An already polished baseball swing is enhanced by the use of steroids, the ability to hit a ball down the first base line morphing into the ability to consistently send balls to the opposite field and over the fence. The use of steroids for a defensive lineman with already sound technique can turn him into a wrecking ball, bull rushing and ripping his way through offensive lineman on the way to another quarterback conquest.
The use of performance enhancing drugs in both Major League Baseball and the National Football League - famously prevalent in both - provide a player with the advantage of greatly improving their overall game, their, for lack of a better word, performance. They can make you a pro bowler, an all-star, a league-wide sensation.
Not so prevalent over the years have been steroids in the National Basketball Association, with only a handful - less than 10 - of players suspended for banned substances that are related to performance enhancing drugs. This year alone, three - Wilson Chandler of the Brooklyn Nets, DeAndre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns, and (today) the Atlanta Hawks' John Collins - have received lengthy suspensions for PED use, with each receiving 25 games.
The league obviously takes the violations seriously, as the length of the suspensions - roughly one-third of the season - prove. While you can somewhat understand the reasoning for PED use in other sports - namely baseball and football as previously mentioned - I don't understand it as much in the NBA. Obviously, if a player wants to improve their performance, they'll take something that they think will enable them to make an all-star team, or get that next big contract. But what these players are failing to realize is that while they'll make you stronger and more athletic, they won't help you with your free throw shooting, or your mid-range jump shot, or make you a better passer.
Ayton is a fringe all-star talent who had 18 points and 11 rebounds in the Suns' season opener and looked poised for a big season. Collins, through five games, was averaging 17.0 points and 8.8 rebounds and is one of the league's promising young bigs. These guys were talented without any additional aids, and they both put a serious dent in their reputations, along with the selfish label of putting themselves before their team and ultimately hurting their team in the end.
And why? All because they thought that steroids and human growth hormone would make them better players, when, in reality, what makes you better is hours in the gym honing your craft. Rather than searching for supplements to enhance their games, Ayton and Collins should have focused solely on the workouts, the skill training, the actual craft rather than enhancing the body. In a game that requires skill over a chiseled physique - think Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Zach Randolph - the use of PEDs especially by young, talented kids like these two, doesn't make sense, especially given the punishment.
Skill and ability over brute strength and athleticism should be the focus.
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