“Death at the Wing” is a narrative documentary series looking at the generation of basketball stars and prospects that fell victim to the historical, socioeconomic and political forces that defined the ‘80s. 

As the new generation of basketball players — players like Magic, Bird and Dr. J — took their mantle as the league’s stars, basketball’s faster and flashier style of play would captivate TV audiences. But along that way to wealth and stardom, the excess of the ‘80s took its toll on the next generation of the sport as Reaganomics created an explosion in wealth for the richest members of American society. Crack and cocaine made its way through neighborhoods where aspiring basketball players lived. Cars were faster and car accidents took the lives of several players. Guns became easier to acquire. Health care and education budgets were slashed. Incarceration took over rehabilitation as the country’s guiding principle to addiction. Many players were suspended and jailed, and those less fortunate died. 

Those that made it through became overnight superstars for an eager and demanding audience of TV and media coverage, but never in the history of any sport have we seen so many who were ready to become household brands lost in such a short time frame.

Why? How? And Who?

This is what this show will look into. This is DEATH AT THE WING.

Jason and Rich are joined by Curtis Harris (prohoopshistory.substack.com) to talk about the life and career of NBA legend Elgin Baylor, who passed away earlier this week. 

Topics include:

Additional Resources:

Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball (amzn.to/3980dLP) 

Support for Over and Back:

The Day Sports Stood Still

From Emmy-winning director Antoine Fuqua and NBA All-Star Chris Paul comes THE DAY SPORTS STOOD STILL - the new HBO documentary that tells the story of the unprecedented sports shutdown in March of 2020 and the remarkable turn of events that followed. Chronicling the abrupt stoppage of sports, the athletes' prominent role in the cultural reckoning on racial injustices that escalated during the pandemic, and the complex return to competition, THE DAY SPORTS STOOD STILL premieres Wednesday, March 24 at 9pm on HBO, and streaming on HBO Max. 

Visit us on Twitter (@OverandBackNBA) and Facebook for an opportunity to win a free $25 NBAStore.com gift card courtesy of the team behind The Day Sports Stood Still.

Manscaped

Get 20% off plus free shipping at Manscaped.com using promo code Fansided20. 

As a result of Elgin Baylor's passing, we are re-uploading a classic episode discussing the life, career and impact of Elgin Baylor as well as his noted NBA Finals battles with Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics. 

Our guest on this show was Bijan C. Bayne, author of the incredible book "Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball." You can order the book today at https://amzn.to/3980dLP.

We will have a full episode dedicated to Baylor coming out later this week. 

Thank you.

We discuss the Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA Finals rivalry between 1959 and 1969 with Bijan C. Bayne, author of “Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball,” in our continuing #RussellMania series dedicated to the life and legacy of Bill Russell.

We break down each of their seven NBA Finals battles (1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969), talk about Elgin Baylor's rise to superstardom and his role in popularizing basketball in Los Angeles, Baylor's revolutionary influence on offensive play, the basketball and social parallels of Russell and Baylor, how Baylor was the first NBA player to boycott a game because of segregation, Baylor's relationships with longtime teammate Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain, some of the other key Lakers of the 1960s (including Frank Selvy, Rudy LaRusso, Tom Hawkins, Hot Rod Hundley, Dick Barnett, Leroy Ellis, Gene Wiley, Walt Hazzard, Bob Boozer, Archie Clark, and Gail Goodrich), what Don Nelson's failure in Los Angeles and success in Boston said about both teams, and much more.

Original airdate: 4/19/16

This week on the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast, Jason and Rich examine teams with big one-season jumps where the team didn't have a fundamental change (major new star or new coach). 

The show concept is inspired by the 2021 Utah Jazz who are currently on a 63-win pace after only winning 44 games the prior year. 

Our criteria: 

In this episode, we'll highlight a few of the teams that made huge jumps with background on the years leading up to the jump and what may have aided the improvement. We'll also do a decade-by-decade breakdown of other teams that made unexpected improvements. 

Today on the Over and Back Classic NBA Podcast we examine the best NBA players on the worst teams. Inspired by Bradley Beal's current situation with the Washington Wizards, we dig through NBA history to find the best individual seasons on sub .500 teams, the best players on the worst NBA teams in history and more! 

Thank you to our episode sponsor Manscaped.com. Support the show and get your balls looking right with 20% off and free shipping by using promo code Fansided20 at manscaped.com. 

The Over & Back Classic NBA Podcast tackles a fun topic this week as we look at former all-stars/award winners who only appeared in 1 game for a team including Rasheed Wallace, Andrew Bogut, Jamal Crawford, Bob Rule, Kenny Sailors, George Carter, Tom Chambers, Tony Jackson, Steve Mix & Walt Bellamy. 

The return of one of our most popular series looking at the last great game from all-time great NBA players. 

Today we'll look at the last great games from:

Join us for a special Over & Back LIVE honoring the life and career of Phoenix Suns great Paul Westphal. We're joined by Curtis Harris of ProHoopsHistory.com to watch a classic game from Westphal's career: Game 7 of the 1979 Western Conference Finals between the Seattle SuperSonics and the Phoenix Suns.

Watch the game along with us at https://youtu.be/3HnRWKwqDAU.

Vurbl: https://vurbl.com/station/4WEdpx4IOdH/

Jason and Rich welcome Pete Croatto—author of the new book "From Hang Time to Prime Time" (https://amzn.to/3g8hoiS)—to watch the fourth quarter and overtime of a classic 1984 NBA playoff game between the New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons.

We also discuss Pete's new book, the NBA's rise in popularity in the 1980s, Isiah Thomas' career, Bernard King's brilliancy plus a lot of Kent Benson jokes.

Follow along with the game at https://youtu.be/Qf03Y_ptFGw.