OAKLEY'S CHARGES RECKLESS

Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders can only speak for his team, which is
what he probably wished Charles Oakley had done in making his charges
of rampant marijuana use in the NBA.

The Toronto Raptors forward, in a New York Post story on Wednesday,
called the league's drug-testing policy a "joke" and said three out of
every five players uses the illegal substance. "You got guys out there
playing high every night," Oakley said. "You got 60 percent of your
league on marijuana. What can you do?"

NBA commissioner David Stern challenged Oakley to provide evidence for
his allegations. Saunders said Friday he felt Oakley was reckless in
making such a statement without specifics.

"I'll tell you what, for anyone to make a blanket statement like that,
that doesn't make a whole lot of sense," the Wolves coach said. "He
might have proof. I don't know. I haven't heard those type of things."

While it is possible that some NBA players smoke marijuana without
detection veterans are tested only once a year, in the preseason _
Oakley's polling methods are a little shaky.

"It's not fair to the players in the league when someone comes out and
says something like that," Saunders said. "Unless there's
documentation that they know."

Wolves assistant coach Greg Ballard said Oakley's comments reminded
him of his playing days in the 1980s, when there were allegations that
up to 75 percent of NBA players used drugs.

After retiring, Ballard said, he came to learn that _ at least for one
of the teams on which he played the estimate was pretty close.