Trev Smith, a writer for The On-Deck Circle, went to a lot of trouble in putting together an argument as to why we're naive if we believe the NBA doesn't have performance-enhancing drug problems all its own. At the same blog, Blake Murphy (who also writes for well-respected Hoops Addict) followed up by demanding the NBA solves this problem."This problem" being an invisible, possibly nonexistent problem. Because baseball fans have been living in a PED nightmare for a decade, we NBA fans are supposed to be outraged and fretful all the same about a problem we have never seen even flimsy proof of? Give me a break.
No offense meant, but this passage from Smith is as about as irresponsible as you can get, outside of some TheDirty.com/Media Takeout style action:
[T]hese athletes are recovering from injury and age in ways no one has ever seen. Procedures that once put a career in jeopardy are now relatively safe. Recovery times are accelerated ten-fold, and players that seemed on their last legs suddenly seem to be as spire, nimble, and healthy as ever. If Dwyane Wade were a baseball player and experienced the sort of career rebirth and physical rejuvenation he has this season after his shoulder and knee looked completely spent 12 short months ago, we would be suspicious. Not so with basketball.There's a lot of bad water in here, not the least of which are the lack of citations on statements made out to be factual. ("Recovery times have accelerated ten-fold?" Reference, please. Just throwing out a completely fabricated estimate? Say so.) That someone could be shocked that "procedures that once put a career in jeopardy are now relatively safe" without realizing that, "Hmm, hey, science and medicine do get more advanced every day. Why, people live longer! Some forms of cancer are treatable! Heck, these doctors really do keep up on the latest techniques ... especially the doctors who treat multi-millionaire professional athletes!"
No, the fact that an injured player recovers more quickly today than an injured player could recover 10 years ago is not any sort of proof of PED abuse. Smith has other assertions -- that the solid record of Phoenix's training staff provides "smoke" which may indicate that the Suns doctors are handing out PEDs in the locker room. That the physiques of Dwight Howard and LeBron James have gotten too awe-striking to be the result of hard work, well-planned training and impeccable genetic luck. This is the proof we have a problem? Again, I need a break, and I need you to give it to me.
Murphy's response to this is to demand that the league police itself more forcefully, that players cave to invisible demands of blood testing, and that fans ... continue his own whisper campaign?
So what is a fan to do? Simply questioning the growing trends and pressuring the league to look into it is enough for now. This is tough, obviously, for fans to do, but the internet and spoken word are powerful tools. At this point, simply accepting the possibility is enough on the part of fans.Dude, we all accept the possibility that NBA players take PEDs. If anything, NBA fans might be more likely to be cynical about the reality of the league than their peers. (See: frozen envelope, MJ's retirement, Game 6.) I daresay (and maybe I'm wrong; am I wrong?) that asserting WE HAVE A PROBLEM and that the league should DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM and worrying our pretty hearts ABOUT THIS PROBLEM that we have no idea even exists ... well, I don't think this is the way to go forward. Whispering about Wade's knee and Phoenix's training staff and Dwight's biceps -- how in Hades does that get us anywhere?
Please, if anyone out there wants to assert the NBA has a PED problem, offer some facts, show an understanding of the situation, and stop making demands about fixing the problem until we actually know whether there is a problem. Sounding the alarm before you smell smoke (real, actual smoke) is a bad idea, boss.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
As for Wade, Dwight Howard, Kobe and Lebron, they went to the Olympics this summer and had to undergo Olympic drug testing. Plus, the NBA has never had a problem doling out drug violation suspensions to their players. Weed, coke, etc. Shawn Kemp, Lamar Odom, Damon Stoudemire. Seems to me that baseball writers and fans are seeing their sport dying off thanks to the way they ALL mishandled it. Proof was there everyday for even the most casual fans, not to mention the most "serious" journalists to see. Bigger heads, vein-popping biceps. Dwight is chiseled, but you can tell the difference between his chiseled and Jose Conseco's chiseled. And, for the record, Dwight was pretty chiseled when he was 18. Mark Mcguire? Not so much...Just doesn't even compare. Great post btw.
Besides...Dwight's head, if anything, is too small. lol.
Besides, if anything, Dwight's head is too small! Lol.
Mr. Ziller - I am somewhat disappointed, and offended, that you chose to deem what was an opinion piece, not an investigative report, as being "as irresponsible as you can get". I have no quarrel with you disliking the article, or disagreeing with its premise, or even its need to exist. I am just upset that your dispute is that it does not "offer facts" or an "understanding of the situation", as well as suggesting that I am so simpleminded that I would never have considered advancements in strength training and medical research as an explaination.
Within the piece, in an effort to point out that this is by no means a journalistic investigation or accusation towards the players mentioned, I wrote the following:
"I have nothing but observation and a distrusting nature that leads me to this conclusion. I have no smoking gun, no inside sources, no informant that has lead me down the rabbit hole towards this odious viewpoint. Investigations must happen before anything can be said with any real certainty... Sourced, hard information must come before anyone is accused in earnest...Again, I am not accusing these specific players of anything"
Perhaps I did a poor job making clear that this was my own viewpoint and that its purpsoe was not to start "whispers" about possible PED use, but to start an actual conversation about it instead of ignoring it altogether. I believe it is more irresponsible to shout-down those that raise quetsions and not accusations, than it is to ask the questions themselves. For what it is worth, the sentence about HGH greatly increasing recovery time was influenced by articles such as this: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2574291
I will continue to write at The ODC and Hoops Addict (where I have written longer than Blake) and will continue read your great work, both here and at Sac Town, and wish you continued success.
Mr.Smith, everyone is well aware that this is nothing but an opinion piece. That is evidenced by the lack of facts and your flippant observations based solely on conjecture.
Mr.Ziller has the right to disagree with your opinion and does so by analyzing the logic(or lack thereof) used to come to the conclusion in your article
Opinion or not it is downright irresponsible to write an article based on idea's pulled out of your ear that don't have a shred of evidence to even hint that they are possible
Perhaps Mr.Smith wants the NBA to have a PED problem so he can point bak to his article and say "AHA! I said it first!" Perhaps it's a slow news week. whatever the case, articles like those should be flagged by an editor and sent back to the author for a re-write.
Because of Mr.Zillers outright bias in many of his articles, I am not his biggest fan, but this was a very well written post critiquing a baseless article.
Couldn't agree more. The absolute worst line was in Blake Murphy's article, the first two lines in fact:
"I won’t waste your time outlining the evidence that Performance Enhancing Drug use may exist in the NBA. Trevor Smith did a fantastic job laying it out in his article this morning, The Needle and the Damage Done: The NBA and HGH. "
Why they bothered to waste my time with those two articles is the question I'm still trying to figure out.
Mr. Smith,
Your counterpoint to Mr. Ziller is that opinions don't need to be based on facts. Please consider this.
First, to firebrand - the articles were very different, that's why there are two. Posting two pieces on the same topic on the same day is a fairly obvious decision, I think. But they are very different in context - Trev's is about whether or not PED use exists in the NBA, while mine says that, regardless of if it exists or not, the league should take measures to be more prepared/aware of the situation.
As for Tom's article, I respect the response, obviously, and don't really have a problem with it. I do think there is a place for article's like the ones on our site today - there needn't be proof for us to wonder aloud if the problem exists, and I think Trev did a pretty good job with his 'disclaimer' of sorts.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback and response.
Oh I understand, I just thought it was hilarious that you claimed there was evidence in his article when A) there wasn't a shred of evidence and B) he admitted as much in his comment above. And yeah, I still want those 15 minutes of my life back, I'll be waiting for the refund from you gentlemen.