Nowitzki answers questions about doping in the NBA

[fasoulaki]

There was a funny interview given by Nowitzki in a german TV sport's show called "Aktuelles Sportstudio" at the tv station ZDF at Sunday 18th August 2007.

Here is the link for anyone who is interested in that interview and is fluent in German. The comment referring to doping starts at 3:30 minutes.
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/2167589

The reporter mentioned that in the NBA the schedule is quite tough. They play a game every second day and have to travel a lot across the whole United States.

Then the reporter said that in europe there is a big discussion going on about doping and he asked Nowitzki what his experience with "doping" in the NBA environment is.

In my opinion Dirk answered in a very stupid way on that question.

He said personaly he has not any experiences with doping in the NBA and that he could not imagine that doping would be of any help in a team ball sport, maybe for regeneration only but then the danger is to loose the feeling for the ball. So he personally does not think that doping can help but he would like to be proven wrong or he would like to be convinced of the opposite.



Quite hard to translate his sentence in english . In German he said "Ich lass mich gerne anders überzeugen"!



Then the reporter asked if there are doping tests in the NBA and Dirk answered that they get tested four times the season and the reporter directly replied that the number of test is not that much in comparision with the players in europe that get tested all time long.

Then the reporter changed the topic without letting Dirk to give a respond on that to the NBA referee scandal.

[Nemesis 11 (aka Sabas 11)]

Any german speaking members here that could perhaps translate this for us? Or explain what Nowitzki mean by his comments? Danke.

[Limitless]

Okay, I start right after the movie referring to Dirk:

Is for good performance in the last EC a good sign for the next one or should one be a little more careful about that?
DN: Well, I think that two years ago, no one really expected something out of us, we were struck by some injuries, Ademola Okulaja for example, Steffen Hamann couldn't play, so we were kinda stealth. But after we won the Silver Medal no one will make this mistake again, the pressure is up and the basket gets a little smaller. But I think that we have a good team and if we have a good preperation, we can have a super team.

Its about the Olympic Games as well, not just the EC. Spain, the host, is already qualified as the World Champion, so if they would advance to the final, a third place would be enough, but if not, you might have to go to a tournament in China next year. You're not well known for your optimism, as we can see, but the Olympic Games are kind of a dream of yours, which is not common for an NBA player - they often see it as something annoying. Why are you different?

Oh, I think it's a great expirience for an athlete to enter an Olympic stadium, living in the Olympic village, getting to know other athletes, so that has always been one of my dreams. We missed [the qualification for the Olympic games in] Sydney, we missed Athens, and now I'm starting to get older.. so we've got the chance and we have to take it, but it's going to be pretty tough.

Some people say it's the last chance for the so-called "Silver Generation" of Belgrade. It might be a plus, because you have played together for quite a while, it might be negative since there are no youngsters and you have to play more games because of the new mode, with the qualification round...

Thats right, but I think that the guys are still in shape, it's not that we have players over 35, 36, the oldest player on the team is maybe 32 or 33, thats a great age, the others are a little bit younger, so I don't think we're too old. In my eyes, we've reached our prime and should be able to perform in September.

When talking about more games... you start playing again in October, and we checked your schedule - that's unbeliveable. You play almost every second day, travel, have up to 14 or 15 games a month, so thats pretty tough. Right now, there is much talk about doping going on, so what have been your expiriences with doping in the NBA?

I havn't made any, I don't think that it'll be too helpful in a game, in a team sport... maybe in regeneration, but you have to keep your ball handling and everything... I can't see any advances, but ... someone can prove me wrong (smiles) (at about 4:10 min)

But you do have doping tests?

Yeah, we have four unannounced tests per year...

... altogether?

... exactly. And when I'm with the national team...

That is not very much, compared to athletes here. There is a referee scandal in the NBA. Do you know the man, who confessed and may be senteced to 25 years in prison?

Of course, we all know him, you get to know the referees in the League, and it's a big scandal...

Maybe not the best thing to get to know them, haha...

Of course, it's a little sad for the League...

Do you think he was on his own or might there be more referees involved?

I hope that he was on his own, otherwise it would be really bad for the League, but right now I think that we can put our trust back in the referees.

... and then they talk about whether he has more friends in Germany or in the USA, and I'm waaaaaaaaay too lazy to continue

[fasoulaki]

Or explain what Nowitzki mean by his comments?

Well, thats very hard to answer! I got the impression that he did not like to speak about that doping stuff! So he began to "stutter" and to say this stupid sentence that he would like to be convicend that doping helps in improving in basketball!

[DanMajerle]

Well, what should he say so short before Eurobasket? When he says "Yes, there is doping in NBA" he would have no possibility on concentrating on Eurobasket at all as it would be a big topic in US media, especially after the referee scandal and he would be the reason to lead NBA into a big crisis. If your MVP says "NBA players are mostly dopers" the league would get killed over there.

Regarding the sentence, think he ment "If you can proove it, I sadly will have to accept it".

[Zaknaf3in]

I saw this interview too, and got the same impression as DanMajerle.
Sad thing, either way.

[elaj]

As I read somewhere US NT was the only one which wasn't doping tested on the World Championship in Japan and before it.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

As I read somewhere US NT was the only one which wasn't doping tested on the World Championship in Japan and before it.

It's known that was the case in Barcelona olympics, but haven't heard that was the case in Japan.