Subscribe Feed (RSS)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.’”
Tags: Darius Miles, David Aldridge, Dwight Jaynes, NBA.com, Portland Trail Blazers
Does anyone think Kevin Pritchard is a little ’slow’. Maybe he lacks foresight and doesn’t really think things through? Does anyone doubt his prowess as an NBA GM? I think everyone is missing the point here. Kevin Pritchard knew all along that this media frenzy would develop if the ‘threatening’ e-mail went out. The question is why did the Blazers want all of this attention on this Miles issue? Was the intent to scare NBA executives? No. The intent was to get the media interested in the issue. (Sometimes the media forgets about us sometimes in the NW)
Pritchard had Larry Miller send out the e-mail instead of himself, so Pritchard can say “Larry was fed up, so he vented. We’re sorry about that.” It’s not bulletproof, but it gives Pritchard a little breathing room. If it really hits the fan, they can have Larry take the fall for the e-mail and the Blazers move on. It really shouldn’t hurt Kevin Pritchard or his relationships too much in the end.
My guess is that the Blazers know there is something fishy going on in Memphis. They gave away Gasol last year for nothing, and from what I’ve seen on the Internet, Memphis has a history of working in the ‘gray’ area with NBA dealings. Maybe the Blazers sent out the e-mail to get the media’s attention. Some journalist will see the bigger picture and start looking more closely at the Memphis operation and maybe the Blazers won’t look so smug in the end after all.
Was the e-mail dumb? Yes. But maybe the final outcome will be smart. Your take?
So was it KP or Larry Miller on the Grassy Knoll?
Just kidding.
I won’t say it is impossible but I really think that this was a decision made above KP. Tim you could be right but KP seemed a little frustrated by the whole situation in the early interviews that he did. He seemed like he was playing the good soldier but his body language said something else. Maybe he is just that good of an actor.
Memphis is a shady organization with a shaky owner. But I don’t see why the Blazers would want the negative attention this has brought to them and their polished new reputation they are working so hard to project. I really believe that Mr. Allen’s no-sport common sense number crunchers at Vulcan did this. It fits their past pattern. Larry was the man at Nike and I would think he has more commonsense then to do what was done. It really wreaks of Vulcan.
Here is the link to a good article on this topic
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=11196
I hope the Blazers fight to retain the lost cap money should Miles play the games…
2 independent doctors both confirmed his knee cannot handle the rigors of an 82 NBA game schedule. I hope the NBA considers this and allows the Blazers not be penalized. They were just moving on based on these medical assessments
As for this hurting us in the future I actually argue the opposite. If anything teams now know we are wise to anyone trying to hand off damaged goods to us
I still contend that while the email makes the Blazers look like jerks, and the details of what doctors said getting out, even worse. Memphis still looks like the biggest asses in this if Miles only plays a couple minutes and is not signed.
This is a team in serious trouble. They have the lowest or second lowest attendance in the league, and to me it all seems too fishy. I can almost understand a team like the Lakers or somebody playing Miles just to hurt the Blazers, as they are knocking on the door so to speak but how does this benefit Memphis other than the $300k or so they will get due to the luxury tax implications?
I’m all for Miles playing if he wants, and is able to.
If Darius is played in two games, then waived, can he then go after the Grizzlies for essentially using him as a pawn in their little game, and them not really wanting to use his services as a player?
Anyone who thinks that this issue will hurt the Blazers’ fan base is mistaken. NBA fans, in large part, don’t care about issues off the court. This issue is no different.
Just look at players like Kobe, the rapist, LeBron, the spoiled brat, KG, the mouth, AI, “practice, we’re talking about practice”, and McGrady, don’t even get me started. All of these players continue to get voted in to the All-Star game, despite their off-court actions.
So if these players, who the fans feel a connection with, are not hurt by their own actions, do you really think that a front office email will have any impact on how the team is viewed by fans? And for those who think that other teams won’t deal with the Blazers because of this, guess again. A GM would trade his own mother if he felt he was getting something out of the deal.
This whole issue will be forgotten by the draft.
Being the pragmatist that I am, I can’t help but think that the Trailblazers organization had (or has) evidence that one of more teams were *scheming*. That is, there’s a smoking gun somewhere that a team would sign (and play) Miles for the express purpose of impairing the Trailblazers. If that were the case, I can’t blame them for the shot across the bow. That kind of machination doesn’t just hurt Portland (in the pocketbook) it does a disservice to Darius as he becomes a pawn and not a player to be taken seriously. As for Darius, I think most fans would not begrudge him the opportunity to play. Coming back from that kind of injury takes enormous work and dedication. Judging from his play on the court, I didn’t think he had it in him, so good for him. And while it affects the Portland salary cap by millions of dollars, some fans will take comfort knowing they are messing with an owner who has the deepest pockets in the league. In this new era of practicality, how it’s dealt with will be an interesting case study.
And has anybody discussed the fairness of the league ruling that six pre-season games qualify as part of a player’s 10-game rule? Seems to me they don’t count pre-season games when it comes to player suspensions. And because they are pre-season there is an increasing likelihood that the comeback player would get minutes, none of which are meaningful except for getting back into game shape. I am wondering if this comes up during the next collective bargaining session.
I’m sorry kilntym, but calling Kobe a ‘rapist’ hurts your credibility and makes you sound biased. He was never convicted and anyone who read anything about the case knows it wasn’t rape (never has a victum been raped, then went straight home for sex w/ a boyfriend). Call him a ‘cheater’, but not a rapist. Sorry to get off topic, but ignorance gets under my skin.
I think the thing I take away from this after hearing the comments from GM’s and team presidents around the league…is that it doesn’t take much brainpower to be an NBA GM or team president.
I really think there wa sno downside to the Blazers here.
Worst case Miles plays and they lose the CAP room. Which is what would happen anyway. If Memphis does play games and uses him just enough and then waives him then the Blazers ahve potential options for a suit, they may not follow through, but they laid the goundwork.
And if Miles does play more than 2 games and then blows his knee out they can point to this email as them doing their due diligence to try and protect Miles.
Don’t beat on the Grizzlies too hard. When Allen moves the Blazers to Seattle, they’ll be coming here.
That email was a stooooopid thing to do…. It is very close to blackballing Miles and that can open up the Anti-Trust can of worms. Even Whitsit, Patterson or Nash would not have been dumb enough to do that.
Hey Jack the Blazers aren’t going to seattle. Wake up!
Hey, Harris (no, I won’t call you Mr. Harris), you are missing the point of my post. I was merely pointing out that these NBA players have been accused of a lot of different bad things, none of which damaged their credibility. Just putting rapist down was much quicker and to the point than to write “Kobe, the guy who cheated on his wife with a psycho chick who later accused him of rape where the charges were later dropped and who also bought his wife a multi million dollar diamond ring to make up for his infidelity”.
Do you seriously think you are pointing anything out to me that I didn’t already know? Get over yourself. While other people’s ignorance may get to you, your arrogance bothers me. ItsMrHarris2u… puh-lease.