Portland Helped Miles

by da34shadow on Jan 13, 2009 8:43 PM PST Comment 15 comments

One common truth that seems to have been totally disregarded in this whole Miles saga is that Portland helped Darius Miles by medically retiring him.

Miles did not fit with Portland’s culture. Much like Rasheed Wallace before him, Miles was tainted (fairly and unfairly) by the Jail Blazer era. Simply put, while he remained with Portland, he could never really recover his image. Now, Miles is seen as a tireless worker who wouldn’t let the man (or doctor) keep him down.

Miles did not fit with Portland’s roster. Portland needed to get younger, they needed to give rookies and sophomores a chance to shine and Miles was neither. Once he was injured, his shot of actually contributing to Portland’s roster was drastically reduced. Put it this way, if he was on Portland’s roster he would be sitting by Martell and Ike.

Miles was not getting better in Portland. This is related to point #2. Miles was not going to get playing time and, therefore, did not work very hard to get back on the court. His body was not getting better, while he literally wasted away in Portland. The medical retirement gave him a reason to come back. It gave him hope of resurrecting a once promising career. He has worked hard to get back on the court - that would not have happened if he was still with Portland.

Portland gave other teams a reason to give Miles a chance. Pretty self-explanatory.

Portland increased his salary. With the NBA admitting that they denied Portland’s waiver claim, Miles has a legitimate argument that a team was willing to pay his salary for the entire remainder of the season. If he gets cut by the Grizzlies, he can say that he was denied a chance to make some more money.

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I saw some Darius highlights on Courtside

from his game tonight. He scored 13(I think) points. He actually looked pretty good. Instead of flushing it, he is doing a lot of shakes, fakes, and ball pumps to get shots at the rim. He may workout for them. He even brought out the head bonk. I don’t know the answer, but has Darius ever played for a winning team? I’m not hatin’, just askin’.

My favorite teams are the Blazers and any team that is playing the Lakers.

by OCBlazerFan1 on Jan 13, 2009 8:54 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

maybe...

the first year he was in portland..

by idoltime on Jan 13, 2009 8:55 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yea

I think he did play on a winning Blazer team

There is probably no more terrible instance of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man — with human flesh.
Paul Muad'Dib - Dune (Frank Herbert)

My Translation: My Dad is a dude just like me, and my sons are dudes like me also. I love that.
Season Tix: Section 315, with my sons

by johnv59 on Jan 13, 2009 8:56 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

we finished .500

that year

Life is exhausting when you are this stupid.

by jonestr on Jan 13, 2009 9:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Do the Celtics count?

by Corvid on Jan 13, 2009 8:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I love these sarcastic posts

The Blazers tried to pull a fast one, and got caught. I love this team, but come on. You guys have to wake up. The front office went out and signed players that we can be proud of. Great guys with great game. But, the front office themselves? These are savy, tough business men. They are not boy scouts. Winning is everything, even if that means trying to screw over Miles.

by bad karma on Jan 13, 2009 9:33 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

And it is a good thing we did it.

We are not the jailblazers, but we are not boy scouts either. We are professional but we are tough. We aren’t going to be mean, but we aren’t going to go out of our way to avoid stepping on your toes.

It also helps all of us get off our high horses and prevents us from turning into the most self righteous fanbase ever.

".. is gumby an alien?"

by staylost on Jan 13, 2009 10:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Not the point

It doesn’t matter what Portland’s intent was, they helped Portland. Would anyone argue that, had he stayed with Portland, he would be playing today?

by da34shadow on Jan 14, 2009 7:35 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

i dont think they retired him

for his best interests…i honestly dont think his interests were even considered at any point in their decision making process. i wanted to take the PTBs side when the letter came out…but when news broke that they tried to pick him up off waivers…that was too backhanded to side with.

The most hated Blazer is like the least hottest supermodel - Sabonis4Ever

by Philthyanimal on Jan 13, 2009 11:44 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

this is a stretch of epic proportions

we clearly wanted to rid ourselves of Miles. In the end, he may benefit slightly from us asking the league to medically retiring him, freeing him up to earn a few dollars here and there in addition to the money we are paying him.

But to outright claim that somehow we are benevolent benefactors that are helping Darius is, quite frankly, somewhat embarrassing to read as a Blazer fan and a member of this site.

Philthyanimal had it right – all of this was done out of the team’s interests. They did it by the book, and legitimately (as far as we can tell), but they weren’t exactly sad about pushing him out the door or considering his interests along the way.

Rule #1 of nitpicking is to get it right.

by douglast on Jan 13, 2009 11:57 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Totally disagree

Maybe I did not write this clear enough, but Portland (no matter the intent) has helped Miles. Can you say he would be on the court with the Blazers today if he was still on the team? I really, really doubt it. Also, which point do you disagree with? In the end, I am just saying that Miles benefited from the medical retirement. Portland helped him.

by da34shadow on Jan 14, 2009 7:38 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

regardless of intent

the blazers helped Miles.

And I see the same thought posted already, so I’m going to second it and call it true.

Greg Oden, where posters happen.

by ratbastird on Jan 16, 2009 10:35 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Come now.

Has it ever occurred to any of you that since the teams doctors, and the NBA and the leagues doctors told the Blazers that if they encouraged Miles to continue playing on his knee, that he’d almost certainly reinjure it, and that this would also very likely lead to knee replacement surgery, that the Blazers simply concluded that they would not go down that path and encourage him to keep playing?

What some seem to continue to ignore is that it was the doctors appointed by the NBA and the Players association who made the ruling – not the Blazers. They simply reacted to the consequences of that ruling.

Now granted, the Blazers moved to benefit within the rules from that ruling, but it doesn’t mean that they “were responsible” for it. They weren’t. The league was.

The fact that Miles was no longer a fit on the Blazers, or that he had not played a full season of ball in 5 years, has nothing to do with the NBA and the Player’s Association’s doctors recommendations and rulings.

As far as whether Miles can “play”. It’s a little early to talk about that as well. In 5 years he has not been able to stay on the floor for even a single season. And, the more he plays, the more likely it will be that he reinjures himself. There’s a little more to playing, after all, than showing up for some garbage time now and then.

At this point, he doesn’t even have a guaranteed contract. And if he doesn’t get one pretty soon, it will be a good indication that the teams in this league don’t believe he can play – if that includes staying on the floor and being a reliable contributor.

Right now, as such, that question has not been answered – and 10 day non guaranteed contracts don’t answer it.

by Eben Calder on Jan 14, 2009 6:51 AM PST reply actions 0 recs