Mark Cuban is putting his money where his mouth is.
And it has nothing to do with the Dallas Mavericks or the refs or David Stern.
It has everything to do with the future of sports medicine and the potential inclusion of HGH in the professional world of sports. According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas, Cuban is funding a study on the potential benefits of HGH use for recovering athletes. Here’s more from the story:
“It’ll be a two-year study that applies HGH to injuries preoperative to postoperative injury recovery,” Cuban said before the Mavs-Los Angeles Clippers game at Staples Center.
“So if you’re able to retain more muscle going into an operation because you’re working out and HGH helps your muscle. And you’re able to regain it faster, then we cut the recovery time.
“And it’ll be geared around one type of injury that has hundreds of thousands of examples a year. So we’ll be able to do a placebo environment without hurting anybody, right? So here’s the way we do it now. And here’s how we do it with HGH. So hopefully it will accelerate recovery.”
Cuban initially brought this idea up back in October at the NBA’s Board of Governor’s meeting, and it looks like it is already coming to fruition. Although there specific details have not been released, the prospect of this should be viewed as a positive in the long run. Not just for the NBA, but for all sports.
HGH has always been look at in a negative light, whether it is because they are cheating or robbing the game of it’s natural drama. But research continues to prove the positive effects it can have on the human body when moderated in the right way.
If Cuban’s study is able to produce some factual evidence for or against HGH, it will allow us to pave a clear path moving forward on testing, restrictions and punishment.
In fact, it may even improve the game.
Ever think of that?
“I just want to know what reality is,” Cuban said. “And if we can improve recovery time, obviously that’s a plus for all of us, but there was never any basis in fact for not allowing it for use [while recovering from injuries]. It was all marketing. So let’s find out. Let’s find out what’s real and not real.”
Phil Jackson speaks on ‘Melo’s burden
One thing that cannot be denied is that since taking the job as Knicks president, Phil Jackson has remained involved.
It seems he has been taking it upon himself to fix whatever issues Carmelo Anthony may have with the New York Knicks, do his best to persuade him to sign a new contract this summer. More from Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN New York:
“We’ve had a couple occasions to talk,” Jackson said at the team’s practice facility. “We haven’t really delved into the future as much as what’s gone on, getting to know each other type of thing. Trying to see how he’s feeling about playing.
“He’s had to carry a big load. It’s been a tough year for him. But it’s been a tough year for everyone. It’s not just isolated with him. But I think he feels the weight of it a lot more on himself.”
Jackson has seen the better side of the Knicks since joining the organization. The Knicks have won 12 of their last 15 games and have miraculously catapulted into a tie for 8th in the Eastern Conference with the sinking Atlanta Hawks.
It’s almost as if they have been playing for their jobs.
“Well, with J.R. [Smith] playing at the level he’s playing at now, yes,” Jackson said. “When Carmelo had to carry the load in scoring, a lot of times on his own back, and other people weren’t stepping into helping him carry that load, which Amar’e [Stoudemire] and J.R. have done, it could be a struggle. But now they have more than one option out there on the floor, and I think that we’ll give teams trouble.”
“Well, yes, it’s on the docket,” Jackson said when asked how much he has been involved with the Knicks on a daily basis. “Having to check in and see what the team’s doing and see what’s the health situation with the players.
“I think you’re always assessing the team and the players and how they fit together and what’s the mood,” Jackson later added. “Who’s not playing up to the level you want to see them play at, and who can produce more if they get an opportunity. So those are ongoing things. But we have an assessment at the end of the year that kind of synthesizes all that and then we can go forward from there.”
The rhetoric out of Jackson lately makes change seem imminent, but that change will be coming around Carmelo Anthony. Everything he has done thus far as president seems to be in an effort to bring Carmelo back.
Making the playoffs would be a huge first step.
“Carmelo’s really stepped into another level of trying to help players,” Jackson said. “I think that’s one of the things that we see that Carmelo can do and that he’s grown as he’s gone along. Those are issues that are not only on the basketball court. They’re off the basketball court, they’re in practices, they’re in the training room, in the locker room, where players learn to lead and push the team forward with their energy.
“And I’ve been fortunate to have coached two of the great ones who have been able to do that in Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant,” Jackson added. “But there have been other players, too. There’s not just those players that do that. There are other players that have to be leaders on your team, and that’s what we have to assess as we go forward.”
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.