RealGM

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/o ... 9796.story

Wow, what do you guys think about this? I would think he's one of the last guys, but wow.. sad. I think it should be a bigger suspension, NBA is way too tolerant. How does this affect Orlando? Their sched in the first 10 games isn't that bad. Cle, Philly, Toronto, Charlotte and Phoenix seem like the only match's, and now without Lewis, I think we could actually steal this game .

he is not the only one

i think a can of worms just opened up.

Not surprising. Just like baseball steroid use is pretty widespread in basketball the only difference is that David Stern has made an effort to sweep this under the rug.



A 10 suspension for performance enhancing drugs is a joke. Rashard lewis isn't the only one though. Stern is slowly turning the NBA into professional wrestling in which every team has a Dwight Howard or Corey Maggette freak specimen to market.



This is a true injustice. People who legitimately work on their skills and in the gym all day are overshadowed by these a$$clowns. Honest men who don't do it risk losing their job and those that do if caught at worse get a slap on the wrist.



People have long said that players like Jordon and Bird would never be surpassed. Skill wise yes but if illegal performance enhancing keeps evolving and continues being encouraged we will reach a point where even legends like Jordan and Bird couldn't compete.

are you really surprised? Im waiting for Amare and Dwight to test positive.

I remember telling my dad back in the day that i thought Rodney Rodgers was on the juice cuz he was such a monster, i'm sure there's lots of players who were on it but most got out at the right time... Seems like b-ball would be the last sport an athlete would wanna take roids but who knows

its a performace enhancer why wouldnt someone take it for B-ball.

I'm disappointed in Shard on this one. He's full of crap, I had friends in college who took supplements with creatine, etc and that stuff does not show on the test, its like 0.5%. And you all are right, if they dig deeper some things will turn up around the league. Its not something I really ever thought about for some reason.

What if LBJ is on steroids???

I personally think it's just part of professional sports to try to improve your body in every way you can, icluding supplements. It's good that certain supplements like anabolic steroids certain testosterone enhancers are forbidden, because they endanger the health of the atheletes.
But almost every professional athelete takes supplements of some kind and to me it's totally legitimate to take legal performance enhancers and in lewis' case it seems like it was an honest mistake. Therefore I think the tone in sd's and Risensun's post is too harsh. Obviously as an NBA-player u have to know what u take and 10 games is totally okay imo for such a case, especially since it is his first time.

Miklo wrote:What if LBJ is on steroids???

Would definitely be surprised, but it would explain a lot.

The guy is 6-8 250+, moves like a 6-2 PG, out-muscles big men on a nightly basis and runs like a gazelle.

Hey-

I don't and never wanted to go to this topic, but......

as a person coming from the fitness industry dealing with athletes and trainers - i can tell you this: You'd be surprised to know that a lot of athletes take illegal substances. A LOT of athletes. Baseball is not alone. That's for sure.

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As for the person up top saying they wouldn't be surprised if LBJ was on performance enhancers, hey, I wouldn't be surprised either. This is most definitely feasible.

But then again - the sheer physical size of ALL athletes have changed in the past 15-20 years.

Compare the Birds, Michael Coopers, Magics, Drexlers, and heck even Pippen and Jordan of the 90s - and u will see that the post-1998 athlete has tremendous size. Part of this has to do with diet and cultural forces that force athletes to gain size by eating more protein/carbs and then u have the bad apples who take enhancers..........and there are lots of them.

I've said this all along, there's A LOT more professional athletes on performance enhancing drugs than everyone thinks. These guys make MILLIONS, they'll do anything to give themselves an advantage over the next guy. I don't know why these stupid asses don't just take HGH, it's damn near impossible to test for and is far superior to steroids IMO, especially for athletes who require endurance.