Exclusive Players Tribune: "What the Hell Happened to Darius Miles"

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Miles was a lazy punk in Portland. Maybe he turned his life around but after he got paid, he got lazy. Calling Mo Cheeks an N-Bomb in practice. Smelling like Vodka. He would walk the offense when he got pouty.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

That was an unexpectedly great read.

barfo

Seconded.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

That was a really good article.

 

[Driew]

Miles was a lazy punk in Portland. Maybe he turned his life around but after he got paid, he got lazy. Calling Mo Cheeks an N-Bomb in practice. Smelling like Vodka. He would walk the offense when he got pouty.

Don't know if you read the article but I wasn't aware that he was dealing with his sick mom while in Portland. That is rough for anyone.

 

[BBert]

Throwing down all those dunks as hard as he could a la Kemp most likely contributed to his knee issues and shortened his career. He would have been better off learning how to shoot. But it sounds like he was too busy being Hollywood and skating by on his natural gifts.

 

[noknobs]

Editor’s note: People ask us about Sterling all the time, looking for crazy stories. But honestly, he wasn’t really around like that. Every once in a while, he would pop into the locker room outta nowhere with all his old-ass friends wearing mink coats and shit. We’d be buck-naked, changing, and he’d say wild-ass stuff, like, “Look at these boys! Look at my beautiful boys!” And we’d just be shooting each other looks like, “Yo! Duh fuuuuuuuuck?”

Holy shit...

 

[Driew]

Throwing down all those dunks as hard as he could a la Kemp most likely contributed to his knee issues and shortened his career. He would have been better off learning how to shoot. But it sounds like he was too busy being Hollywood and skating by on his natural gifts.

Lebron dunks really hard too.

 

[Dougnsalem]

I finally got some time to check this out. Great post Chris! Man, that was a great article. Shaq. Lmao.... Thanks much!

 

[Eastoff]

Don't know if you read the article but I wasn't aware that he was dealing with his sick mom while in Portland. That is rough for anyone.

I think a more accurate description would be, his only parent dying.

 

[Natebishop3]

Only one thing in Mile's life is relevant to me - his fake comeback from injury retirement just to screw the Blazers.

Unless he is living in a cardboard box under a freeway and wasting away from drugs and assorted vile diseases, I don't want to hear about him.

So let me get this straight.... if you were a player and a team called you up and offered you money, you wouldn't take it because it might screw your old team?

It wasn't Miles fault. The Grizzlies saw an opportunity to screw us out of some cap space and they took it. It was the Grizzlies that were being scummy by playing him when he never should have been out on the floor in his condition, but they wanted to screw us over.

Miles was just getting paid. He was a young guy that was hoping he could still play and he took his last chance at the league. Same with Roy.

I knew Darius when he was with the team. He was a really nice guy. I met his mother. She was a sweetheart. I have nothing but good things to say about both of them.

 

[dviss1]

Miles was a lazy punk in Portland. Maybe he turned his life around but after he got paid, he got lazy. Calling Mo Cheeks an N-Bomb in practice. Smelling like Vodka. He would walk the offense when he got pouty.

Don't be a dumbass. Really. The N bomb?

I'm 1000% sure he used the A version which has a completely different meaning. You be havin' some clueless ass posts sometimes...

 

[trailblazer18]

That was a great read! Very well written, completely changes my view on the guy now. It's amazing how far the education of players has come in 20 years.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

. I met his mother. She was a sweetheart. I have nothing but good things to say about both of them.

You'd better have nothing but good things to say about Mama Ethel.

 

[BrianFromWA]

So let me get this straight.... if you were a player and a team called you up and offered you money, you wouldn't take it because it might screw your old team?...Same with Roy.

I think with Roy it was a bit different, but I think we'll never know for sure (and probably, especially, now with PA gone). Roy was still getting paid from his amnesty waiver, but insurance was covering 17M of the payments still owed (somewhere around 1/3 of what was left, iirc). Because he was still under the timeline of the amnestied contract, he'd get set-off amounts (basically, half of what MIN was giving him PA now didn't have to pay), which seems like a good deal, except that those 5 regular season games meant insurance didn't cover him anymore--he wasn't "permanently disabled" if he could play again.

So Roy basically made an extra $5M for playing 5 games (the second year was offset also), but cost PA 17M to do so. As stated before, no one on here would give that deal up, but I think Roy wanted to try to play again after his PRP treatment. And I have no idea what would've happened if Roy would've gone to PA and said something like "I want to make some cash, MIN will give me 5M that costs you 17. How about a contract as a "brand ambassador" or something for 1M/yr for 5 years (or whatever)? I don't know that even the biggest dick at Vulcan would scoff at saving $12M. But I think Roy really wanted to try to play again.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Don't be a dumbass. Really. The N bomb?

I'm 1000% sure he used the A version which has a completely different meaning. You be havin' some clueless ass posts sometimes...

No sir. The story is somewhere. It was used in a derogatory way.

http://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=1977798


So your 1000% is 1001% wrong

You probably wont do it for whatever reason, but you should apologize to El Presidente

 

[BBert]

Lebron dunks really hard too.

Is this green font? I'm going to go with yes.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Don't be a dumbass. Really. The N bomb?

I'm 1000% sure he used the A version which has a completely different meaning. You be havin' some clueless ass posts sometimes...

Mo Cheeks almost quit the team after this incident.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Don't be a dumbass. Really. The N bomb?

I'm 1000% sure he used the A version which has a completely different meaning. You be havin' some clueless ass posts sometimes...

I think he's referencing the time that they got into a fight and Miles (alle-ged-ly) called him an Uncle Tom and other things...

The rift boiled over in January 2005, when Cheeks called out Miles during a film session, spurring Miles to unleash a profanity-laced tirade against the coach that Cheeks said included several racial epithets..

His version is that he said "I don't care if we lose the next 20 games b/c you're going to be fired anyway".

They've since made up (at least, Miles referenced it after Mo made the HoF), but according to multiple reports it happened the way El Pres said it.

 

[dviss1]

No sir. The story is somewhere. It was used in a derogatory way.

http://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=1977798


So your 1000% is 1001% wrong

You probably wont do it for whatever reason, but you should apologize to El Presidente

I don't need to because I'm not wrong.

There is a negative way to use the A version.

 

[dviss1]

I think he's referencing the time that they got into a fight and Miles (alle-ged-ly) called him an Uncle Tom and other things...
His version is that he said "I don't care if we lose the next 20 games b/c you're going to be fired anyway".

They've since made up (at least, Miles referenced it after Mo made the HoF), but according to multiple reports it happened the way El Pres said it.

The "N-Bomb" is not the A version. This is my point.

 

[dviss1]

People, I know the Miles incident well.

My point is that he wasn't calling him some ER version of the word.

He was talking to him like he was some A version of the street.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Yes, because the "cool street version" would cause Mo Cheeks to almost quit the team and grounds to suspend Miles for 2 games.

WIKIPEDIA DISAGREES.

Face it, Miles was a douche back then. He probably reflects back and grows up, writes a romanticized version of how things are now and everyone loves him again.

He was terrible in Portland. I was so excited for him to be here and argued we NEEDED to sign him for the future of the franchise, but his attitude as a Blazer put him in the category of Blazers I just don't respect (him and Stoudamire).

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

This is the contemporaneous thread of that incident:

http://www.sportstwo.com/threads/darius-miles-suspension-or-waived.65813/

 

[Mediocre Man]

People, I know the Miles incident well.

My point is that he wasn't calling him some ER version of the word.

He was talking to him like he was some A version of the street.

No he was not. He was suspended and Cheeks almost quit because of it.

 

[dviss1]

No he was not. He was suspended and Cheeks almost quit because of it.

Look, just like the NFL was talking about players trading the N word and being penalized for it.

They're using the A version and if you think Miles used the ER version, you're wrong.

Being suspended for it means nothing.

 

[dviss1]

If you think Miles called I'm ER, we have a bigger problem in this country than we know.

And fuck Wikipedia.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

No he was not. He was suspended and Cheeks almost quit because of it.

Looking back at one of the bbf threads at the time of the incident, you mentioned that a "little birdie that might have been there at the time of the incident" told you that Miles went off on Cheeks after being singled out for a defensive lapse. would it be safe to assume that same avian informant clued you in as to the nature of the epithets used? That is to say, that you might actually have a less speculative take on this than the rest of us?

 

[dviss1]

Yes, because the "cool street version" would cause Mo Cheeks to almost quit the team and grounds to suspend Miles for 2 games.

WIKIPEDIA DISAGREES.

Face it, Miles was a douche back then. He probably reflects back and grows up, writes a romanticized version of how things are now and everyone loves him again.

He was terrible in Portland. I was so excited for him to be here and argued we NEEDED to sign him for the future of the franchise, but his attitude as a Blazer put him in the category of Blazers I just don't respect (him and Stoudamire).

Imagine for a moment one black man, angrily shouting "Fuck you A version" for just a moment. Wikipedia .... If you only knew how stupid that sounds.

Again, don't be stupid. There isn't a black man on the planet who uses the ER version seriously.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Imagine for a moment one black man, angrily shouting "Fuck you A version" for just a moment. Wikipedia .... If you only knew how stupid that sounds.

Again, don't be stupid. There isn't a black man on the planet who uses the ER version seriously.

I wouldn't put it past Miles (who showed up smelling like booze in Practice). I'm firmly on Mo Cheeks side in this matter. He has shown throughout his entire Hall of Fame career and beyond that he is a man of integrity.

Like I said, maybe he grew up, but back then, Miles was a fucking douche.

 

[dviss1]

I wouldn't put it past Miles (who showed up smelling like booze in Practice). Like I said, maybe he grew up, but back then, he was a fucking douche.

Just stop. Really.

You made it seem like he was hard R'ing him and it's past stupid at this point.