The Alliance headquarters is located on the 19th floor of the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The blinds were drawn tightly shut, keeping out the gloomy winter sun of January.
David Stern, wearing frameless glasses, looked down and flipped through several classified reports spread out on the table.
On the leather sofa across the table, Stu Jackson, the league's executive vice president, sat upright, with Arthur Levine, a senior inspection specialist who had just flown back to New York from Boston overnight, standing beside him.
The air inside was so stuffy it was hard to breathe.
The mess at MLB continues to escalate on Capitol Hill. Senator John McCain has already slammed his fist on the table during a public hearing, demanding that the FBI thoroughly investigate all banned supplements in professional sports.
United States Today and the New York Times are constantly focusing on BALCO Labs on their front pages, and even several NFL linebackers have been formally subpoenaed.
Stern's biggest fear was getting himself into trouble at this moment.
In the early to mid-1980s, the NBA was perceived as "too black, too thuggish, too drug-infested," and games were even delayed as a result.
The NBA at that time was even described as a "black drug-fueled league".
The global business reputation that was painstakingly built up in the 1990s must not be ruined by the urine samples of a few drug addicts.
"Tell me about the situation in the west and south," Stern said without looking up, flipping through the report in his hand.
"It's complete chaos, David," Stu Jackson reported in a low voice, rubbing his temples. "Our testing team in Orlando came up empty-handed. Juwan Howard and several veterans of the Orlando Magic kept the trainer out, and they found several bottles of banned substances with the labels torn off in the locker room. It's even worse with the Atlanta Hawks; the team is at the bottom of the standings, and someone in the locker room was even secretly smoking during halftime before the game—the exhaust fan was still whirring when the testing team went in. As for the Golden State Warriors, Clifford Robinson is throwing a tantrum again; his personal medicine box is full of unregistered painkillers, and the team doctor can't control him."
Stern snorted and tapped his fingers heavily on the table twice, "These idiots think they can get away with flushing pills down the toilet? Go tell the front offices in Atlanta and Golden State that anyone who tries to sabotage independent testing will be suspended without pay by the league office! And what about Dallas?"
" Mark Cuban was yelling at the doping control officer on the phone, claiming the league was targeting the Mavericks," Stu Jackson chuckled wryly. "They don't have a problem with anabolic steroids, the problem is with the abuse of anti-inflammatory drugs and injections. Dallas's medical room drawers are overflowing with boxes of Celebrex and Vioxx. To secure their playoff seeding, their big men have to have fluid drained from their knees before the game and then get a shot of lidocaine mixed with cortisone. If the latest standards from the World Anti-Doping Agency were strictly enforced, at least four or five rotation players from Dallas and the Memphis Grizzlies wouldn't even be able to get onto the court tonight."
Stern's face darkened.
This is the deep-seated problem left over from the unbridled growth of the 1990s. Old-school coaches and owners advocated playing through minor injuries, treating players as expendable resources, and forcibly accelerating their performance with painkillers and underground supplements. But once these shady dealings are exposed by the FBI or Capitol Hill, the entire NBA's commercial credibility will completely collapse.
"What about Boston?" Stern looked up at Arthur Levine, who hadn't spoken until now. "How's the locker room at Lin Qi's? Have they found anything out about his veterans and that Ben Wallace?"
Levin took a thick black binder, about two inches thick, from his briefcase and placed it lightly on Stern's desk.
" David, this is the Celtics ' complete team file, along with the independent lab test reports for all their consumables."
Levin paused, his tone tinged with undisguised admiration. "I've been doing anti-doping testing for fifteen years, and I've never seen such a clean team. All fifteen registered players completed double-blind lead-sealed sampling within ten minutes. There was no shirking of responsibility, and not a single person made an excuse to go to the sauna for dehydration."
Stern raised an eyebrow and opened the first page of the folder.
The pages were filled with line graphs of health monitoring generated by a computer system. From Kevin Garnett to Dwyane Wade, everyone's creatine kinase index, blood oxygen metabolism curve, and even weekly electrolyte balance data were all clearly recorded.
"They didn't use any nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) prescriptions; the entire team's anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving treatments relied entirely on cryogenic therapy and modern hydrotherapy," Levin said, pointing to the customs clearance documents in the attachment. "All the compound electrolyte drinks they provided to the players not only had complete ingredient-free testing reports from the Switzerland SGS laboratory, but their sourcing sources were also crystal clear. In the words of Boston's chief medical officer, any injections that mask structural damage are strictly prohibited in the Celtics."
Stern quietly turned the pages; he was well aware of the weight behind this report.
Behind this clean drug test certificate lies a professional operating system that was a whole era ahead of the rest of the league. While other established teams were still relying on painkillers, excessive salt, sugar, and fat in their hamburgers, and outdated experience to shorten players' lifespans, Lin Qi had already established a logistical system in Boston that was completely in line with modern kinesiology.
No wonder Gary Payton could run and jump so well in Boston, and his lateral movement to defend pick-and-rolls was even more agile than in Seattle. No wonder Garnett, who faced high-intensity competition in every game, could still be running all over the court in the fourth quarter.
This is all thanks to solid sports science.
Stern closed the folder, took off his glasses, leaned back in his chair, and exhaled.
"Stu," Stern pushed the folder to the inside of the table, "Take this Boston Celtics medical management policy document and use it as a model case. Redact names and send copies to every owner on the league board."
Stu Jackson was taken aback. " David, this is a top-secret business secret in Boston, Lin Qi's side..."
" Lin Qi is a smart man, he won't mind, because even if other teams get this document, they simply can't afford the cost, let alone have the guts to completely overhaul the old system like he does," Stern stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked at the traffic on the Manhattan streets. "Next week is the owners' closed-door meeting. Cuban in Dallas, Allen in Portland, and Dolan in New York —those guys are definitely going to challenge me again about the luxury tax and the schedule. When that happens, I'll throw this report in their faces."
Stern reached up and straightened his tie.
"They pay tens of millions in taxes every year, create chaos in their locker rooms, and in the end, all they do is protest against referees, get disciplinary tickets, and abuse painkillers. Meanwhile, Lin Qi, with a reasonable salary, achieved the best record in the entire league and incidentally promoted the NBA brand globally through Hollywood."
Stern turned to Stu Jackson and instructed, "Tell the referee committee to ensure the flow of the game and physical contact within the rules, and don't let those guys who can't keep up on defense ruin the game with pulling fouls. Make sure Boston has a spot at the All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles next month. Now that they've reached the top through the right path, the league should show the whole country what the future of NBA should be like."