken foot, and where Kevin Durant may play next season.

Bill Oram puts it well, the Lakers should be one of the most exciting young teams in the NBA. They are not. Rather, they are hard to watch. It's bad basketball covered up by the Kobe Bryant farewell tour, which pulls the attention away from everything else. Oram, the Lakers' reporter from the Orange County Register, joins NBC's Kurt Helin to talk about where the Lakers are, where they go with both a new coaching search and maybe a new front office search, and how they want to go about building a team that can contend again.

The Detroit Pistons did very well. The New Orleans Pelicans couldn't unload Ryan Anderson and now will lose him for nothing. The Clippers improved, but could they have done even better? Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com break down all the trade deadline moves, talk about what we liked and didn't, and try to imagine what the Memphis locker room suddenly looks like with Lance Stephenson, Matt Barnes, Chris Andersen, P.J. Hairston, and Tony Allen is going to be like. 

Toronto may have been cold (really, really cold) but it was home to the hottest All-Star Saturday Dunk Contest since.... Jordan and Dominique? Kurt Helin and Sean Highkin were in Toronto and discuss everything from Kobe Bryant to Sting to Russell Westbrook. All things All-Star in one place, plus some Charlotte talk. 

NBA All-Star weekend descends upon Toronto starting Friday, with everything from the Rookie/Sophomore... er, Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, the Dunk Contest on Saturday, and the main event on Sunday. Kurt Helin and Sean Highkin of NBC's ProBasketballTalk break it all down with event talk and predictions (plus both will be in Toronto with reports from the event all weekend). 

Derek Fisher is out as coach of the New York Knicks, and NBC Sports' Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman expect another shoe to drop as to why. It's not that Fisher was a great coach, but replacing him with Kurt Rambis mid-season is not an upgrade. Then Helin & Feldman take questions off Twitter from readers/listeners on the coming trade deadline including discussions of Blake Griffin, Jeff Teague, the Pistons, and more.

Toronto is the clear and away second best team in the East, a roster with one of the NBA's best backcourts featuring All-Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. But is now the time for the Raptors to make a bold trade and swing for the fences? Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun joins Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk to discuss that, Terrence Ross, the Raptors gaping hole at the power forward spot, and how the All-Star Game has Toronto buzzing. 

The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 18, less than three weeks away, and while there are some interesting names out there — Ryan Anderson, Rudy Gay — don't expect any blockbuster moves until the summer. Still, there are plenty of smaller moves and dynamics, something ProBasketballTalk's Kurt Helin and Sean Highkin break down. 

Before the season tipped off, the Washington Wizards were expected to be right there with Toronto, Chicago, and Atlanta as teams that would vie for the two seed in the East. As of right now, they wouldn't even make the playoffs. It's not on John Wall, but what went wrong and why? J. Michael, the CSNMidAtlantic.com insider on the Wizards, joins Kurt Helin to talk about how the Wizards' season went sideways. 

We reached out to the Twitterverse to get your questions to answer about news around the NBA, and you wanted to talk trades. ProBasketballTalk's Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman did just that starting in Cleveland and got into the sudden coaching change there. That was followed by discussing potential Brandon Jennings trades from Detroit, what the Bulls might do in Chicago, what the Orlando Magic might do, and some Ryan Anderson talk as well. 

The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the five best teams in the NBA, but for a core group of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, is that going to be good enough? Could they beat Golden State in the second round? Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times joins PBT's Kurt Helin to break down Los Angeles, and discuss if the Clippers need to be broken up.

Starters, as chosen by the fans, for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto, will be announced on Thursday. Did the fans get it right? And who should be chosen as reserves? Kurt Helin and Sean Highkin of NBC's ProBasketballTalk discuss it all, plus go off on tangents to discuss news and notes around the Association.

While Golden State hogs the spotlight, the San Antonio Spurs have put together a better point differential — and they are still getting better. Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News and Kurt Helin of NBC's ProBasketballTalk discuss how the Spurs' style will counter the Warriors, why the Thunder could be a problem, and, of course, some Boban Marjanović (starting about the 35 minute mark). 

MVP, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year — we're almost at the halfway point of the NBA season and ProBasketballtalk's Kurt Helin and Dan Feldman break down all six of the major NBA end of season awards and who is ahead at the break. So lots of Stephen Curry and Kawhi Leonard talk. The two also discuss the latest events with the Brooklyn Nets.

Roland Lazenby's NBA novels are just fantastic reads — "Michael Jordan: The Life" or his Jerry West biography — and his next book coming out this August is about Kobe Bryant. Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk and Lazenby talk comparisons between Kobe and MJ, the Kobe farewell tour, the Rio Olympics, and more. These are two of the most fascinating NBA players of recent decades and nobody understands them like Lazenby.