NBA slammed by Lynch for steroid policy

WASHINGTON -- One lawmaker called the NBA's penalties for steroid users ''a joke." Another rated the league's steroid-testing policy ''the weakest" among the major professional sports Congress has examined. But what really rankled NBA commissioner David Stern yesterday was Representative Stephen Lynch calling the league's testing program ''pathetic."

''The situation almost invites steroid use because there is no effective testing going on," Lynch, a South Boston Democrat, said during a hearing by the House Committee on Government Reform on the NBA's steroid policy. ''It troubles me greatly."

Stern snapped at Lynch soon after the congressman asked a panel that also included NBA union chief Billy Hunter if the brawl at the Pistons-Pacers game Nov. 19 prompted the league to find reasonable cause to test any of the players for steroids. Lynch noted that steroids have been linked to aggressive behavior, commonly known as '' 'roid rage."

When Hunter tried to suggest it would take ''a quantum leap" to link steroids to the altercation, Lynch cut him short.

''I'm not saying it was caused by steroid use," Lynch told Hunter, all but shouting. ''All I'm saying is, you don't know because you didn't test the players."

At that, Stern broke in, rebuking Lynch for calling the policy pathetic and complaining the congressman was portraying the players involved in the brawl as steroid users simply because there were no test results to absolve them.

''On behalf of the players of the National Basketball Association," Stern said, ''I would like to say that the guilt you seek to attribute to them on that basis is ill-taken and very unfair."

Yet Stern later acknowledged weaknesses in the league's policy and vowed to strengthen the program in the next collective bargaining contract (the current agreement expires June 30). Hunter said the players also favor beefing up the program.

''I know we will not have a problem adopting a policy that both the NBA and the nation can be proud of," Hunter said.

The committee was not inclined to wait, however. Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who chairs the panel, said he would introduce a measure next week that ''will have more teeth" than a similar bill filed recently by Representative Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican. Davis hopes to pair his bill with one being drafted by Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona.

Washington Wizards guard Juan Dixon and Keith Jones, a trainer for the Houston Rockets, joined Stern and Hunter in denying steroids were a problem in the NBA. But several lawmakers argued that the league had no adequate test results to support the claims, and the committee released a report from the World Anti-Doping Agency that showed 26 basketball players in international competition tested positive for steroids in preliminary screenings last year, up from 17 in 2003. The players and the nations they represented were not identified, but the findings seemed to contradict claims by the witnesses that basketball players do not consider steroids beneficial.

''Clearly, there are some players who believe they're helpful," Richard Buchanan, the NBA's general counsel, acknowledged.

While the NBA came under scrutiny, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue told the House Energy and Commerce Committee he opposed legislation that would allow the federal government to regulate drug testing in professional sports.

''The drug-testing program in the NFL is not a problem that needs federal legislation in order to be fixed," Tagliabue said.