Darius Miles Working Out With Charlotte

[ABM]

FWIW

http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2010/6/15/1518589/charlotte-bobcats-free-agent

The Charlotte Bobcats are conducting a multi-day mini-camp with free agents from all around the world (and the D-League) beginning this morning according to a press release forwarded to Ridiculous Upside (me) Monday.

The players will be split into two groups in the morning session for drills and workouts and will scrimmage during the afternoon sessions. The players will participate in two sessions each on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a morning session only on Thursday. The morning sessions will not be open to the media.

More than likely, it'll be a sort of Summer League team tryout - which is still exciting as it's another opportunity to play in front of NBA decision makers.

The players will include two former NBA lottery selections, six players that played in the D-League last season, the son of Craig Hodges,a former D-League call-up under Quin Snyder, a teammate of Reggie Williams at VMI, two players whose last mentions in NBA circles were due to drug possession and one player that already claims to have an invite to the Summer League team and more!

Since I'm a good dude, I went ahead and wrote up some brief scouting reports on everyone after the jump.............

.....Darius Miles - Darius Miles is back. Miles, you'll remember, has already attempted one comeback following what was supposed to be a career-ending knee injury. I can't necessarily say that comeback was succesful, but he did end up playing 34 NBA games so it didn't fail miserably either. Following that season, though, he was arrested for marijuana possession and the Grizzlies worried about him wrongly influencing O.J. Mayo. I don't know what he did this past season, but I sincerely hope his life is back on track and he's able to return to form (both on the court and in the movies)....

 

[Wheels]

man I hop ethey dont play him in 10 games

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I'd be very, very, very surprised if he ever plays in another NBA game. He's done. He's a waste of a roster spot. Why give him a roster spot would you could give it to a young guy who at least had some potential.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Hell, good for him. That said, I was really tired of Miles by the time he left here and was happy to see him go, but as vilified as Miles was for coming back from his "medical retirement" and killing the Blazers capspace last summer, I'll root for the guy; he's apparently rediscovered his love for the game and still wants to compete -- or at least earn a paycheck.

 

[Ed O]

It's amazing that teams keep giving him chances just to screw over the Blazers.

Ed O.

 

[crandc]

It's amazing that teams keep giving him chances just to screw over the Blazers.

Ed O.

Ed, would it still impact the Blazers financially? I thought that was already done - could there be more?

 

[e_blazer]

Ed, would it still impact the Blazers financially? I thought that was already done - could there be more?

I believe that Ed's being a bit sarcastic towards those who have said that the Grizzlies only signed Darius to screw the Blazers. Since he's off the Blazers' books after this year, his signing with another team would have no impact upon the Blazers' cap space.

The way I see it, Darius was a heck of a talent and the Bobcats are obviously willing to take a look. That said, there's a long way to go from taking a look to signing a player.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'm glad Darius keeps getting chances (or at least, isn't being black-balled). If he can prove that he deserves one of the 450 roster spots in the league, more power to him. I don't blame HIM for the Blazers' cap space problems/etc., I blame the league.

 

[hasoos]

He isn't on our books anymore, so why does anybody give a shit?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

In a related story North Carolina drug dealers report a sudden spike in marijuana sales...

 

[Ed O]

Ed, would it still impact the Blazers financially? I thought that was already done - could there be more?

e_blazer nailed it... I was taking a poke at those who said (and keep saying) that Miles wasn't signed and used by the Grizzlies for any other reason than that it would hose the Blazers' free agent plans.

Ed O.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I'd be very, very, very surprised if he ever plays in another NBA game. He's done. He's a waste of a roster spot. Why give him a roster spot would you could give it to a young guy who at least had some potential.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[ABM]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/16/1503624/miles-hopes-to-reinvent-himself.html

The obvious question is why?

Why would a guy with Darius Miles' money, who's been out of basketball more than a year, who suffered a knee injury so severe it was declared career-ending, show up for a free-agent camp?

Simple, Miles said: He has a 2-year-old son who never saw him play. He'd like the kid to have that memory.

He's healthy - healthier than he's been in years - and the Charlotte Bobcats seem genuinely interested. Larry Brown has spent a decade telling 6-foot-9 combo forward Miles how much he'd like to coach him. It was like a mantra: "Darius ... How are you? ... Wanna be on my team?"

Miles doesn't pretend to be the freakish athlete that once made him the third pick of the 2000 draft. But he doesn't need all that for a team searching for affordable options at the end of the bench.

Miles said he's reinventing himself as a player. It sounds similar to what former Charlotte Hornet Larry Johnson did after his back wore out. The Johnson who finished his career as a New York Knick wasn't nearly such a physical force, but what he lost in explosion, he compensated for with refinement.

"Those injuries, they make you mature," Miles said after the first of three days in a free-agent minicamp at Time Warner Cable Arena. "They make your game mature - they make you work on other things.

"I had a God gift and never thought it would be taken away from me. I probably would have never worked on my jump shot - never ! - because I could always get to the basket and jump higher than everybody else. But it got to a point where you can't do that no more."

In 2006, he had micro-fracture surgery to repair his right knee. The Portland Trail Blazers had that injury declared "career-ending" to protect the franchise under the league's insurance and salary cap-management provisions.

Miles was supposed to play along, not a bad deal since he'd continue to collect about $9million a season. Except he wasn't comfortable giving up the sport.

So he rehabbed and trained, and the Memphis Grizzlies played him 34 games two seasons ago.

He sat out the 2009-10 season, after a misdemeanor marijuana-possession charge in Memphis.

This isn't the first time Brown has taken on a veteran with a past (see Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace and Stephen Jackson), so he's happy to explore what Miles has left.

"He's in pretty good shape, he's still relatively young and he has a real chance," Brown said. "Been 10 years I tried to get him in a gym. Finally did it."

 

[oldmangrouch]

It's funny.

When Miles played here, I thought he was a crappy player, but I had no personal animosity against him. After his complicity in screwing the team over - I hate him with a passion. The Blazers treated that turd very well, and paid him far more than he earned.....and he repaid them with one of the purest acts of malice you will ever see.

I hope he winds up broke, with both legs amputated, living in a cardboard box under a freeway, with rats gnawing his gangrenous stumps. Of all exBlazers, he and Walton are the only 2 I will never forgive.

 

[jlprk]

Miles just wanted to play, and still does. Pritchard wouldn't let him in order to either collect the insurance or give it in a trade. Did the same trick for LaFrentz. LaFrentz could have played, too, but he too was held out for a long time. I don't blame Miles for wanting to play.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Miles just wanted to play, and still does. Pritchard wouldn't let him in order to either collect the insurance or give it in a trade. Did the same trick for LaFrentz. LaFrentz could have played, too, but he too was held out for a long time. I don't blame Miles for wanting to play.

I agree with this. How can you blame him for wanting to play?

 

[oldmangrouch]

I agree with this. How can you blame him for wanting to play?

When he was medically retired, he got $18 million from the Blazers.

$18 million. Say it slowly.

When he decided to make his fake comeback, did he return that money to the Blazers? No. I love the game too - but if somebody paid me $18 million to not watch a game for 2 years, I would be more than happy to take that deal. I sure as hell wouldn't turn around and look for a chance to frak them over!

 

[VanillaGorilla]

When he was medically retired, he got $18 million from the Blazers.

$18 million. Say it slowly.

When he decided to make his fake comeback, did he return that money to the Blazers? No. I love the game too - but if somebody paid me $18 million to not watch a game for 2 years, I would be more than happy to take that deal. I sure as hell wouldn't turn around and look for a chance to frak them over!

Why do you think he is trying to come back again? I just don't think his motivation for coming back was to screw over the Blazers.

 

[BGrantFan]

Why do you think he is trying to come back again? I just don't think his motivation for coming back was to screw over the Blazers.

My guess is he's like a lot of NBA players and is close to being broke, even after making tens of millions of dollars.

 

[BlazerWookee]

I agree with this. How can you blame him for wanting to play?

Better late than never, I suppose...

 

[MrSelfDestruct]

My guess is he's like a lot of NBA players and is close to being broke, even after making tens of millions of dollars.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

I wouldn't be surprised to see him go to Europe if he doesn't make a squad here. My guess is it's completely about the money.

It's not like A) The son will remember seeing him play since he is only two years old and B) Darius doesn't have access to game tape from when he did play to show his son.

 

[jlprk]

1) What's wrong with wanting to play to earn money? Do you think your heroes would go through the rigors for free?

2) Why do you say it's better late than never, when he wanted to play all along? He kept saying so in the local media, and his agent complained that he was ready, willing, and able. But Pritchard held him out for the insurance scheme.

3) In what way did Miles get paid $18M only because he failed the medical exam? I thought he was being paid that all along, while he wasn't allowed to play. Are you saying he got a giant bonus for flunking the doctor's exam?

 

[BlazerWookee]

1) What's wrong with wanting to play to earn money? Do you think your heroes would go through the rigors for free?

2) Why do you say it's better late than never, when he wanted to play all along? He kept saying so in the local media, and his agent complained that he was ready, willing, and able. But Pritchard held him out for the insurance scheme.

3) In what way did Miles get paid $18M only because he failed the medical exam? I thought he was being paid that all along, while he wasn't allowed to play. Are you saying he got a giant bonus for flunking the doctor's exam?

2) If he really wanted to play, he would have rehabbed after his knee surgery. You don't get infections if you're going to a physical therapist every day like you're supposed to.

3) Because his salary was paid by insurance, it wasn't subject to income taxes.

 

[Nikolokolus]

2) If he really wanted to play, he would have rehabbed after his knee surgery. You don't get infections if you're going to a physical therapist every day like you're supposed to.

3) Because his salary was paid by insurance, it wasn't subject to income taxes.

False on both counts. You can get an infection anytime anywhere after a surgery and Darius wasn't paid through insurance; the team paid him his salary and they in turn were reimbursed for part of it through insurance.

 

[jlprk]

3) Nice, Wookee. I appreciate the prank, but watch out...the IRS is never amused.