I said I didn’t think I’d write any more about Darius Miles, but then here comes my old pal David Aldridge, one of the most credible and plugged-in NBA writers out there, with some fresh stuff in a column for NBA.com:

At issue, though, is how hard the Blazers may have fought behind the scenes to try and keep Miles on the sidelines.

Portland has cited the testimony of two doctors who said that Miles’ microfracture injury was, in their words, “the worst” they’d ever seen as part of the reasoning it felt so strongly that Miles would never play again. But just disclosing that information may have violated privacy rules that have been in place since 2003, when a new federal law chilled disclosure of details of injuries to the public.

Also at issue is what Blazers officials may have said to other teams this summer, when several teams were thinking of signing Miles to a free-agent contract. One source has told me that the Blazers raised questions about Miles to his team during the offseason. And no one seems to know how word of Miles’ impending 10-game suspension leaked out.

Meanwhile, teams around the league worried about the precedent the Blazers set with their threat of legal action against their partners. Playing hardball is a way of life around NBA front offices; you do what you can under the rules to help yourself, and if it hurts your opposition, well, that’s usually considered a plus. But will other teams get ideas now that Portland has set this kind of precedent?

“Today, it’s Miles and the salary cap implications,” one Eastern Conference team president said. “Tomorrow, it may be [Cavaliers owner] Dan Gilbert telling the Knicks, ‘don’t sign LeBron because it’ll cost me a lot of money.’”

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