As Tim Povtak wrote earlier, Magic star Rashard Lewis has been suspended for 10 games by the NBA for testing positive for dehydroepiandrosterone, a substance on the NBA's banned peformance enhancing drug list.
Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.
In this video we ask members of the Detroit Pistons what do they think about Rasheed Wallace running for president of the United States. Around 1:35 into the video find out from Rasheed himself what kind of president would he be.
AOL Video link. Youtube link.
Chauncey Billups has made improvements in his recovery from a strained hamstring, but the Pistons refuse to let him rush him back. From Krista Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press:"I don't even know what we are. What are we? OK, 3-1," strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander said. "To me, it doesn't make a difference. I look at purely the comfort level of a player, what they can do. He's getting much closer to it."How close? For one, Billups hasn't had a single setback from day to day, and he's tested the hamstring with a lot of strenuous activity.
"He can do a lot of pretty intense things on his legs right now," Kander said, "and he has no pain." Kander said he worked with Billups "doing everything from hard dribbles, defensive slides; we box, we did all sorts of maneuvers and he didn't feel anything. So it's good."The fact that Detroit has a 3-1 lead over Orlando certainly gives them a bit of cushion in terms of being cautious with Billups, as does the fact that Game 5 will be played at the Palace. But if he does sit again, it's not like the don't have a solid backup plan: rookie Rodney Stuckey and veteran Lindsey Hunter may have combined for only six assists while replacing Billups in Game 4, but they didn't turn the ball over once. Plus, the team frequently runs the offense through Tayshaun Prince, who had five assists himself in Game 4.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.
In this video, long time NBA vet Lindsey Hunter stands up for one member of the media when he comes under attack in the locker room of the Detroit Pistons. Around 1:35 into the video Jarvis Hayes shares with us the Pistons' secret of success.
AOL Video link. Youtube link.
In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the 76ers-Pistons Game 2 tonight.
You might be wondering why it is that we know what was in Lindsey Hunter's bloodstream. Moments after the news of this well-regarded Piston's suspension broke, we had a substance to go with it. Awfully strange, considering that I'm still in an office pool over what got Chris Anderson kicked out of the league. Steroids and performance-enhancing drugs were added to the league's substance abuse policy in the last round of negotiations with the players' union. One interesting aspect of the agreement dictated that any time there is a penalty handed down when a performance enhancer is involved, the offending substance is to be identified.The articles goes on to explain how little of a role performance-enhancers play in the NBA, including this Stern quotable:
"Illicit substances that could assist athletes in strength sports (such as weightlifting and football), power sports (such as baseball), or endurance sports (such as cycling or marathon running), are not likely to be of benefit to NBA players."That's all fine and good, but why does this mean the drug has to be made public? In Hunter's case, the league could escape PR damage by chalking it up to an accident. I guess that, as far as the league's image is concerned, performance-enhancer abuse is better than weed. If an NBA guy is juicing, it just comes off as bizarre and misguided, as opposed to dishonest (other sports) or debaucherous (other drugs).
The NBA announced today that Lindsey Hunter has been suspended 10 games without pay for testing positive for phentermine, a substance banned by the league's drug policy. He'll begin serving his suspension with tonight's game against the Cavaliers. His absence puts Detroit in a serious bind, leaving the team without their first guard off the bench. "I'm as shocked as anyone," Hunter said after arriving at the Palace on Wednesday. "It was a diet pill -- we've all taken stuff and nothing ever happens."That may sound like a standard issue denial, but Hunter's sterling reputation around the league makes it easier to believe, or at the very least, easier to want to believe.
Hunter said the pill was prescribed for his wife Ivy.
"We do that at our house -- if I've got a head cold, I might grab one of her pills," he said. "It was just a bonehead mistake on my part."
Get the latest coverage on your favorite teams thanks to CBS Radio. Listen Now
