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Yeah, I'm starting this thread because aroba keeps saying that if there was an Anti-doping policy in the Olympics and the NBA and if they actually tested players in the Olympics these players on team USA wouldn't be as great as you see them and that Spain would then be able to beat team USA. I just want to see what people have to say for this. - _ -

I'm pretty sure they have doping tests for every discipline, including basketball.

Oh to join the ranks of Matt Geiger, Don MacLean, and Soumaila Samake

If Lynsey Hunter got suspended for using his wifes diet pills on accident, I think the NBA would have caught onto doping by now.

That clown does not really believe that. He just needs and excuse for himself as to why the US is so much better talent wise than the rest of the planet. He just says "look at them" that's his proof.

Michael Phelps has to stay longer than any athlete in the Olympics at the drug testing center after every competition. Says a lot about how serious they are.

Texas Longhorns wrote:Michael Phelps has to stay longer than any athlete in the Olympics at the drug testing center after every competition. Says a lot about how serious they are.

Ya about how serious they are about finding out what that freak of nature is on. Has he gotten his 4th yet? Kid is insane...

If you need further proof, just look at the roid rage that was unleashed after winning that 4x100 relay.

I can see only two players that you could even use this argument against. Lebron... but look at him in HS he was pretty big then too. And DHoward... but he is just a huge guy... if he is on anything it is hgh lol

Do they even work out in Spain? lol

ahartleyvu wrote: if he is on anything it is hgh lol
lol

Growth Hormone only helps in recovery and building lean muscle from fat which really doesnt work on people within the age bracket of Howard and Lebron since there body is doing that a lot better and faster than any HGH out there can provide, its called metabolisim and youth, so as far as growth thats not something that actually works for people that arent under 30 years of age.

although doping is always ahead of the measures that are taken to catch them. I'm thinking that it is at least kinda falling out of favor. From what I understand not only do they test people now but samples are kept for around 7 years to be tested later. That's a pretty huge risk to take especially after the Marion Jones debacle.

ahartleyvu wrote:I can see only two players that you could even use this argument against. Lebron... but look at him in HS he was pretty big then too. And DHoward...

Kobe dropped a ton of weight once he committed to international play. If he suddenly bulks back up after the Olympics I'm more then curious.

Lebron played football(american football) in high school. Do you know how many hours a day football players spend lifting weights? I don't think it's drugs, it's just different cultures and how they grow up. International players aren't even worried about being the biggest, fastest, strongest. They're more interested in being the best shooter or best passer; technical team things more than physical one on one play.

"Spain wouldn't be as good if they didn't allow players to grease their hair."

That's exactly how ridiculous the notion that the players on Team USA are doping is...

Anyone who thinks a player who averages 35+ mpg in the NBA needs to blood-dope in order to play 25 minutes in the Olympics is a moron with no idea of what doping even does.

Doping is done to increase aerobic ENDURANCE, making it useful for distance runners, swimmers, cyclists, rowers, etc. It does not build the fast twitch muscles that govern the quickness and leaping you need in basketball.

Lebron certainly doesn't need to increase his endurance to play less in Beijing than he does in Cleveland.

Just because an athlete isn't caught doesn't mean that they don't use steroids. There are no athletes in sports like athletics, swimming and weight lifting that don't use steroids. NONE.
You simply cannot compete if you don't use that stuff. What happens is that the technology of those who use illegal substances is always 5 steps ahead of those who try to find the "cheaters" (I don't really consider them cheaters because everyone more or less does the same thing). Many of these athletes will not be caught now but they will either die in their 30s like Joiner-Griffith or end up in jail and lose their medals like Marion Jones. Here's a hint for all of you: If a country does well in women's sports, then you know they use a lot of this stuff (women don't produce testosterone naturally so the drugs have a far greater effect on them, which is why many female athletes from Eastern Germany ended up growing facial hair and becoming lesbians after they retired).

There are very few sports where the athletes are clean (sailing, tae kwon do, archery and maybe a few others). If anyone thinks basketball players are clean, you're simply naive. The kidney problems athletes like Alonzo Mourning or Sean Elliot are side-effects of the usage of such medicine. If anyone had seen Toni Kukoc before he went to the NBA, you would know that his body transformation during his first year in the NBA wouldn't be possible unless he was using these substances. NBA players use them and I'm sure foreign players have caught up as well.

This whole thing about testing athletes is such a joke because 5 years later the same athletes that were cleared are found to have been using these drugs and their medals are taken from them.

asdfgh wrote:If anyone thinks basketball players are clean, you're simply naive. The kidney problems athletes like Alonzo Mourning or Sean Elliot are side-effects of the usage of such medicine. If anyone had seen Toni Kukoc before he went to the NBA, you would know that his body transformation during his first year in the NBA wouldn't be possible unless he was using these substances. NBA players use them and I'm sure foreign players have caught up as well.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

The drugs with the highest correlation to the kidney condition Zo and Elliot had are heroin and analgesics (painkillers), not steroids.

Unless you think smack helps you play basketball.

BubbaTee wrote:

asdfgh wrote:If anyone thinks basketball players are clean, you're simply naive. The kidney problems athletes like Alonzo Mourning or Sean Elliot are side-effects of the usage of such medicine. If anyone had seen Toni Kukoc before he went to the NBA, you would know that his body transformation during his first year in the NBA wouldn't be possible unless he was using these substances. NBA players use them and I'm sure foreign players have caught up as well.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

The drugs with the highest correlation to the kidney condition Zo and Elliot had are heroin and analgesics (painkillers), not steroids.

Unless you think smack helps you play basketball.

I don't know if that is true or not or what it is exactly that you're implying, but my point remains that EVERYONE uses that stuff. If people think that only Barry Bonds used steroids and not 99% of the baseball players that play in that league, they're simply being naive.
That's just how sports are now and personally I accept that fact. What I actually think should be done is make a distinction between drugs that are harmful to one's health and drugs that are not and explain to all athletes what the consequences of using such drugs are so that they don't jeopardize their health. The remaining steroids should be legalized.

Ok, no disrespect here

Interview with Dirk Nowitzki (Dirk in bold)

When talking about more games... you start playing again in October, and we checked your schedule - that's unbeliveable. You play almost every second day, travel, have up to 14 or 15 games a month, so thats pretty tough. Right now, there is much talk about doping going on, so what have been your expiriences with doping in the NBA?

I havn't made any, I don't think that it'll be too helpful in a game, in a team sport... maybe in regeneration, but you have to keep your ball handling and everything... I can't see any advances, but ... someone can prove me wrong (smiles)

But you do have doping tests?

Yeah, we have four unannounced tests per year...

... altogether?

... exactly. And when I'm with the national team...

That is not very much, compared to athletes here.

It depends on the substances. There's a list of drugs that improve performance, that are allowed in the NBA.
The NBA makes difference between "Abuse drugs" like Cocaine, Marihuana and stuff like that wich includes alcohol tests, and other kind of drugs that help raise the NBA show wich are mostly allowed. NBA is much harder on first kind of drugs, although marihuana is smoked by 60% of players in the league (New York Times said) but the players association doesn't want more controls.

As they say in this interview, there's more doping controls in Europe.

NBA players don't have antidoping tests by the Olympic comitee since '92 when NBA players were allowed to play FIBA ball. NBA made a pact with FIBA, they would take care of those tests or NBA players would not play.

Some players had heart problems recently: Jason Collier, Eddie Curry, "Tractor" Traylor, Fred Hoiberg...

Tom Davis, US congresist, openly critizied Stern and the president of the players syndicate (Billy Hunter) because of their "ridiculous" as he said, antidoping policy at the NBA, like he previously did about the MLB.

Now someone will tell us that Ben Wallace's muscles are completely natural...

Or if your patriotic pride gets hurt with that insinuation: Someone believes that Pau Gasol's physical change in his first NBA season is only due to a good diet and lifting weights?

Don't get fooled, dopping does exist, and what some people is trying to explain is that there are certain substances that are not forbidden in the USA, but can't be used in Europe. And we all know that the american basketball players (not the american athletes, just the NBA players) have their own control in the Olympics. I don't know if some substances should be forbidden or not (well, I really think the answer is no, but my mind is open to let anyone prove me wrong), but I sure know that the rules must be the same ones.

BubbaTee wrote:Doping is done to increase aerobic ENDURANCE, making it useful for distance runners, swimmers, cyclists, rowers, etc. It does not build the fast twitch muscles that govern the quickness and leaping you need in basketball.

What are you talking about? If doping was just for endurance, why would Barry Bonds et al be taking performance-enhancing drugs? He's a slugger, not a marathon runner. Why would Marion Jones and Ben Johnson have doped if they were only running 100m each? What you're saying doesn't make any sense at all.