Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  93 responses

The Blazers are Willing to Sue Other Teams Over Darius Miles

by Marcel Mutoni

The Blazers vs. DMiles saga has suddenly turned from merely annoying and boring, to downright insane. Portland has issued a stern warning to the rest of the League, should they sign the lanky forward whose contract could wreak havoc on their salary cap.

Here’s the letter in its entirety, via Sports Illustrated:

“Team Presidents and General Managers,”

“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. Such conduct from a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers’ contract rights and perspective economic opportunities.

“Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation.”

Adding to the madness, it was recently revealed that Miles really only needs to play in a couple more of games (instead of eight, as previously thought) to screw the Blazers financially.

Of course, now there’s talk that Miles might respond by suing Portland for trying to limit his right to work. I hope he does, and absolutely takes them to the cleaners.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: ,

← Older Comments
  • Phil B

    who exactly is suffering?

  • rav

    so if miles ends up playing 2 more games do the blazers still owe him the rest of the money – surely there must have been a clause saying that if he were to play more than 10 games he’d either forego that money right?

  • Phil B

    no, he gets paid the money whether he plays or not. nba contracts are guaranteed. when he was medically retired, the contract didn’t count against portland’s cap. if he plays ten games it goes back on. if it were just a case of miles foregoing the money, i bet he’d still be “rehabing”.

  • rav

    then would it have been possible for portland to have put in a clause to say that if he wanted to get his money he couldnt play? didnt the knicks have an agreement with allan houston like that or is my mind playing tricks with me?

  • http://fdjklf.com Jukai

    Z my point never was wealth. My point is that Miles CLEARLY isn’t ready to be in the league, but teams are still signing him. That’s sorta BS’y.

  • http://www.ballislife.com Justin Walsh

    i officially think portland is horrible.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    Z
    The shut up and take it you’re a millionaire attitude is amazing isn’t it?
    It’s everywhere with fans of every sport. I’m telling you, money buys a lot of souls these days. For real.
    If you think that earning a bunch of money limits your ability to speak your mind or complain, then your are basically saying you’re willing to sacrifice your constitutional rights for cash. Wait, scatch that, you’re willing to scratch your rights a human, since that’s what inalienable really was getting at.
    I have sympathy for people if they are being wronged. Period. How much money they have is irrelevant.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    “Irregardless” is the dumbest word ever. Sorry, it just pisses me of when I see/hear it.

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    This does make me hate the Blazers a little. I’ll bet Cubes would sign Miles, and you KNOW he hates Paul Allen. I already don’t like PDx as much as a lot of others do. There just not that fun to watch. Although Roy is a beast and Rudy sorta looks like a crackhead (which is awesome)

  • http://ittakesanationofmillionstoholdthissac.blogspot.com ciolkstar

    b-rad is a moron.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    There’s an article on the evil website (true hoop) about it that just popped up. The Union is getting involved and the NBA is saying that “Under league rules, teams are free to sign Darius Miles to a Uniform Player Contract if they wish to secure his services as a player, and any such contract would be approved by the NBA.”
    I don’t know why Portland released a statement, they could have just let the word out. Now, if Miles DOES NOT sign with a team this year, he could sue them this summer for infringement of his right to work.

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    So, Boston, Memphis and Clips were jsut out to hurt Portland.
    I saw Miles play in the preseason, he isn’t the player he once was, but he’s not a total bum. He could be an 11th or 12th man on several teams.
    So, is he betraying Portland if he pursues that dream just because they paid him money? How does that work? He signed a contract, Portland is OBLIGATED to pay him.
    The could have just bought him out and said good look. Instead, they decided to medically retire him because they gambled he wasn’t good enough to get signed somewhere else. They may be wrong.

  • http://n/a 007

    What happens if Miles don’t get to play 10 games even for the Blazers? Does that mean he gets no salary for the 2 years..not even a single cent? Wow, that’s sad.

  • neaorin

    Let me introduce a great new concept to the Blazers brass: Don’t overpay for role players who have done nothing to show they’re worthy of it. I know, amazing, isn’t it?

  • Joe

    I hope the team who signs D-Miles, signs him a game before they play Portland. Just imagine, D-Miles plays 35 mins. the game before and scores the buzzer-beater to win it. And the next game against Portland, The Blazers are killing whatever team D-Miles is on, and they are up by 30 with :35 to go in the 4th, and D-Miles is subbed into the game, and hits a meaningless basket at the buzzer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://www.ravingblacklunatic.blogspot.com Allenp

    Z
    Why is True Hoop evil? It’s a little biased about certain things, but that’s to be expected on most blogs. And it’s owned by ESPN, which is in fact evil.
    But, Abbott doesn’t seem evil. He just seems fairly typical.

  • http://n/a 007

    I think Miles has a right to work irregardless of what the Blazers think. He should get some bit of his contract at least.

  • http://coco-vents.blogspot.com Co Co

    How arrogant are the Blazers to think that everyone thinks about them and their salary cap before they make a move?

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    True Hoop is very good.

  • http://www.shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com/ TADOne

    However, i’m refusing to visit ESPN.com since they did their makeover.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/officerbarbrady what

    Miles should sue the Blazers. This is retarded.

  • http://www.kicksonfire.com Anton

    Miles should go to the Suns and get some rap lessons in the process.
    “Hey Blazers, tell me how my contract taste”

  • http://slamonline.com/ Ryne Nelson

    First, Portland would have a helluva hard time trying to prove a team was trying to ‘tortuously interfere.’ Second, the League will be supportive of any team that wants Darius Miles to play for them. Basically, the Blazers now have the NBA against them.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    I guess that wasn’t clear. The evil website is the one that True Hoop is on.

  • Joey

    the blazers are gonna be screwed.
    they’re gonna have to trade some of that talent now. Roy, Aldridge are gonna get HUGE extensions, and guys like Outlaw, Oden, Batum, Rudy, etc. are gonna want some money as well.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    LMFAO they’re trying to prevent Miles from getting signed? Ahahaha Miles can sue them, and WIN.
    Say goodbye to your players, Portland. You won’t be able to afford keeping all of that talent. Though it will be sad. That’s a doozy, isn’t it Blazers?

  • neaorin

    Well Danny Gilbert is already firing back at the Blazers. I am liking the man more and more each day.

  • http://twentythreenine.blogspot.com Russ Bengtson

    How is Darius Miles CLEARLY not ready to be in the NBA? I can name 10 guys off the top of my head who are on active rosters that are worse. Teams can sign whomever they want. There are no minimum fitness (hello, Eddy Curry) or skill (hello, Ben Wallace) requirements you have to meet before being added to an NBA roster. Darius Miles is a 27-year-old, 6-9 NBA vet who once scored 47 points in a game. Why shouldn’t he be able to play?

  • Joey

    hahaha. The NBA sent a memo to all teams saying they support any signing of DMiles. yeah, Blazers are still screwed

  • http://hibachi20.blogspot.com Moose

    I know that the legal stuff is part of the league. But just play the basketball, dammit! Gotta go for the “B” over the “A” in “NBA”.

  • http://www.kicksonfire.com Anton

    Miami long term, Cleveland short term

  • Bombsquad

    Dmiles has his money, it just doesnt count against the blazers cap. He also has game. Memphis lost their nerv and released him. He could start or be a hella 6 man in the league which currently favours guys with his body type. I love your comment Russ, I have a cupboard full of Dmiles jerseys cause he’s the man. 47 points in a game! And he woulda been close to an allstar the year he got hurt..

    BRING HIM BACK!!

  • Cam Jones

    The Knicks could use Miles with all the injuries they have maybe plugging Miles in for a little while would help matters alongs as well sending a nice New York City salute to Portland in the name of Zach Randolph.

  • Brad

    I believe they paid Memphis off to release him.

  • http://www.friendster.com/sesa Sesa

    Memphis just re-sign him, Congrats

  • Brad

    Wooo Hoooo Miles is back in memphis let’s play him 2 more games so we can screw portland baby!

  • vmcb

    Memphis cut him to apparently avoid having to guarantee his contract, or something like that. Seems kind of fishy to me. The braintrust over in Portland are acting like pricks, but I wouldn’t put it past some organizations to sign Miles just to put Portland over the salary cap.

  • http://nba2thestreets.blogspot.com/ henryjkim

    i hope miles sues and wins in court. blazers front office is just plain dirty. every man should be able to work. miles is better then most bench players that never see PT.

  • Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » Miles Gets New 10-Day

  • lobster

    Here’s hoping he completely blows out his knee in Game 9 of the comeback trail. As for feeding the family comments – gimme a freakin’ break. The guy got multi-millions in signing bonuses and if he can’t control where his money goes that’s his problem. He ain’t hurtin.

  • Drew

    I think if DMiles is gonna play a few more games he should have to play the games for the blazers cause the blazers are the team thats paying him. Why should he not play for the blazers then?

  • http://www.betagainstme.com/?affid=959 BetAgainstMe

    Dirty games.Hope Miles sues and wins

  • Pingback: SLAM ONLINE | » LeBron on the Miles/Portland Saga

← Older Comments
Advertisement