Blazers threaten the rest of the NBA [merged]

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Ed O said:
I've said this before, jokingly, but I am totally serious now:

Portland should have claimed Darius on waivers.

They should have nabbed him after Memphis waived him and they should have had him sit on the bench, inactive, for the rest of the year.

Once he's cleared waivers, he can decide where he wants to sign... meaning NOT Portland.

If every other team (or at least two) can claim that he's good enough to take a look at, Portland certainly should have been able to avail themselves of the same thing.

Hell... the case is MORE easily made now that he's able to help (in the right circumstances) than when Boston or Memphis gave him a shot.

That Darius might only get into one more game the rest of the year? That would be tragic but he just wasn't QUITE able to contribute as an active player in two games. Tough break.

But, oh, we get to keep the cap space...

Ed O.
Click to expand...

I think the obvious issue with that is that the league might look at that sort of action as bad faith and say it's circumvention of the cap. The CBA has a catch all clause that lets the league prevent anything that isn't specifically covered under the rules but appears to be cap manipulation.
 
MrJayremmie said:
Or you don't know whats going on, maybe? The Blazers don't care if he is signed. They said they have knowledge that some teams want to sign Miles for one reason, to screw up Portlands cap space. Not to help their team, or because he is the best player they can get.

That is what the letter was saying. Don't forget, the league and the players union said he wasn't fit to play, not portland.
Click to expand...

You know what that sounds like to me. Good business sense!

Its true that the NBA said he was unfit to play, but they received money because of it. They also signed him understanding the risks.
 
I like Ed's other idea (i think it was his idea) . . . offer Miles some other job in the organization but not as a player. Executive director of player personel with a nice salary and benefits.

If Miles is still Miles . . . he will chase the $$$$
 
MikeDC said:
I think the obvious issue with that is that the league might look at that sort of action as bad faith and say it's circumvention of the cap. The CBA has a catch all clause that lets the league prevent anything that isn't specifically covered under the rules but appears to be cap manipulation.
Click to expand...

I understand that, but if it was an argument that worked for both Boston and Memphis ("Hey... he's a guy we want to take a look at. We think he can help. &c.") it seems that Portland could use it, as well.

The rest of the NBA appears to be avoiding the "cap manipulation" charges, and Portland should (or might) be able to have a "safe harbor", as well.

And, really, is it less fair on Shavlik Randolph that he's stuck at the end of the bench than that Darius Miles would be?

Ed O.
 
Threatening emails?

Those emails were not a threat, UNLESS, said team was planning on signing Miles just to screw Portland.
 
it's_GO_time said:
I like Ed's other idea (i think it was his idea) . . . offer Miles some other job in the organization but not as a player. Executive director of player personel with a nice salary and benefits.

If Miles is still Miles . . . he will chase the $$$$
Click to expand...

Fuck Miles. I don't care if we lose our cap flexibility, I do not want him with the Blazers organization on any level. He's a turd.
 
I thought of a better position for Darius . . . executive director of the Blazer dancers. Gig comes with a seven figure salary, comapny car (choice of car made by employee) and in charge of all hirings and firing of Blazer dancers.

Darius can then go to his "dance" clubs all day and write it off as a business expense.
 
The main point here is probably not the legal merits of the case. It's to make "sticking it to Portland" a costly venture, rather than a no-cost venture. Barring Portland having solid proof of some kind, the case is probably unwinnable. But it's quite likely something they can spin out and drive up attorney fees on both sides. If another team is willing to pay that much money to deny Portland cap space (a loss of cap space that would be far from crippling), so be it. But raising the cost always lowers the interest level in something. If the number of interested teams in doing this was 1 or 2 and the increased cost almost guaranteed by this e-mail drops interested teams to 0, Portland wins.
 
If it were the Rockets or the Lakers, teams would screw them.

Before this email, I hoped the Blazers would dodge a bullet and not have to pay Miles. After this threat, I hope Miles plays in at least two more games. Which team is going to have the balls? Probably none.

It would have been the Rockets if Kevin Pritchard didn't trade those 2 draft picks for Batum. Houston could have had Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez.
 
MikeDC said:
I think the obvious issue with that is that the league might look at that sort of action as bad faith and say it's circumvention of the cap. The CBA has a catch all clause that lets the league prevent anything that isn't specifically covered under the rules but appears to be cap manipulation.
Click to expand...

I think that counting Miles' 6 exhibition games prior to his 10-game suspension is an example of the NBA acting in bad faith.
 
Ed O said:
I understand that, but if it was an argument that worked for both Boston and Memphis ("Hey... he's a guy we want to take a look at. We think he can help. &c.") it seems that Portland could use it, as well.

The rest of the NBA appears to be avoiding the "cap manipulation" charges, and Portland should (or might) be able to have a "safe harbor", as well.

And, really, is it less fair on Shavlik Randolph that he's stuck at the end of the bench than that Darius Miles would be?

Ed O.
Click to expand...

Well yeah, but Boston and Memphis don't have the conflict of interest :)
 
PapaG said:
What I really don't understand, however, is how 6 pre-season games can be counted prior to a ten-game suspension. That is horse-bleep and makes no sense to me.
Click to expand...

This is really a touchy subject that should have been addressed when Miles was with Boston since everyone believed the Boston games didn't count.
It's a similar situation than what Monta Ellis faced when he was suspended 30 games this season, but it was by his team as opposed to the NBA.
The NBA calculates players' salaries on a 110-game grid, counting in preseason and potential postseason games, so he was fined $2.99 mil.
His suspension INCLUDED preseason games, so although he couldn't play anyway due to injury, even if healthy, his suspension included those games and he was fined without pay.
Doesn't it make sense then that Miles' suspension includes those preseason games with Boston? Or is there something that says NBA suspensions handed down are only for regular-season games.
 
igotask8board said:
If it were the Rockets or the Lakers, teams would screw them.

Before this email, I hoped the Blazers would dodge a bullet and not have to pay Miles. After this threat, I hope Miles plays in at least two more games. Which team is going to have the balls? Probably none.

It would have been the Rockets if Kevin Pritchard didn't trade those 2 draft picks for Batum. Houston could have had Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez.
Click to expand...

There ya go with the "threat" thing.

If I posted a sign in front of my house that said "Lawbreakers will be prosecuted" you wouldn't think twice about it.... unless you were a lawbreaker. Would it be a threat, or just a warning? Either way, you wouldn't have to worry about it unless your intentions were bad.
 
alex42083 said:
This is really a touchy subject that should have been addressed when Miles was with Boston since everyone believed the Boston games didn't count.
It's a similar situation than what Monta Ellis faced when he was suspended 30 games this season, but it was by his team as opposed to the NBA.
The NBA calculates players' salaries on a 110-game grid, counting in preseason and potential postseason games, so he was fined $2.99 mil.
His suspension INCLUDED preseason games, so although he couldn't play anyway due to injury, even if healthy, his suspension included those games and he was fined without pay.
Doesn't it make sense then that Miles' suspension includes those preseason games with Boston? Or is there something that says NBA suspensions handed down are only for regular-season games.
Click to expand...


Well, it appears that for Ellis, the rules are different than for Miles, although the situations aren't exactly similar.

To me, the pre-season games counting is the biggest travesty in all of this, and I'd like a concrete answer from the NBA on why those games count for Miles.
 
PapaG said:
Well, it appears that for Ellis, the rules are different than for Miles, although the situations aren't exactly similar.

To me, the pre-season games counting is the biggest travesty in all of this, and I'd like a concrete answer from the NBA on why those games count for Miles.
Click to expand...

They're similar in that both faced suspensions to begin the season, but Ellis' involved preseason games and Miles' suspension for some reason didn't.
 
PapaG said:
I think that counting Miles' 6 exhibition games prior to his 10-game suspension is an example of the NBA acting in bad faith.
Click to expand...


the whole point of the clause is that Miles was deemed unfit to play. 10 games is very generous. The Blazers are darned lucky that the threshold was not being signed to a regular season roster. That is what it should have been.

Again, this stupid move by your Blazers almost guarantees that Miles will be picked up by someone. Self-fulfilling prophecy. I would bet you dollars to donuts that both the union and Miles representatives have informed the Blazers and the NBA that they will be paying him the amount of his guaranteed contract if he doesn't have one to sign.
 
it's_GO_time said:
I thought of a better position for Darius . . . executive director of the Blazer dancers. Gig comes with a seven figure salary, comapny car (choice of car made by employee) and in charge of all hirings and firing of Blazer dancers.

Darius can then go to his "dance" clubs all day and write it off as a business expense.
Click to expand...

I honestly am not sure if I would want him to have an excuse to hang around a bunch of young women all day. Expecially the hiring and firing. I mean, lawsuit, anyone?
 
alex42083 said:
They're similar in that both faced suspensions to begin the season, but Ellis' involved preseason games and Miles' suspension for some reason didn't.
Click to expand...

True, but as you stated, Ellis had a team suspension, and Miles faced an NBA suspension. Perhaps the rules are different depending on the type of suspension. Perhaps not. Who the heck knows at this point, because Stern seems to make decisions on a whim depending on which franchise is involved.
 
BostonFan said:
the whole point of the clause is that Miles was deemed unfit to play. 10 games is very generous. The Blazers are darned lucky that the threshold was not being signed to a regular season roster. That is what it should have been.

Again, this stupid move by your Blazers almost guarantees that Miles will be picked up by someone. Self-fulfilling prophecy. I would bet you dollars to donuts that both the union and Miles representatives have informed the Blazers and the NBA that they will be paying him the amount of his guaranteed contract if he doesn't have one to sign.
Click to expand...

I'm not clear on what you mean, but if Miles is signed to a guaranteed contract for the rest of the season as opposed to a ten-day contract, I don't think you'd see any legal action from the Blazers.

As for the 10 games, Cut Mobley was just "retired" due to a heart condition, yet I imagine he could still jog up and down the court once for 10 games on another team. Actually, short of being either comatose or dead, anybody could step on the court for 10 games regardless of their health.
 
Last edited:
the whole point of the clause is that Miles was deemed unfit to play. 10 games is very generous. The Blazers are darned lucky that the threshold was not being signed to a regular season roster. That is what it should have been.
Click to expand...

The Blazers are lucky? The Blazers weren't the ones that deemed him unfit to play. If his knee wasn't that bad, the league shouldn't have said it was, and that playing may cause him to have to have a knee replacement down the line.

I would bet you dollars to donuts that both the union and Miles representatives have informed the Blazers and the NBA that they will be paying him the amount of his guaranteed contract if he doesn't have one to sign.
Click to expand...

You do know that he is still getting his money right? Its just not counting against portland's cap. And if you are talkin' about the Blazers having to pay Miles' veteran minimum because he can't get a gig... we'll take that.
 
Last edited:
Lots of info in this post from Blazersedge.com.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/1/9/715182/darius-miles-situation-exp#11276911

A nugget from the lengthy post...

This is about millions of dollars of luxury tax that have to be paid this year if Miles goes back on the Blazers’ cap number. About a team paying Darius for ten days to play in two games so they can collect an extra $300K or whatever it is at Paul Allen’s expense.
And Paul Allen is saying, “Not so fast, guys. I’m not really into payiing millions of dollars just so you can divide it among yourselves, and this is not the way a joint venture is supposed to work. And if you do this, I’m going to sue you so fast you won’t know what hit you.”

In one of the sidebar discussions, someone questioned the use of the term “perspective” instead of “prospective”, and said it was the wrong word. It is the right word, and tells the whole story here (do you think that Paul Allen can’t hire lawyers who will know the right word?)
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
MrJayremmie said:
The Blazers are lucky? The Blazers weren't the ones that deemed him unfit to play. If his knee wasn't that bad, the league shouldn't have said it was, and that playing may cause him to have to have a knee replacement down the line.



You do know that he is still getting his money right? Its just not counting against portland's cap. And if you are talkin' about the Blazers having to pay Miles' veteran minimum because he can't get a gig... we'll take that.
Click to expand...

These things seem very hard for other fans to understand for some reason. At least most of them.
 
These things seem very hard for other fans to understand for some reason. At least most of them.
Click to expand...

Yep. Seems like a lot of people come here, undeducated on the issue, and run their mouth. Oh well...

At the same time, if you think the Blazers said he was to messed up to ever play again on their own, and then released him and said he was medically retired just to get off the hook with his salary... and THEN sent this email threatening anyone who even thinks about picking him up... I can see where you would get upset.

But as much as some people want to spin it that way, its simply not what is going on.
 
This whole situation sucks. I wish Miles would just enjoy his millions and spend it and his time with his wife and child. Forget about basketball! :)
 
PapaG said:
Well, it appears that for Ellis, the rules are different than for Miles, although the situations aren't exactly similar.

To me, the pre-season games counting is the biggest travesty in all of this, and I'd like a concrete answer from the NBA on why those games count for Miles.
Click to expand...

The situations aren't at all similar.

Miles's games played in the preseason have nothing to do with his suspension. They count against the number of games played regarding medical retirement because that's the way that the rule was written.

Ellis was hurt during the preseason, so he could play not games. The rule about medical retirement has no applicability here.

I guess I don't at all understand how Ellis has anything to do with this.

Ed O.
 
MrJayremmie said:
Yep. Seems like a lot of people come here, undeducated on the issue, and run their mouth. Oh well...

At the same time, if you think the Blazers said he was to messed up to ever play again on their own, and then released him and said he was medically retired just to get off the hook with his salary... and THEN sent this email threatening anyone who even thinks about picking him up... I can see where you would get upset.

But as much as some people want to spin it that way, its simply not what is going on.
Click to expand...

I think Portland was resigned to the fact that he was going to go back on the books (and planned accordingly), but once nba executives started gloating to national papers that Portland was going to intentionally get screwed they took off the gloves and said that isn't going to happen.

A lot of Portland fans are okay with Darius going back on the books in a legitimate circumstance. We were even resigned to him going back on because teams wanted to take a bite out of the Blazers cap space. When the executives started getting ballsy then Portland got ballsy back with that email - yet there is very little outrage about the statements from anonymous executives saying Portland will get screwed over intentionally. To me this shows that to other fans this isn't about Darius Miles to them - it's about Portland getting less cap space to become better and now that Portland is fighting back they're like NO DAMNIT DOUCHEBAGS!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top