The bottom line is that the league has a procedure to determine if a player is medically unfit to play. But they don’t enforce it. There’d be no issue here if they did. This is not a “Blazer” problem, but a problem with the NBA and the Players Association. It’s their job to follow through with the player – not the Blazers. What this poorly drafted rule does is put the team with the player in a no-win situation. Once that ruling is made, the entire issue falls into the twilight zone “if the player” refuses to accept the NBA and Players Association ruling, and still wants to play. – precisely because the NBA equivocates and offers a road back if other GM’s want to provide that road. Which in turn, enables them to control what happens to the cap space of the team that has the player. No wonder it’s become controversial. Of course, people’s motives will be questioned. What does the NBA expect?

The issue is, after all, “what are they doing permitting him to play?” It was their doctors and their ruling – and that ruling stated that he had suffered a career ending injury. From the outset, this debate has been focussed on the wrong issue.

The Blazers are simply a victim. Once that ruling was made, they had three options. One was to keep him – but Darius wanted to play – and the Blazers had to confront the ethical and possible legal ramifications of letting him play for the Blazers. At the same time, the ruling completely destroyed his trade value. No one was going to touch him – as we’ve seen. All they’ve done is given him minimum non guaranteed contracts and taken a look – nothing more. Further, they put clauses in that protected them from liability in the case he was reinjured.

So, the Blazers medically retired him and released him.

Now the bottom line from where I sit is that the league should not even have a “10 game ruling” related to the Blazers cap space. That’s positiviely silly. They say on the one hand that the player has suffered a career ending injury, but on the other, they leave the door open for the player to actually “suffer” that injury and refuse to close it. Further, that 10 day ruling sets up all the controversy with the other teams. This isn’t an issue of what “Darius” wants. It’s an issue of other GM’s being able to dance around the 10 day ruling whose end result will be to damage the Blazers – while pretending that they’re actually giving the poor kid another shot – which makes them the good guy.

It’s a bad rule, poorly thought out, and rarely tested. All we’re seeing today is the end result of what happens in this set of unique circumstances.

The Blazers should, in fact, challenge this ruling. It makes no rational sense. If the NBA determines that a player has suffered a career ending injury – then that player should come off the teams cap space – period. Further, they should never set up a condition where other GM’s can affect the Blazers cap space by manipulating their rosters.

If it looks like duck, walks like a duck, and acts like a ducks, it’s probably a duck. And that is exactly what’s happening with the other GM’s right now. They can hide behind the rule and damage the Blazers. Because its the rule.

By the way, I happen to think that the Blazers attempt to claim Miles off of waivers was part of a legal stragegy. This move further backs the NBA into a corner. Watch an learn. This is in the very early stages – and the game is a little more subtle than you might think. Stern knows it. He’s got a poor rule, and the effect of the rule is to always damage the team that has the player that is ruled medically unfit to play. This rule has to be changed.

 man, this is going to be made into a movie if portland comes out on top in all this!