Darisu Miles

Jan. 9., 2009 | 05:57 pm

Ļoti interesanti notikumi risinās ap Deriusu Mailzu.

Portlendas TrailBlazers esot pieprasījuši / prasījuši / lūguši (?) visām pārējām 29 NBA komandām neparakstīt līgumu ar Mailzu.

The Portland Trail Blazers have a message for the NBA's 29 other teams -- don't sign Darius Miles.

If a team were to sign the free-agent forward "for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers' salary cap and tax positions," the Blazers might pursue litigation, team president Larry Miller stated in an e-mail obtained by SI.com and Yahoo! Sports late Thursday night.

"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," Miller wrote, according to the memo.


The full text of the e-mail, according to the SI.com and Yahoo! Sports accounts, reads:

" '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.' "

Teams had believed the collective bargaining agreement said Miles must play 10 regular-season or postseason games in a season for the $18 million to count against the Blazers. But the league office confirmed to Yahoo! Sports the six preseason games Miles played for the Boston Celtics count toward the 10.

Before the Memphis Grizzlies waived him on Tuesday night to avoid guaranteeing his contract for the rest of the season, Miles played two regular-season games, pushing his total games played to eight.
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skaidrs, ka Blazers draudi ir bulšits, jo vairāk nekā mazliet morāla nosodījuma un vētru presē viņi nepanāks. bet ko var zināt, Amerikā viss citādi, atšķirīgi no Eiropas..
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http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=11171
That's quite the bold approach considering how difficult it would be for the Blazers to prove a competing team's motivation in signing Miles is strictly for the purpose of upsetting Portland's plans - and not a move to simply better their roster.

Miles retired in 2007 after struggling to recover from microfracture knee surgery in late 2006. His remaining $18 million contract (spread out evenly over this season and next) has since come off the Blazers' books - although he still receives compensation.

After playing six preseason games for the Boston Celtics and two regular season games with the Memphis Grizzlies, Miles is just two away from reaching the magic number of 10 that would "un-retire" that $18 million on Portland's cap.

Opting to go on the offensive before Miles ends up on another team (or back with the Grizzlies), the Blazers may be looking to intimidate the league with what may truthfully be an empty threat.

"Portland has no 'rights' in this situation. If Miles can play, then they're not entitled the cap relief," said one well-versed source. "They neither have any 'right' to it, nor to any privileges (such as cap room this summer) that result."

Still - the statement in and of itself makes it clear that the Blazers will take it very seriously if Miles ends up back on an NBA team. The end result of litigation (winning/losing) is not always the point - the expense of time, resources, distraction and the potential limbo the process could potentially produce - that may be the deterrent the Blazers were seeking.

The NBA is often a cut-throat business - don't be surprised if Miles ends up on a roster before the season is out . . .

In the meantime, expect for the Blazers to be reprimanded by both the NBA Front Office and the Players' Union. From the players' perspective Miles is just trying to get his once-promising career off the ground. He and his representatives may have something to say about Portland's declaration.

Financial Ramifications: Portland's salary currently totals ~$70,060,316 (including the buy-out of guard Steve Francis). The luxury tax threshold is $71.15 million - so the Blazers are just under the cut.

Add Miles' $9 million salary to the equation and suddenly the Blazers are at about $79.06 million. That's $7.91 million in tax Portland would suddenly have to pay - and about $263,677 that would go into the pockets of every other team under the tax line.

The Blazers would also lose out on the redistribution of luxury tax which projects to be at about $2.9 million this summer - assuming the Detroit Pistons make another trade to get under (something like Alex Acker for a conditional second-round pick) and the league allows Eric Snow's final year off the Cleveland Cavaliers' books (medical retirement).

In other words, the Blazers would be looking at financial loss of about $10.8 million if Miles plays in two additional games.

Beyond the financial penalty - the Blazers would find themselves limited this summer if they suddenly have to tack on another $9 million to their cap figure.

Assuming the team renounces the rights to forwards Channing Frye and Ike Diogu, their total salary number (not including a 2009 draft pick) would be $39.9 million. For the 2008/9 NBA Season, the cap is set at $58.68 million. While it typically goes up each year - the current economy could mean it stays about the same. For the sake of argument - let's go with a round number at $59 million.

With all the young talent the Blazers are already sitting on - they're also looking at roughly $19 million in cap this summer.

Put Miles' $9 million back on the books and suddenly Portland's spending power is almost cut in half - down to $10 million.

Technically guard Steve Blake and forward Travis Outlaw can be cut before the end of June to prevent their salaries from becoming guaranteed next season. That's not how the Blazers want to open up enough space to offer a free agent a max (or near-max) deal.

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