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Mark Woods of Great Britain's Guardian writes about how uninvasive the NBA's four in-season tests a year are compared to some other sports, which surprise athletes with tests all year long:

It would appear to be a system open -- if you'll pardon the pun -- to abuse. But would the NBA commissioner, David Stern, be open to embracing Wada's position that the only way to achieving clean competition is to have year-round strict vigilance?

"I'm not sure I would support it," he said. Stern is not a fan of Wada, particularly when Dick Pound was banging its drum. "There's a little too much holier-than-thou stuff going on," added Stern. "And we think our players have stepped up and done the right thing with us. And although we will continue to work with them to improve it, we are not on some kind of a witch-hunt."

Stern does concede that maybe six checks per season might be more effective. But getting that signed off might be problematic. As one league source told me: "It's OK for the Olympic sports. They don't have a union to deal with, even if ours is pretty good." At the very least, he can argue, matters have improved since the most recent bargaining agreement began in 2004. Before that, veteran players were tested only once per year, during pre-season. It was hardly worth the bother.

It is often cited that steroids would have little impact on enhancing a basketball player's powers. "I don't really think it would help you that much," said the Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki. "It's more a skills sport as much as it is strength." It's not like the NFL, where a lot of muscle goes a long way, or baseball where, for example, some random drug picked up in the Dominican Republic might help, say, Alex Rodriguez to bash a few more home runs. Maybe that's why only three players -- Matt Geiger, Don MacLean and Soumaila Samake -- are known to have been suspended for an infraction since the NBA began its checking process for performance enhancers in 1999.

"We're pretty comfortable that our system is working," said Stern. "There have been some players who didn't make it through that have been disciplined either for cocaine or steroids or, yes, marijuana. And our players, we think, have stepped up pretty well and taken the consequences."

How can he really be so sure? Testosterone is among the performance-enhancing substances on the NBA's test list. According to research, it can be clear of the system within four months. Even if your team go all the way to the finals in June, surely that leaves enough time to escape detection come October?