We can't say he had a "rampant" problem with anything other than booze(which he admitted). For all we know he made the bad decision of popping an ecxtacy pill on a few occasions. Not a good decision for sure, but that doesn't put him on the Josh Hamilton level either.
you think he failed a drug test 3 times on X (whats needed to even approach suspension level) and then when he crossed the line again the league decided thats worth 2 years off?
I may be wrong, but I thought you only had to fail once under the "drugs of abuse" category to get a ban. I think it's part of the CBA, they can kick you out for one failed test.
If thats true, my fault then, but regardless, i don't think (to me) there's any question given his background and upbringing, the rumors about the drugs in question, or the sevarity of the suspension leave much doubt as to what was involved, and it wasen't pot or an "opps, one time and i got unlucky" situation.
But at the end of the day, who cares? I could care less, i like the kid alot, and his return to form, from whatever demons he had, is one of the best stories in the NBA this year (to me anyway).
My only point is, i don't think it was a question of being "in shape" that kept him from being signed. I think thats a PC way of saying "we have serious questions about your off the court activities (which appear, for the moment to be a non-issue in denver) and we are goign to sign a diffrent project player."
I can see why they made that call, birdman WOULD have been just as much of a project as POB on paper, though i thought it was a no brainer to sign him once our choices got that dire.
We missed a helpful piece there, no doubt.