After Sunday's N.Y. Times reported that up to 60-70% of
NBA players use alcohol and marijuana, the Pistons' Grant
Hill said that the numbers "probably aren't far off,"
according to Helene St. James of the DETROIT FREE PRESS.
Hill: "I don't know what the percentage is, but I'm pretty
sure there are a lot of guys who use marijuana." Hill added
that marijuana should be part of the NBA's substance abuse
policy: "[I]f you're going to test for drugs, then you
should test for all of them, cocaine, heroin, marijuana,
steroids. ... [I]f it's illegal in the United States but
legal in the NBA, then that's kind of sending the wrong
message" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/28). Michael Jordan, on
NBA drug testing: "I'm not in favor of that, unless you're
going to test all of the lawyers and doctors of the world
too" ("Fox Sports News," 10/27). In Miami, Heat players and
Coach Pat Riley said that while there is marijuana usage and
drinking by some NBA players, the "majority of players are
not involved." Some added that players "are far less
reckless now than a few years ago" (MIAMI HERALD, 10/28).
OVER THERE: The NBA will open offices in Italy and
Germany next year. The league has int'l offices in
Barcelona, Melbourne, Hong Kong, London, Tokyo, Mexico,
Taiwan, Singapore and Paris (USA TODAY, 10/28)....BUSINESS
WEEK's William Echikson profiles the McDonald's
Championships in Paris. The NBA "refuses to start its own
European league. ... A European NBA could provoke a ...
culture clash. Many big European cities don't have
American-style indoor arenas, and a new league would be a
declaration of war against local basketball groups" (William
Echikson, BUSINESS WEEK, 11/3 issue).
NOTES: Despite the return of Nets Coach John Calipari
and the Raptors' Marcus Camby to the Amherst area, "only"
5,217 attended the Nets-Raptors exhibition game at the
Springfield, MA, Civic Center last night for the Hall of
Fame game (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/28)....NEWSDAY's Shaun Powell
writes on the number of incidents concerning NBA personnel
and the law: "[T]here hasn't been an offseason in recent
memory that tainted so many high-profile NBA people like
this one. For a league that places image and marketing as
its highest priorities, the NBA is no doubt staggering and
wobbling from a summer gone mad" (NEWSDAY, 10/28).