Author Topic: PED usage in the NBA and other pro sports  (Read 6095 times)

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Re: PED usage in the NBA and other pro sports
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2017, 02:23:00 PM »

Offline tarheelsxxiii

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So yes, you've got a point. I just don't think it's an option to just throw one's hands up and say "There's no way to know" or "Everyone's doing it anyway", or to assume that literally all of the other explanations are legitimate but the PED explanation is not.

There's a major flaw in your logic comparing my explanations versus the PED one. This is a simple matter of cause/effect. The causes that I list are not disputable. There have been rule changes that greatly influenced the game. There are better medical options and dietary knowledge now. These things actually happened and they knowingly apply to every player and every team. We know these causes exist. However, there's no proof that PEDs in the NBA have happened in any kind of widespread manner. We have no idea that this cause exists as it applies to the NBA. You haven't proven the cause exists before jumping directly to the effects.

It's not much different than coming across a single car accident on the side of a wet road near  a zoo. Yes, it's possible that a gorilla jumped out of the woods causing the car to veer off the road. But there's no proof of the gorilla. On the other hand, maybe the car just skidded off the slick road. After all there is plenty of evidence that it rained. This is one of those "the simplest explanation is probably the correct one". And that simple explanation starts with a proven, known cause (or causes).

I also greatly abhor casting unfounded aspersions about players. When you basically say "all of these guys might be on PEDs and that explains their performance", I don't find that any different than saying "all of these schoolteachers are pedophiles because that explains them wanting to be around children".

Next to nothing is this black and white.  If you truly perceive the world as you describe, you're missing a ton of information all around you.
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Re: PED usage in the NBA and other pro sports
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2017, 02:33:37 PM »

Offline Moranis

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PED's have been around forever and they will always be around.  Mays and other greats of his era were using "greenies" i.e. speed, which helped them stay alert and awake over the course of the long baseball season.  The 70's in the NFL was a steroid playground which found its way over to baseball in the 90's.  The Olympic sports have always had a significant problem with steroids (and similar things).  To think that NBA players just don't use is pretty silly especially when some all star level players have actually been caught.  We are know in the HGH era, which will morph into something else over time.  There is just too much money at stake for people to not try everything possible to continue making that money. 
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Re: PED usage in the NBA and other pro sports
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2017, 03:02:53 PM »

Offline kraidstar

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Does anyone on this blog think that guys like David Stern or Adam Silver would allow LeBron to fail a drug test? With billions of TV dollars potentially at stake?

The tests are a joke.

Players will do anything for money, fame, and glory. And this league is about the players.

Re: PED usage in the NBA and other pro sports
« Reply #18 on: July 13, 2017, 03:18:10 PM »

Offline max215

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Use/abuse is probably widespread, but we'll never know the extent of it. Frankly, I just can't be bothered to care all that much.
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Re: PED usage in the NBA and other pro sports
« Reply #19 on: July 14, 2017, 07:52:43 AM »

Offline Granath

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Next to nothing is this black and white.  If you truly perceive the world as you describe, you're missing a ton of information all around you.

You misunderstand. It's just when you have a proven cause and the effect logically follows that cause then we're into Occam's Razor territory. That's where we are right this moment with no other proof offered.

It may very well be that players are using MGF, Gas6, Peptides or other drugs that are hard to detect. Maybe use of those drugs are widespread. But that's not proven and neither is any link to those drugs inherently improving something like shooting percentages but not defensive ability. So to claim that it's the likely reason for recent performance trends is more than a little spurious.
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Re: PED usage in the NBA and other pro sports
« Reply #20 on: September 05, 2017, 02:47:19 PM »

Offline Ed Hollison

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Another article today that whistles past the graveyard on what's going on in pro sports, this one on Arizona Diamondbacks OF JD Martinez, who became the 18th player in history to hit four home runs in a game last night:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/j-d-martinezs-path-from-slap-hitter-to-four-homer-sensation/

From the article:

Quote
Martinez began his career as a slap-hitting prospect for the Houston Astros — and to be charitable, he was not successful at it. Over his first three MLB seasons, Martinez had an adjusted on-base plus slugging that was 12 percent worse than average, accumulated negative 1.3 wins above replacement and hit for very little power, belting just 24 home runs in 252 games. By 2014, Martinez was struggling so much that Houston released him.

Quote
Early in his career, it would have been a pleasant surprise if Martinez had hit four home runs in a month. But after Martinez modified his approach, Monday’s accomplishment is just the latest signpost along his road to stardom. And with the red-hot Diamondbacks practically assured of making the playoffs, a national audience will have a chance to get acquainted with Martinez’s power stroke this fall.

Quote
Martinez isn’t the only recent player to go on an out-of-nowhere power spree — Jose Bautista, for instance, went from a light-hitting utility man early in his career to a fearsome, bat-flipping homer machine as he approached his 30s. Nor is Martinez the only exemplar of the fly-ball phenomenon sweeping across the game; from Daniel Murphy to Yonder Alonso, plenty of players have given their careers new life by way of an uppercut swing.

For the record, I'm not saying this particular player is crooked. I just think it's naive to say "uppercut swing!" and just assume that all of these guys are just late bloomers who fixed some hole in their swings.
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