LeBron James and PEDs

One of my friends recently shared this blog post with me on Facebook and asked for my thoughts on it.  Before I start picking through it, I need to remind everyone that the goal of this blog isn't to throw out baseless accusations but rather to have an informed discussion about PEDs and to educate those who want to learn about it.  If I were to spew baseless accusations and say everyone was on PEDs, I would lose any sense of credibility that I might have had.  With that in mind, I'm going to approach this post as a response of the original post that was shared with me and an O.J. Simpson-type "If I were to accuse LeBron James of doing PEDs, this is how I would have done it.

Dec. 9, 2009 - age 17

May 10, 2012 - age 21

The author's main argument about James' PED use is his increase in size since he came into the league.  James has unquestionably gotten much bigger since he made his NBA debut in the fall of 2003, but he was 18 at the time.  Males may continue to grow past the age of 18, or at the very least, their bodies will fill out.  So, the photo comparison of James when he came into the league and now is unfair at best.  To drive this home, look at these two photos of me flanking this paragraph (for reference, my birthday is April 28, 1992).  I am the same height (5'8") and basically the same weight (~175 lbs...I fluctuate) in both pictures.  However, if you look at the one from this most recent season, you'll notice I look a lot bigger and thicker basically all throughout my body.  This is because, as I said, I filled out and I am still filling out.  Now remember that I also go to school and have a finite amount of time to dedicate to exercise and contrast that with the fact that James' job is play basketball (and has been since age 18) and consequently he is paid to be in shape.  It's not particularly surprising that he would bulk up over the course of his career.  The better argument is that because we know PEDs are used mainly for recovery (right?), James has used PEDs to help increase his workload and has undergone uncharacteristic growth since he's been in the league, but that is difficult to prove.

These do not look like basketball players

The second point the author raises, also related to size, is the amount cardio exercise James participates in and how much CV fitness is needed to play in the NBA.  He says that there's no way James could be 6'8" - 275 lbs with his practice and game structure.  Note that James is a light 250 lbs, not 275 lbs, so there's issue #1.  The author continues saying that most basketball players have "natural runners' bodies."  Now, I don't know what runners he's looking at, but as someone who was spent a lot of time with runners and watching runners, I've never come across someone who looks like James, Paul Pierce, or Kevin Durant.  Even the point guards aren't built like runners.  The fact of the matter is, basketball fitness is starkly different than track fitness.  Basketball is mostly about short bursts of speed and explosiveness as well as lateral movement ability.  Track is about sustained speed over longer distances (and yes, 100m is "long").  A basketball court is 94 feet, and rarely are those full 94 feet being run at once.  Basketball players are always starting and stopping.  The types of movements required of a basketball player mean that they have to be larger than runners otherwise they'd never be able to stop on a dime and move the other direction.  So yes, while they are getting CV exercise, it's a different type of CV, and there's a reason why no one runs suicides to lose weight.

If I were to implicate James for steroid use, the angle I would have taken was his playing style.  James is one of the all-time great slashers.  He beats the crap out of his body every night he's on the floor.  Even when he isn't driving to the hoop, many of the shots he creates involving leaning into his defender and then shooting a fade-away.  He's one of the most physical players in the game to the point where one would think his body needs a little extra help to recover.  If a team wins the Finals, that team plays no fewer than 98 games, and it almost always play several more.  With the way playoff basketball works, it's hard to see how anyone could play the way James does every night and not have his performance deteriorate or suffer an injury.  A little HGH would go a long way, especially when gearing up for the playoffs to ensure good health for the championship push.