It seemed that Darius Miles would just fade into oblivion and be remembered as the chemistry-killing former lottery pick who was once traded for Ruben Boumtje Boumtje, and whose brushes with the law far outstripped his brushes with greatness. Or so the Portland Trail Blazers hoped.
Under the brilliant leadership of general manager Kevin Pritchard, Portland was right to distance itself from Miles after his failed and ultimately injury-plagued stint with the team formerly known as the Jail Blazers. Pritchard was right to apply for, and receive, salary-cap relief after Miles was forced to retire following his 2006 microfracture knee surgery. The six-year, $48 million deal Miles signed with Portland in 2004 -- one of many egregious mistakes perpetrated by the old regime -- wouldn't stand in the way of Pritchard's efforts to build a model franchise and championship-contending team.
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| Judging by this Jan. 6 photo, Darius Miles is indeed healthy enough to play in an NBA game. (Getty Images) |
Facing the reality that the $18 million remaining on Miles' contract will go back on Portland's books if he plays two more games with an NBA team, the Blazers are taking the Billy Hunter approach: They're threatening to sue. They are wrong on so many levels. They've picked the wrong fight, one they have no chance of winning.
The memo from Blazers president Larry Miller -- which several GMs said Friday they've yet to receive -- warns all 29 other teams that if they sign Miles simply to hurt Portland, they'll be dragged into court.
"Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard (their) rights, including, without limitation, litigation," Miller wrote.
How bold. How silly. How wrong.
Would it be dirty pool for a team to sign Miles simply to cost the Blazers luxury-tax money and, more important, cripple their ability to compete for marquee free agents during the next two summers? Maybe, but no dirtier than any number of other shady tactics allowed by the NBA's often ridiculous collective bargaining agreement. Fairness isn't the point anyway. Rules have to be followed, however absurd or unfair they seem.
"I am appalled by Portland's action and will aggressively represent Darius Miles," Hunter, the NBA Players Association's executive director, told CBSSports.com Friday.
I'm appalled, too. So are 29 other general managers and owners.
Did anyone threaten to sue when the Clippers acquired Marcus Camby essentially for nothing in a salary-dump deal with Denver? Should anyone have been appalled that the Mavericks re-signed Keith Van Horn, who hadn't played since the 2006 Finals, simply to include his contract in the Jason Kidd trade last season? Van Horn had as much chance of playing for the Nets as I did.
Did the Trail Blazers stand up for all that is right and just and try to block the Knicks from trading Zach Randolph, upon whom Portland lavished a six-year, $86 million extension only two months after signing Miles? The Knicks accepted Cuttino Mobley from the Clippers in the trade, even after they became aware that Mobley had a potentially fatal heart condition. The Knicks currently are petitioning the league for a disability exception for Mobley. If they get it, they will use that $4.5 million to improve their team -- and will use the tens of millions shed by dumping Randolph to make a run at LeBron James.
Go ahead, try to unravel all these obtuse NBA trades and transactions. If you spend enough time doing it, you'll be eligible for disability.
If you ask me, Miles will never stick with an NBA team or realize his immense potential. If past is prologue, he will once again sabotage any slim chance he has of enjoying even a moderately productive or respectable NBA career. There are plenty of reasons for this, but one of them evidently is not that he's physically disabled. As the Celtics and Grizzlies can attest, Miles can still run and jump and shoot a basketball. Sorry to say it, but Miles can't be blackballed. If he makes it through two more games without winding up in an MRI tube or jail cell, the Blazers' free ride will be over.
Think about it: If the Blazers get a reprieve, what's next? Can the Knicks sue any team that refuses to send them a first-round pick for Eddy Curry?
Miles was released by the Celtics after playing in six preseason games, which unbeknownst to a wide swath of league executives counted toward the 10-game threshold for canceling Portland's cap relief. The Grizzlies signed him and played him in two regular-season games before releasing him this week to avoid having to guarantee his salary for the rest of the season.
Less than a week after waiving Miles, the Grizzlies will re-sign him, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed. Miles' agent, Jeffrey Wechsler, said Saturday he expects the deal to be finalized by the end of the day. "Our focus is on Darius' career," Wechsler said. "He doesn't want to hurt Portland."
Miles' skills might be shot. His head might still not be screwed on tight. But if his knee is healthy, why should Portland continue to enjoy disability relief for a player who isn't disabled? As more than one rival executive said Friday, why should they be allowed to bend the rules to rectify a mistake?
This, of course, is not to say that Portland's rivals have motives as pure as the wind-driven snow. If Miles' money goes back on the Blazers' books, every team under the luxury-tax threshold would stand to benefit from about $260,000 in revenue-sharing dollars from Portland. That's shady, but no more so than Memphis' decision to acquire Shaun Livingston from Miami and promptly waive him this week. The Grizzlies sold a second-round pick for cash and cap space because that's their right. It's in the rules.
Portland will find little empathy in the league office, where commissioner David Stern works for 30 owners, not just Paul Allen. At the players association, Hunter works for 400 players. One of them is Darius Miles.
In the real world, disability frauds get caught all the time on those gotcha journalism shows; some guy with a spine supposedly compressed like a crushed soda can is filmed impersonating the world's strongest man on an assembly line when he's supposed to be home in traction.
You don't need a sting operation to see that Miles isn't bedridden or wheelchair-bound. He might be a knucklehead, but he deserves the same chance as any other knucklehead to earn a paycheck in the NBA if somebody will give it to him. Whether that decision is driven by stupidity, spite or avarice is for no one to judge. What matters is that such decisions are allowed in the NBA, where actions are often driven by all three.
