Despite league rules, NBA won’t be testing for marijuana when season resumes
Marijuana and Disney World sounds oxymoronic. Like jumbo shrimp and liquid gas.
But, 22 NBA teams are scheduled to report to Disney World on July 7-8 to live and play on-site in the resumption of the 2019-20 season suspended because of the coronavirus. For two teams, this sequestering could last until a possible Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Oct. 13.
During this time, the NBA will not conduct drug tests for recreational drugs. That includes marijuana.
Bobby Marks, ESPN’s NBA front office insider, shrugged.
“I don’t make much of it,” he said. “There’s so much testing that’s going to be going on already.”
Of course, the NBA will test for coronavirus and performance-enhancing drugs at Disney World.
There could be a practical reason for not testing for recreational drugs. Additional testing can mean contact with additional persons doing these tests.
During a typical regular — and that term takes on added meaning at this time — season, the NBA quietly tests for marijuana use. According to NBC Sports, a first offense carries no penalty, a second a $25,000 fine. Neither offense is announced.
A third violation, which carries a five-game suspension, is announced. But no mention is made of marijuana.
NBC Sports reported in February that between 50 and 85 percent of NBA players use cannabis products.
Tyrone Ross, executive industry advisor to CanaFarma (which markets hemp products), said he believed the higher percentage was more accurate. He saluted the decision not to test for recreational drugs at Disney World as indicative of the NBA being “probably the most progressive sports league we have.”
Marks and Ross said cannabis products can help players deal with anxiety or unhappiness.
Marks said he had asked NBA Draft prospects about marijuana use.
“If you had a choice, what makes you feel worse the next day: marijuana or alcohol?” he said he’s asked. “I’d say for 10 out of 10, it’s alcohol. So, I think for these guys, it’s more of a stress relief.”
Ross went so far as to suggest that marijuana use in various forms — edibles, CBD oil, etc. — could enhance a player’s performance. Being “genetically superior,” an NBA player could play under the influence, he said.
Ross, a 2004 Olympic qualifier in the 400 meters, said he uses CBD oil as a sleep aid. Without it, “I sleep very lightly,” he said. “I can hear a mosquito pass gas.”
Stephen Jackson, who retired in 2015 after a 14-season NBA career, disagreed with the notion of a player competing while under the influence.
“Nobody can play high, especially in the NBA,” he told NBC Sports. “It’s a high level of competition, and guys are great, so nobody can play high.”
Jackson said cannabis products could help players relax after competition.
Should the NBA discontinue testing for marijuana in future seasons, Ross would expect guidelines on use.
“I can’t imagine paying somebody $30 million … are you just giving them free reign?” he said. “I’m sure (Gregg) Popovich being the main one, and a few others, that’s not going to fly with them.”
Incidentally, it is against the law in Florida to possess marijuana. Twenty grams or less is a misdemeanor punishable by one-year imprisonment or a maximum of a $1,000 fine. More than 20 grams is a felony punishable by a five-year prison sentence or a maximum of a $5,000 fine.
“I live in Florida,” Marks said. “We’re not like Colorado.
“Basically, what you bring in is what’s going to be there. So, if you’re going to bring marijuana in, then hopefully it can last you for a couple months.”
99.8 percent
In more ways than one, former Kentucky player Lukasz Obrzut stood out at the Walk Forward Lexington rally in Woodland Park last weekend. Besides being 7-foot-1, he was born and raised in Poland.
“My country when I was there was 99.8-percent white,” he said with a chuckle.
Then turning serious, Obrzut added, “That didn’t mean we didn’t have crime, that we didn’t have issues. People were still afraid.”
Obrzut, who lives and works in the Louisville area, said he came to Woodland Park to support former UK teammates Ravi Moss and Erik Daniels, both of whom helped organize the rally intended to call attention to systemic racism in this country.
Playing for Kentucky introduced Obrzut to Black people.
“Through sports we shared one thing in common, which was winning basketball games …,” he said. “I didn’t look at the color as anything. I didn’t look at the color as a barrier or as an advantage or disadvantage.”
Fast-forwarding to last weekend’s rally and ongoing protests in this country, Obrzut is familiar with mass demonstrations leading to significant change. He recalled the Solidarity movement of the 1980s leading to the end of Communism in Poland.
“This is very simple,” he said. “Don’t do to somebody else what you would not want done to you. If we could simply follow just that one rule, I think we’d be a whole lot better off as a nation.”
Cal’s idea
John Calipari has proposed UK Athletics begin an internship program for minority candidates. He said he wanted to create access and opportunity for careers in athletics administration.
His idea did not fall on deaf ears.
“Don’t have details to share just yet,” said Guy Ramsey, UK Athletics’ director of strategic communications. “That’s something that’s we’re working on.”
Systemic
One of the speakers at the Walk Forward Lexington rally was Rochelle Ritchie. After graduating from Western Kentucky University with a degree in broadcast journalism, she received a graduate degree from Johns Hopkins, then worked as a television reporter, a consultant for the Democratic party and opinion writer.
“I’m going to talk loud because I think this message needs to resonate,” she told the crowd of about 200.
Ritchie disputed the notion that the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Blacks indicate that “the system” is broken.
“No, it’s not,” she said. “It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do.”
Yesterday
From 1988 to 1994, Bob Costas played host on a late-night NBC talk show titled “Later with Bob Costas.” During an appearance on John Calipari’s “Coffee With Cal” Facebook show, he said he still regrets leaving a show that typically had a wide variety of guests. Guests in a typical week might include, say, Wilt Chamberlain, Smokey Robinson, Mary Tyler Moore and George McGovern, he said.
His demanding schedule (Olympics, Major League Baseball, NBA), plus two young children at home, dictated a reduction in work time, Costas said.
Who did he consider the best guest on the show? Paul McCartney.
“He was so open and so friendly and showed a great sense of humor,” Costas said. “And I’m thinking as we’re doing this, ‘Don’t screw this up.’ Because all I can think of is me being 11 years old and sitting on the carpet in the living room of my parents’ home, watching on a black-and-white TV Paul McCartney and the Beatles on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ …
“I’m thinking, ‘I wonder if any of the kids I went to school with are watching this now. What are they thinking of little Bobby Costas talking to Paul McCartney.’”
Condolences
To the family of Roy Holsclaw. He died on Tuesday at age 86.
A native of Lothair, Ky., Holsclaw graduated from University of Louisville dental school. He practiced in Lexington and became the dentist to the UK basketball team from 1959 to Joe B. Hall’s final season as coach (1984-85), and for the UK football team from 1959 until the end of John Ray’s time as coach.
Two notable patients were Dan Issel (bridge work) and Dirk Minniefield (front teeth damaged in a practice).
During a 90-minute interview in 2018 for the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History/University of Kentucky Libraries, Holsclaw spoke of being part of the planning for Commonwealth Stadium (now named Kroger Field) and Rupp Arena. He said Adolph Rupp weighed in on a discussion about whether the new arena’s capacity would be 28,000 (all bleacher seats) or 23,500 (a mix of chair-back seats and bleachers).
Rupp favored the smaller capacity, saying of the 28,000 capacity, “If I’m not coaching, we’ll never fill it.”
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Calvary Baptist Church in Lexington.
Happy birthday
To former NBA coach Del Harris. He turned 83 on Thursday. … To Ravi Moss. He turns 36 on Sunday (today). … To Derek Willis. He turns 25 on Sunday (today). … To former Georgia and Western Kentucky coach Dennis Felton. He turns 57 on Sunday (today).
