The Darius situation has been a fiasco for well over a year now, when the idea of sneaking out on his bad contract was first hatched. It’s a big money gambit by a big money sports franchise, rooted in greed and bad karma with Miles and his career the collateral damage… Witness the way Blazers Incorporated treated Miles and his injury vs. the way they treated the parallel injury of Golden Greg Oden.

Now it’s clear than the Machiavellian maneuverings hatched at 1 Center Court — to stick the contract with the insurance company and skate on the luxury tax and cap hits with a single blow — have failed… And we’re treated to the spectacle of a hissyfit by the oily Exxon boys, leaving no doubt about what the motivations of this crew have been all along.

Love your Blazers players, fans, but the corporation behind them has acted very poorly in this matter — at best.

1) to activate portand’s luxury tax, earning them roughly 270K
2) to take a long position on a player still recovering from injury
3) to torpedo portland’s free agent opportunities for the next two years

For #1, the team would have to sign Darius to a 10 day contract. After tomorrow, they will have to sign him for the rest of the season and the move would end up costing them more than they would get back from Paul Allen.

For #2, If any team signs and keeps Darius for the remainder of this and next season, then I don’t think there is any reasonable legal argument Portland can make.

For #3, if a team signs Darius and plays him sporadically for the remainder of the season, then cut him in training camp next year – portland could argue that the signing was made with ill will.

It appears this rule was not clearly thought through, and this case will more than likely result in c=some changes in the future. Unfortunately, for the Blazers, that is little consolation now.

The way I see it the DOctor was saying his knee isn’t sound enough to stand up to the rigors of the NBA, back to back games, 82 games in 6 months, etc. It isn’t that he is a cripple who walks with a limp.

Say he signs a 10 day contract and plays 4 games, Blazers lose under the rules, but what if his knee gives out in game 5? Doesn’t that prove the doctor was right?

Best case scenario: Blazers don’t sue, PTB wins an appeal, whatever stupid team takes on Miles loses on the gamble and inherits a “cancer.”

Worst case: Cap gets hit, lose goodwill with other teams, and earns bad PR that the team desperately has tried to erase from previous years.

I know if I was anyone short of maybe Mark Cuban, I wouldn’t really want to roll the dice against Paul Allen’s brigade of lawyers.

Darius is a scrub. If he can’t cut it on Memphis, there is no reason for another team to sign him other than to stick it to Portland. Never bet against KP and Paul Allen, when money is on the line.