Are the Trail Blazers trying to black ball Darius Miles?

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xfactor

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Miles clears waivers, up for grabs
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By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
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NEW YORK -- Darius Miles cleared waivers and became a free agent. That much was clear Friday.

Yet everything surrounding the Miles affair -- the possibility of him returning to the NBA this season, and the negative salary-cap ramifications he would cause for the Portland Trail Blazers -- took a complicated and controversial turn Friday after the club sent a memo to the 29 other NBA teams threatening litigation against anyone who signs Miles or claims his contract off waivers if it is solely for the purpose of burdening the Blazers' cap.

The matter has been added to this afternoon's agenda at a previously scheduled meeting between NBA and players' union attorneys, ESPN.com has learned.

In a memo sent to its 30 teams Friday that announced Miles had cleared waivers, the league office acknowledged it received the e-mail Portland distributed.

The NBA in its statement also seemed to indicate that it would support any club wishing to sign the veteran forward.

Numerous league executives contacted by ESPN.com suggested Friday that a line in the memo confirming that "teams are free to sign Darius Miles to a Uniform Player Contract" and that "any such contract would be approved by the NBA" are a first in a league-issued waiver notice.

If Miles plays two more games, then his Blazers contract, worth $18 million total for this season and next, would count against Portland's salary cap and force the team to pay the NBA's luxury tax next summer. The contract had been removed from salary-cap and tax considerations when the Blazers deemed Miles medically unable to play and released him.

"Darius Miles is focused on one thing -- that's returning to play basketball. That's it. He's not focusing on any of those other issues," said agent Jeff Wechsler, who was on the phone Friday morning with union attorneys trying to devise a strategy to confront what many around the league were describing as an unprecedented situation.

Although the Blazers have exposed themselves to censure from the league office for the tone of their note to fellow teams regarding Miles -- as well as a hostile reaction from the players' union -- one team did express some sympathy for their position Friday.

"It's a lot of money," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPN.com on Friday, referring to millions in future salary-cap space that the Blazers could lose if Miles' contract is restored to Portland's payroll.

"For that much, I would be sending e-mails, too."

The Blazers' e-mail, signed by team president Larry Miller, states that if any team were to sign the free-agent forward "for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers' Salary Cap and tax positions ... the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation."

The full text of the e-mail, according to reports by SI.com and Yahoo! Sports, reads:

"'Team Presidents and General Managers,

'The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions. Such conduct from a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers' contract rights and perspective economic opportunities.

'Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation.'"

Teams had believed the collective bargaining agreement said Miles must play 10 regular-season or postseason games in a season for the $18 million to count against the Blazers. But six preseason games Miles played for the Boston Celtics counted toward the 10.

Before the Memphis Grizzlies waived him on Tuesday night to avoid guaranteeing his contract for the rest of the season, Miles served a 10-game drug-related suspension and then played two regular-season games, pushing his total games played to eight.

Had they not waived him, Miles' contract with Memphis would have become guaranteed for the remainder of the season. It was not clear whether the Grizzlies had planned to re-sign Miles to a 10-day contract after he cleared waivers.

Senior writer Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN.com.
 
First of all, Portland went out of their way to try to make Miles feel distant from the team and it seemed as if Kevin Pritchard tried his best to find a way to make sure was medically unfit to play when in reality he was still working out, still trying to get back in shape to play. Even practicing with the team as early as last season.

Now Larry Miller and Pritchard, a GM I haven't been a fan of, are trying to make it so the man cannot get work? That's preposterous. :smh:

I'm hoping a team signs Miles so he can go back on Portland's cap because he has definitely not received fair treatment by the team over the past 4 years.
 
xfactor said:
I'm hoping a team signs Miles so he can go back on Portland's cap because he has definitely not received fair treatment by the team over the past 4 years.
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It would be funny cause they would lose ground on getting FAs for this year and next year...

Now if he was signed through 2010 (seemingly the biggest offseason in NBA history by many) and another team picked them up, then that's Nelson Muntz funny...:D
 
just got signed by the grizzlies again

fuck the blazers

the union will sue them for that bullshit
 
The memo" sent by the Portland Trailblazers to its fellow NBA owners, is nothing short of a 'collusion' suit waiting to happen. No 'sensible tinking' owner will be governed by it, especially after witnessing what the MLB owners went through a few years ago.

That memo will do nothing more than elicit a few verbal expressions (by other owners) voicing, "tough luck, we wish you well, good luck,etc.:smh:

The problem the Portland Trailblazers have is of their own making, while they sek 'partners in crime'. hey will owe Miles the $19M remaining on his contract, including $9.3 due this year----which will be counted against the teams 'salary cap'; leading to Portland's inclusion in the dreaded "luxuary tax".:smh:

Sadly, for them, their effort in the 'free-agent' market will bwe trastically effected...no big names. Probably no small names,either. Well, there's always the 'Larry Bird' clause to fall back on.

The union says it will fight, "vigorously" to defend Miles' right.:yes:
 
I thought the reason why Portland don't believe they should pay him is because it was an independent medical examiner that found out that Miles had a career ending knee injury. Plus he didn't play enough to recieve 18 million according to the rules.
 
this isn't a case of portland trying to blackball darius miles.

this is a case of an apparently bitch-made executive who is unable to hold his water in a high-stakes poker game. had he held his cards close to his vest and kept a poker face, the trailblazers would have minimal risk.

but the bitch blinked, squawked, and now EVERYbody knows his hand.
he committed corporate suicide for his organization.
 
jms said:
I thought the reason why Portland don't believe they should pay him is because it was an independent medical examiner that found out that Miles had a career ending knee injury. Plus he didn't play enough to recieve 18 million according to the rules.
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You're right and wrong. An independent doctor did rule it a career ending injury but he's getting paid the 18 million whether he plays or not. The thing is that the money wasn't going count against their salary cap even though Miles would be getting paid. The 18 mil, if counted against their cap decreases their flexibility in making roster moves and puts that at or over the luxury tax limit. They don't want to pay that tax plus they also have Raef LaFrentz who being paid 12.7 million this year.
 
jms said:
I thought the reason why Portland don't believe they should pay him is because it was an independent medical examiner that found out that Miles had a career ending knee njury. Plus he didn't play enough to recieve 18 million according to the rules.
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Yes, it was an "independent" doctor but even that seemed shady due to how quickly they ruled him physically unfit to play despite the fact he was practicing with the team and felt no pain. Things didn't change until Portland landed the #1 pick and Pritchard pulled a 180, thinking he could use Miles' cap money to sign key free agents to build around Oden and B Roy.

The contract he signed is guaranteed so he'll get all of that.

The Grizzlies play tonight against Cleveland so the countdown is officially starting :yes:
 
cranrab said:
this isn't a case of portland trying to blackball darius miles.
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Looks like desperate times call for desperate measures...


League blocked Blazers’ bid to claim Miles

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports

Before the Portland Trail Blazers resorted to a threatening email to frighten rival NBA teams from signing Darius Miles, team officials late last week made a brazen bid to claim the forward off waivers only to be stopped by the league, multiple front-office sources told Yahoo! Sports.

So determined to salvage the salary cap space that would come with the foiling of Miles’ comeback from a devastating knee injury, Portland president Larry Miller and general manager Kevin Pritchard apparently were willing to stash Miles on the sideline and keep him away from other NBA teams.

In denying the Blazers’ move to control Miles, NBA front-office sources say that league executives in New York denied the waiver claim because they believed the Blazers were merely trying to circumvent league salary cap rules.

Once the NBA rejected Portland’s waiver claim, Miller sent an unprecedented threat of legal action for any team that signed Miles as a free agent. Several league executives were aware of the bid on Miles and reacted angrily over what they considered hypocrisy.

After playing two games for Memphis this month, the Grizzlies had waived Miles to avoid guaranteeing his contract for the rest of the season. Nevertheless, an undeterred Memphis promptly signed Miles, a 6-foot-9 forward, to a 10-day contract Saturday.

Portland wanted to prevent Miles from playing an additional two games that would’ve nullified the benefit of salary cap relief, the Blazers’ main retirement-injury benefit. Miles’ return to the Blazers’ cap could cost Portland owner Paul Allen as much as $8 million in luxury tax payments to non-tax paying teams.

Once Miles plays 10 games this season, the $18 million left on his contract returns to the Blazers’ books over the next two years and severely punctures Portland’s opportunity to sign a star player to complement its good young core of players.

After Yahoo! Sports reported last week that Miles’ six preseason games with the Boston Celtics counted toward the 10, Portland was frantic to derail a rush of teams who wanted to sign Miles and potentially damage the Blazers’ free-agency plans. Miles has played eight games toward the total of 10, and could reach nine Tuesday night when Memphis plays Cleveland.

The NBA Players Association has already blasted the Blazers’ email with Miles and promised to file a grievance with the league, and executive director Billy Hunter called Portland’s email an “attempt to intimidate the other 29 teams” and a “clear violation of the anti-collusion” provision of the collective-bargaining agreement.

When reached Monday night, the agent for Miles, Jeff Wechsler, said, “Once again, all we’re concerned with is Darius continuing his playing career. He’s shown he can play and we just want to make sure he has the right to work.”

The Blazers’ email to rival team executives and owners late Thursday night threatened legal action to any franchise that signs Miles for the “purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers’ salary cap and tax positions.” The email cited Wednesday’s Yahoo! Sports report that revealed Miles was just two games – not eight, as previously believed – from returning to Portland’s cap.

“The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions,” Miller wrote in the email to representatives of every NBA team.

“Such conduct by a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers contract rights and perspective economic opportunities.

“Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation.”

Miller told reporters in Portland on Friday that the team was not trying to block Miles’ return to the NBA but sending a message to rivals who wanted to intentionally hurt their financial interests.

“We were hearing a lot of rumblings and rumors that there were teams out there planning to sign Darius Miles specifically and maliciously to hurt our organization,” Miller said. “This was our way of responding to that and letting folks know that we were not going to take it sitting down.”

Portland signed Miles to a $48 million contract in 2004, a move that Pritchard had regretted when he took over the franchise. After Miles suffered a micro-fracture injury to his right knee in 2006, missing seasons, doctors representing the Blazers and NBA agreed that the damage was too severe for Miles to return. Still, Miles had insisted that he would try to come back to the NBA if the knee ever healed, and that’s exactly what happened.
 
Pritchard deserves his ass kicked. But not because of Miles, but because he's still paying Raef LaFrentz!!


Sat, Jan 10 F Darius Miles, who the Grizzlies waived on Tuedsay to avoid guaranteeing his contract the rest of the season, is poised to sign a 10-day contract with Memphis. And that likelihood makes some folks in Portland plenty nervous. If Miles appears in two more games this season, the $18 million remaining on his salary will count against the Blazers' salary cap. The development would make the Blazers a luxury-tax payer and limit their future free-agent spending. Portland is still expected to be under the cap this summer. If the Blazers let Raef LaFrentz's $12.7 million contract expire :eek: and Miles' contract goes back on their books, they would be approximately $7.5 million under the current cap. The figure would be $16.5 million if Miles never played. That led the Blazers to send the league's 29 other teams an e-mail, threatening legal action if a team signs Miles. "Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation," part of Miller's e-mail reads, according to SI.com and Yahoo.com, which obtained it. Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley would not comment publicly but was angry about the tone of Portland's note. It was believed that Miles had to play in 10 regular-season or postseason games in a season for the $18 million to count against the Blazers. But his six preseason appearances for the Boston Celtics counted toward the 10. Miles then signed with Memphis, served a 10-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy and played in two regular-season games for the Grizzlies. Miles played a total of nine minutes in his two appearances with the Grizzlies. He logged seven minutes Tuesday during the second quarter of a loss to Minnesota, and was active on both ends of the court as well as in good condition. (Yahoo! Sports)
 
Fuck em

If the nigga is healthy enough to play then he should be free to sign with a team and play

How you gonna tell teams they can't sign him :hmm:

Damn is that the same terrible contract the Mavs gave Lafrenz back in gap? :smh:
 
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