Blazers Edge Exclusive: Darius Miles's Agent Reacts to "The Letter"
by Ben Golliver on Jan 9, 2009 1:03 PM PST
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PrintI spoke by phone this afternoon with Darius Miles's agent, Jeff Wechsler, to get his reaction to the letter sent by the Portland Trail Blazers to all 30 NBA teams regarding potential legal action if a team were to sign Darius with the intent of mucking up Portland's salary cap situation.
Wechsler reiterated his earlier statement that "Darius doesn't want to affect Portland or its players" but is simply looking to "continue his basketball career." Wechsler continued, "my job is to get Darius a job" and that he currently was pursuing "multiple options" on behalf of Darius.
Wechsler would not comment regarding which teams specifically were interested or about whether Portland's letter would help or hurt Darius's chances at securing future employment. He also would not comment regarding whether he knew who leaked the letter to the media. The feeling that I came away with was: if 30 GMs received such a letter, it could have been anyone. Wechsler would also not comment publicly on whether letters of this kind are common or not or if they are usually kept behind closed doors.
Asked if he knew that the 6 preseason games that Darius played for the Celtics would count towards the 10 games needed to put Darius's salary back on Portland's cap, Wechsler stated he didn't know until the news became public earlier this week because "the 10 games was never our focus" and that Portland's cap situation was not his concern, getting Darius a contract was.
He also made a point of asking me if I saw Darius play for Memphis. I told him that, unfortunately, I only saw highlights posted on NBA.com. He seemed quite happy with Darius's on-court performance and seemed, at least to me, confident that Darius would see further action this season .
To be continued, obviously.
I will have a long practice write-up this afternoon -- complete with KP's statements on the matter, a clarifying note from Tom Penn regarding Raef LaFrentz's contract, and some pictures of the Blazers who were sporting head bands for the first time all season (in solidarity behind LaMarcus Aldridge, who suffered an ear injury against Detroit and may have to wear one as a protective measure tomorrow night against Golden State).
Check back about 3PM... worst timing ever: I have to run to a doctor's appointment.
-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)
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I still don't know what to think
This seems out of control, do we believe the agent? Do we believe the Blazers. Argh.
LaMarcus is a stud
people say he is soft… he played through a game where he got hit and lost hearing.
ANARCHY UNTIL 3!!!!
Who else feels like cursing for a good 2 hours?
Jaws were hitting the floor as Greg repeatedly attempted to tear the rim off the backboard...
What happens if he plays in Europe?
Would those count as “games” as far as this is concerned?
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
No
The NBA and European leagues have no common CBA. They just respect each other’s work contracts. But the Hawks are not paying Childress either, just a cap hold to keep him a RFA.
Good.
Are you a Mavs fan? Says so in your profile.
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
Where was all this passion and enthusiasm from Darius when was still rehabbing here?
Just wondering.
Blazer Fan
I missed Darius tremendously
I watched A Perfect Score for 8 months straight.
-Shad
"If a doctor ever gives me six months to live, I want it in basketball time." - Marc Acito
Really good question.
This is more about other team’s fans and representatives getting all upset about this situation, than anything to do with Darius. Do you think for a minute these fans or team staff would be up in arms over Miles playing if it had no negative impact on the Blazers?
We didn't want him to rehab
Darius is a thug. The guy came into the NBA out of high school with the same skill level that KG had. As much of a douche as KG is, he worked his ass off to improve his game. Darius coasted by on his raw talent alone and never improved. Not to mention he was a bad teammate, uncoachable, and an all around jerk.
by ChapinRA on Jan 9, 2009 1:47 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I'm confused about something.
If those pre-season games count towards his playing time, why didn’t he have to serve his suspension through the first 10 pre-season games?
Should be apples-to-apples if you’re counting pre-season as a real game.
"Respect everyone, fear no one." -TP
Which is why
all of us – and apparently every other team in the league – assumed that the preseason games didn’t ‘count’ as part of the 10 games played.
It’s an interesting conundrum, to be sure.
Yeah, that preseason tally is really strange
I mean, many of the “players” in preseason aren’t technically NBA caliber, which is why they are tried out and and get cut. If you count preseason games, it almost seams like you should count practices too. Right? They’re playing with other NBA players and they’re “working”, so isn’t that just as valid?
"I never scored more than 38, even in Little League." ~ Roy, 52 pts
Does this mean
that Stern and company thought that the preseason games didn’t count too and didn’t check on it until now?
This whole situation is strange
an that’s a big piece of the puzzle
Bayless has been testing the fences for weaknesses
Seriously huh?
And how is it that up until this week NOBODY knew that the preseason games even counted?!
No kidding, I should know better.
And this is why trolls will always win. Dang.
"I never scored more than 38, even in Little League." ~ Roy, 52 pts
This is an unmitigated PR disaster
You’re all aware of this fact, right?
I will be curious to hear KP’s discussion, and I hope he had nothing to do with this. Larry Miller better hope that Miles gets a contract and his two games. Otherwise, he will spend the rest of his working life in court.
I bet the Vulcans are behind this screwup. Steve Patterson and John Nash must be smiling.
Maybe they can walk this back.
PS: The fact that Miles is getting paid doesn’t matter.
haha
Man this will be forgotten tomorrow, but right now its very interesting.
Jaws were hitting the floor as Greg repeatedly attempted to tear the rim off the backboard...
Agreed.
Remember the “unmitigated PR disaster” that was Mark Cuban’s insider trading charges? How will the Mavs ever recover!?!?
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy,
Roy, Roy, Roy!
No matter what else should happen
Whether or not the Blazers have any kind of a legit gripe, and whether or not this issue dies quickly….
This email was beyond, beyond stupid. Completely pointless; it can’t possibly give them more leverage, and creates the impression they are trying to restrain trade and shake people down. The Blazers have painted themselves into a corner. Someone important needs to get fired for it.
Repeat this kind of mistake ten times; one of them will blow up into the disaster of a lifetime.
And if 7 of them result in nothing
and 2 save your ass, then what?
Just a guess, but I think the Blazer management has a better understanding of risk analysis than a majority of fans. At least as it applies to running an NBA team.
hakkaa päälle !
I found a highlight film his agent could use
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lalC0ucPfaQ
(I wonder if the Nike executive who thought it was a good idea to use those two as testimonials for a very expensive shoe is still working there)
Instead of trying to sue if he's signed
why don’t we use a player like randolph or ike to maybe rough up or injure a star player on the team that signed him?
Ben ...
If it’s Miles’ doctor you are seeing, take what he says with a grain of salt.
Rudyculize: The act of Rudy making others look slow, dim and generally oafish.
http://www.myspace.com/y5k
especially when he tell's you to cough when you are actually smiling
"Step up to my mic!!!" Joel's right and left fist
by broyposse on Jan 9, 2009 2:29 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
To the tune of The Box Tops classic "The Letter"
Get me a ticket for a Blazer game,
ain’t got time to take a fast train.
Cap room days are gone,
Miles is movin’ on,
the Blazers just wrote the league a letter.
I don’t care how much money we’ve got to spend,
Got to Darius retired again.
Cap room days are gone,
Miles is movin’ on,
the Blazers just wrote the league a letter.
Yeah we wrote them a letter,
said they couldn’t pick up Miles no more.
Listen teams, now can’t you see,
you don’t want to battle Paul Allen in court…anyway, yeah!
I don’t care how much money we’ve got to spend,
Got to Darius retired again.
Cap room days are gone,
Miles is movin’ on,
the Blazers just wrote the league a letter.
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy,
Roy, Roy, Roy!
by joelor on Jan 9, 2009 2:23 PM PST reply actions 7 recs
A question that I have had for the past 2 days is this:
Does Miles’ agent recommend that he sign a 10-day contract fully knowing that the team is likely only interested due the implications for Portland, or does he hold out for a contract through the end of the season?
If
I was Miles I would hold out for the guaranteed contract. But it depends on how much he wants to get back at the Blazers.
the agent said in his conversation with Ben
that he is trying to get Miles a long-term gig. If he has to sign a series of 10-day contracts to do that, I imagine that he will. – Elgin
If you smile at me I will understand, because that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language. - Crosby/Stills/Kantner
Here are my thoughts on this matter
1. Larrry Miller was president of Nike and more specifically Jordan Brand, the #1 basketball brand in the game.
Nike actually makes more than the NBA as YTD earnings last year for nike was about $4.6b and last year the NBAs BRI was only $3.7b, so Miller has had a lot of success in helping guide a multi billion dollar company, as even though he was not at the head of Nike, Jordan brand is probably one of the largest entities of the company.
If he ok’ed it then I dont think that it is that big of a problem overall and should turn out favorably for us in the long run.
2. I just cannot see the triumvirate of Miller (former head of Jordan brand), Penn (a noted capologist and lawyer who has read the entire CBA from a lawyers perspecctive) and KP would sign off on this if there was no way this would turn out positively.
So far every move they have made have turned out good and until they are proved otherwise, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt in this case. They would not of made a move with this aggression and vitriol without foreseeing some of the shitestorm that they knew may come.
This is such an extreme move that it MUST of been highly calculated and researched, as I cannot see them making a mistake of this magnitude without thoroughly researching all possible repercussions.
3. What would be the best course would be to have KP talk to his friends, pehaps, RC Buford or maybe even Petire or Paxson, former Blazers that still have good ties to us and have them sign Miles and keep him on the roster the rest of the year without playing him 2 games, therefore negating the situation.
Either way we will come out on top of this.
"Damn the Blazers. Damn them to hell. They are working the rest of the league like a speed bag." - Bill Simmons 6/26/08
Did you see the video I linked above? That decision was also "Jordan Brand"
Doesn’t improve my trust in their business acumen.
Desperation move by KP, Blazers
The wussy little threat letter emailed to the rest of the league wreaks of desperation.
The Cavs owner, OWNER not GM or PR, quickly wrote a response to the bush league move.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ar34uKqYOZJB2zkG9BxwnTQ5nYcB?slug=aw-gilbertresponse010909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Besides why wouldn’t the Blazers sue the Celtics and Memphis as well? Because it is a hollow threat that is going nowhere. Go ahead and sue Blazers, I’m sure that will go over really great for all future negotiations around the league.
The main oversight I see with Blazers fans still in denial is that they are confusing “career ending injury” with a guy trying to make a roster. 10 games is a very low amount of games to call a career, yet that is what Blazers agreed to. Forty games over two seasons would have been more appropriate.
Unrec
The Blazers didn’t agree to it. It’s a league rule that makes zero sense and was intended to address a completely different situation.
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
The Blazers presented a document to D-miles
to sign with the hopes that he would never come back again, did they not?
by oLLiE Boombayay on Jan 9, 2009 2:40 PM PST up reply actions
Not how it worked
but I’ll let someone else explain it who is more knowledgeable than I am.
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
come on jamon51...just lay the smack down...
ollie – the League Doctors declared him career ending, not the BLazers…
"Step up to my mic!!!" Joel's right and left fist
Well
not the League Doctors but rather a NBAPA appointed doctor. And Miles did sign something, but I think it was to allow himself to be evaluated, not to “sign with the hopes he would never come back again”
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
yep..nothing the Blazers made up themselves....or i sure hope not
"Step up to my mic!!!" Joel's right and left fist
I would have made the contract say
he had to play 150 games in a season in order to qualify.
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
Either way...
The Blazers tried something to rid themselves of a bad contract toward the cap and it didn’t work.
by oLLiE Boombayay on Jan 9, 2009 3:21 PM PST up reply actions
Of course he isn't
This is a bad all around situation for him & the league office to handle.
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on
i couldnt' find quotes from stern but did find quotes from NBAPA Hunter
“Given my own druthers, I’d have a complaint filed in U.S. District Court this afternoon,” Hunter said.
this means, he doesn’t know how to do it.
Asked for his reaction to the Blazers’ memo Friday afternoon, Hunter, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, said, “My reaction is somewhat hostile. They’ve kind of gone overboard. They’ve overstepped. And we intend to aggressively represent Darius Miles and exercise whatever options we’ve got.”
this means he saw the email, and punched the monitor.
"Step up to my mic!!!" Joel's right and left fist
Although he is the head of a union, Hunter strikes me as a guy who is at times pretty clueless
I remember watching him and Stern testify before a Congressional committee regarding the NBA’s drug testing policies and Hunter was getting grilled on how there was no offseason testing and Hunter couldn’t figure out why that might be an issue.
He was probably on drugs at the time
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
Another quote from Hunter
Either they know something I don’t know or it’s pretty arrogant and stupid to release something like that.
At least he recognizes the possibility that he’s clueless, and that there are things he doesn’t know.
I know you can put admiration in bags, because admiration is real, and tominhawaii says that everything that is real is measurable.
Well
at least they got part of it right:
However, an attorney with extensive past dealings with NBA teams said that while he expects the league to take action against the Trail Blazers, Portland may have a point.
“There’s at least some argument to be made that you just can’t sign a guy that you don’t want just to hurt another team,” the attorney said. “But I don’t know if that’s been tested … it’s not fair that … one of my competitors should be able to sign a player to a totally phony deal just to screw me up (financially) for the next two years.”
But the attorney allowed that it would be very difficult for Portland to prove that a team signed Miles with the sole intent of harming the Trail Blazers.
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
A recap of PTI and ATH for those only in this thread
I posted it in the previous thread, but this seems like the current thread now.
Blazers on Around the Horn.
They’re using the Blazers story as the deciding point at the end of the broadcast.
ATH host says that Portland is threatening to sue any team who plays him. (Which is, of course, not what Portland wrote)
Adande: No legal standpoint for this, they can’t prove intent, they can’t prevent Darius from signing with a team. (Which really doesn’t cover the Portland’s mail, sorry J.A.)
Mariotti: Says Portland is wrong for calling the other teams partners in joint ventures, they’re just competitors. (My wife: "That’s like saying WWE Raw and Smackdown are competitors". she’s good.)
That was a lovely segment.
The Blazers on PTI.
Wilbon: Gives a better recap of the situation, specifically notes that Blazers are only concerned if a team signs Darius to only play him for 2 games and get him back on the cap.
Kornheiser: Says if he were the Lakers, he’d sign Darius, play him for 1 minute each in two games, hug Darius and laugh, then tell Portland to bring it on, they have "more money and talent" than Portland.
Wilbon: Forget the Lakers. Denver or Utah should have sign Darius, and when they play Portland in a home-and-home, and start Darius against the Blazers to show them up.
Both: Obviously this is not a career-ending injury (ugh, another ill-informed sports reporter moment). The only career-ending move was the Blazers signing him to that contract.
The Blazers got roasted from 2-3pm on ESPN today. Often with ill-advised, knee-jerk comments. It felt like they didn’t research the topic, just saw the initial story and wrote up some zingers.
On 95.5
There were similarly ignorant comments by the national guys. Oh well.
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
That's been every media account I've seen so far
…claiming that Portland will sue ANY team that plays Miles. How is the letter that widely misunderstood? It’s one thing to read it as a threat to sue any team, but it explicitly states that they’ll sue a team that isn’t interested in Miles as a player and only wants to use him for cap and tax manipulation.
Your recap of Wilbon is the first comment I’ve seen by media that doesn’t mischaracterize this as a threat against any and every team that picks up Miles regardless of intent. Are all these reporters that incompetent?
Sure, you could read that letter as a veiled threat to anyone who wants to play Miles, even if it’s for legitimate cause. But if that’s your interpretation, PROFESSIONALS, then feel free to mention that it’s your personal interpretation.
"I never scored more than 38, even in Little League." ~ Roy, 52 pts
The Blazers
must have some other evidence than just their suspicions. Because couldn’t this hamper the team’s ability to negotiate with other teams on trades and such? I can’t believe Blazer management would want to piss off the other teams and league this much.
Fake Doctor and Fake Law Student Here...
Update on Ben’s Doctor appointment:
- It looks like Ben’s right foot will be in a boot for 4 months due to his LA Gear sneaker collection:
- Ben plans to sue Dave for kicking him off BE because it’s career ending.
- Dave writes a memo to all BE members asking them if they write one more comment, or response to Ben, he will sue.
"Step up to my mic!!!" Joel's right and left fist
by broyposse on Jan 9, 2009 3:07 PM PST reply actions 7 recs
REC
LOL
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
oooooooooooooo
Rudyculize: The act of Rudy making others look slow, dim and generally oafish.
http://www.myspace.com/y5k
by Y5k on Jan 9, 2009 5:20 PM PST up reply actions
thoze shoes r peeyomp
December 18, 2008.
"Roy is Roy, and if I were to bet my life on a game of 5-on-5, I’d bet on whichever team Roy was playing on." by HurraKane212
Preseason Games
It seems silly to me that the preseason games are going to count as 6 of the 10 games required for Darius salary to come on the Blazers’ books again when he was suspended for 10 games at the time but was able to play anyways. So preseason games aren’t real enough games to be suspended from but they are important enough to be considered legitimate basketball games for career ending injury purposes.
I think we're all pretty united in this opinion btw.
Players going half speed, larger rosters allowed, it makes no sense.
It must be a hole in the CBA for a player to be able to play in a game that doesn’t count for his suspension, but does count for a medical retirement.
I presume that hole will be closed later.
Also, why didn't he then have to serve his ten-game suspension first. Huh?
The league only announced it in mid September, months after his violation was discovered. One more loose thread.
Drug suspensions have never been counted towards preseason games
It makes sense, because then players could toke up on purpose and only have to miss training camp.
by oLLiE Boombayay on Jan 9, 2009 3:30 PM PST up reply actions
What a terrible idea.
I would love to see some kind of source from you here.
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy,
Roy, Roy, Roy!
Had to be a rumor or something
I just do not see how the Blazers management would have sent out this email, unless there was at least a rumor that another team was planning on signing Darius just to impact the Blazers cap space.
From what we have seen over the last few years, doesn’t it strike you odd that they would suddenly do something so off the cuff without reason?
by BlazerFanFromDenver on Jan 9, 2009 3:21 PM PST reply actions
It wasn't just a rumor
There were news articles where the columnist said teams were planning to do so. Denver was explicitly named in an article. (I posted the article in a previous thread, sorry can’t find it quickly)
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-milesblazers010709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Jaws were hitting the floor as Greg repeatedly attempted to tear the rim off the backboard...
I am guessing they have proof of some sort.
This part of the the email seems very important.
“The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers Salary Cap and tax positions.”
It says they “are aware”. I think they will reveal this proof if and when they need to. Without any proof that teams are in fact contemplating signing Darius for “the purpose of adversely impacting…” then I think it was a mistake to send that email.
Even with proof, I think they should have waited and dropped the bomb after it happened. That way people, reporters, etc. would have likely been a little more sympathetic to the Blazers situation. Now that they have attempted to bully a certain team or teams into not doing something, it seems the majority is going to be against them.
on another note
That Hunter guy seems like a total douche.
“Either they know something I don’t know or it’s pretty arrogant and stupid to release something like that.”
Dude, guess what? They probably know something you don’t! A lot of people probably know something you don’t big guy.
Sorry for duplication
I posted this in a reply above before seeing you got it here. You are exactly right.
I know you can put admiration in bags, because admiration is real, and tominhawaii says that everything that is real is measurable.
great going Ben
Thanks for your good work on this. I hope everything went swimmingly at the Drs office. – Elgin
If you smile at me I will understand, because that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language. - Crosby/Stills/Kantner
I had sex with a girl who went to law school so I know a little bit about this stuff
And it seems like a slow news day because people are making way too big of a deal out of this, or they’re not that smart, or both.
did she sue you for non-performance?
If you smile at me I will understand, because that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language. - Crosby/Stills/Kantner
by 22baylor on Jan 9, 2009 4:34 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
ooops
forgot my smiley so you know I’m joking.
0_O
- Elgin
If you smile at me I will understand, because that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language. - Crosby/Stills/Kantner
Hell no
Because I, you know what’ed her brains out. She now work the drive-thru in a Hardee’s in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama.
snap!
"...we have so many experts who think that you have to play defense, you have to rebound, you have to be a possession coach, you have to execute. I just laugh. Explosive offense is not as intimidating as dominant defense. But it is scary when you don't know how to stop someone." - George Karl, Nuggets coach
oooooooooo
Rudyculize: The act of Rudy making others look slow, dim and generally oafish.
http://www.myspace.com/y5k
by Y5k on Jan 9, 2009 5:19 PM PST up reply actions
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