The Best Links in All the World, in All the NBA, in All the Universe - 12 January 2009
by Basketball John
on Jan 12, 2009 10:19 AM MST
in TBLIATWIATNIATU
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Something has been missing from SLC Dunk. I used to run "The Best Link in All the World, in All the NBA, in All the Universe." I think because it became so easy to do a FanShot, that I would just use that instead. So I'm going to get back to doing (mostly) daily links all in one spot. So here's the first set of the year...
- European Vacation
- More Millsap All-Star talk
- The Jazz could play some pickup flag football. We'll hear more from Boler and Booner on this for sure.
- Nothing out of the ordinary with Boozer's scope. Seriously, why doesn't Booze have a PR firm working for him? As Siler mentioned in his blog, the communication between the Booze camp and the Jazz has been terrible. It's been even worse to the fans. He's made a few statements defending himself, but it seems as if he has no interest in putting to rest any fears/concerns that anyone has about him. He has to know that his rep has taken a hit, deserving or not.
- This might be a bad time to ask Larry to go over the luxury cap.
- You won't hear the end of this for at least 6 months.
- Another Boozer trade idea. - No thanks.
- I agree, the Jazz won't be making any noise at the trade deadline. I'm not even sure what position the Jazz would trade for at this point. Collins and Almond are most likely to get traded, but what are you getting in return? That's not much to land a significant player.
- The whole Darius Miles saga is going to be turned into its own mini-series (do they even do those anymore?) some day. The Blazers have been trying to sabotage him from the beginning. If you don't know already, Miles is owed $9M over the next two years from Portland. However, they got an "independent" doctor to state that Miles was physically unable to play. So they got a salary exemption from the league and were off the hook. However, if Miles played in 10 games, they would be responsible for it again.
First, someone "leaked" a report last summer stating that Miles had failed a drug test. And now that Miles has played in 8 games for the Celtics and Grizzlies, Portland threatens the American way, "We'll sue you if you sign Miles." There have been reports of the Blazers bad-mouthing Darius so that teams would shy away from him. Memphis re-signed Miles anyway and he'll likely play in those two more games.
Why does it seem that real-world common sense doesn't seem to apply to professional sports organizations? First, did they think that no one would figure out who leaked his failed drug test? Did they think that the lawsuit email wouldn't be made public? It's just another case of someone not wanting to be held accountable for their actions (signing Miles to a bad contract).
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Something has been missing from my life...
And I just realized that this was it. Haha. Thanks for keeping me in the loop.
by DaniellelovesKK on
Jan 12, 2009 6:26 PM MST
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just a few different thoughts about Miles
As a fan of basketball, I belong to several NBA fan sites. I was disappointed to read the comments about Miles at this site. I can see there is still a lot of misinformation being spread based on gut reaction. Really just some bad charactirizations based on limited information.
The medical exam done on Miles was not a Blazer doctor in any way. The doctor was arranged for independently by the NBA. If there are questions about integrity for that issue, it rests with the league.
The information about failed drug tests would be readily available to team execs when applicable, particularly if a suspension was to be served. So what if they learned in a more public forum or through back channels.
True, it turned out that the Blazer’s did indeed sign a bad contratc with Miles, but that wasn’t known at the time. it became particularly bad when he had more public off court issues, and more so when he got hurt. Not all of it forseeable. Any team would and shold do their best to mitigate the the financial burdens of a bad contract.
That isn’t the issue. The key problem to Blazer execs was the not-so-private rumblings from some teams who said they would consider signing Miles just to financially harm the Blazer’s. That is the primary issue. Not a good faith position. It was never an issue of really preventing Miles from playing if he really wanted to and could help a team. It was less about Miles than about a team wanting to sign Miles to screw the Blazers. The Blazer’s never siad they would sue a team for signing Darius. Very slanted language.
None of this would have been an issue had Miles showed some interest in serious rehab. Some players come back from microfracture, other don’t so well. Miles didn’t put in that dedicated effort fans like to see. The Jazz are welcome to sign him if they feel he can help their team.
So in truth, if Miles payers 10 games then the Blazer’s get to pay his 9M salary. I think it’s safe to say that any team would prefer not to pay an extra 9M if they didn’t need to. It would have been better to see him put all of his goodwill and effort into playing again in Portland in the first place. He’s the one who cursed the coach. All things considered though, I think it wold have been better had the Blazer’s not sent that email. I agree that it looks questionable from the outside in. .
This isn't the Lakers,...
"It's not Show time. It's GO time!"
by GameFace on
Jan 13, 2009 5:57 PM MST
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Well thanks for your thoughts, but I'm not really sure you have a legit argument.
Basically, this post is questioning, “what was Portland thinking when they a) signed this guy and b) why do they keep doing things that make them look bad to the public eye to cover it up?” For your information, all of these reports, along with this one : http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-milesupdate011209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
have come from Blazer homer and great reporter Henry Abbott. The truth is that the Blazers have done some really stupid things to try to make up for this mistake. The threat was a threat. And it was stupid, because other front offices are already talking about boycotting deals with the Blazers to pay them back for their fervor and litigation demonstrations. Reports are now that over 10 teams had interest in the Blazers, so it is almost impossible that all those teams didn’t have any interest in taking a flyer on Miles in hopes that he could help the team. The Blazers made a bunch of bad moves in a row. Own up to it. They would have been better off, if they would have just owned up to it earlier. There is no untrue info in this post and there are news reports to back up the claims.
The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.
by clarkpojo on
Jan 13, 2009 7:39 PM MST
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Mistakes for sure
I can’t disagree about some of the mistakes. I do think the email was a mistake, but signing Miles wasn’t a certain mistake until he got injured. There was no question he had talent when they signed him. There have been players with shaky pasts who have thrived well in a new situation. Darious actually performed well for a few years (approximately).
I certainly have no inside scoop and accept that many Blazer fans and Henry Abbot know more of the juicy details. From my perspective, the Blazer front office reacted to the perception that some teams would sign Darius not because he could help them, but because they wanted to screw thre Blazers. Frustrating to be sure.
I believe part of that sentiment came from unofficial talk that many team execs were annoyed with the Blazer management, believe they were arrogant. I am a Blazer fan, but I do try to be objective. I don’t rub shoulders with team execs so I don’t really know where the perception came from that Blazer management is arrogant.
I know that rabid fans have coined a few phrases that are less than gracious. Kevin pritchard has been deified by may. I think he has done a great job, but ge uncomfortable when he is proclaimed to be the best GM in the NBA of almost mythical proportions. I think som efan sentiment spilled over more than anything. The term “Pritchslapped” did not come from the team, but it certainly has circulated among message boards and some “homer” fans have not been to diplmatic in spreading the gospel of Kevin Pritchard.
In summary, I don’t think anyone could have predicted how bad the signing of Darious would turn ou tot be. Clearly he would not have signed had we employed a Seer. Yet he was and things changed, the injury being a key change. I think the Blazeroffice is now handling it poorly, particularly from a public relations standpoint. I listened to som eof the sports shows last night and read some of the headlines. The consistently staed in the headline that “Blazer’s threaten to sue any team who signs Darius…” There was nay a mention of the rest of the email message, which says something to the effect about siging for the purpose of harming the Blazers financially. Still doesn’t reduce the cringe factor much, but there is a difference. Most people won’t see the distinction though.
True enough though, the bottom line is that the Blazers would like more cap space as would any team, and they really don’t want Miles’ attitude or influence to be a part of the current Blazers. We are proud of the team in recent years and sort of panic when something like this comes along.
This isn't the Lakers,...
"It's not Show time. It's GO time!"
by GameFace on
Jan 14, 2009 10:02 AM MST
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Absolutely there is a distinction between the two reasons for suing.
But how would Portland be able to prove it? That is why it is stupid for the front office to even make the threat. It is empty. Even if a team signs him they are making money by forcing Portland into the luxury tax, if the team that signs him isn’t paying the luxury tax. So whether or not it hurts the Blazers, it helps the team that signs him and it isn’t illegal to do that.
Plus the fact that Miles contributed in the Memphis-Cleveland game last night with 13 points in 13 minutes helps the Grizzlies look like they may have signed him for more than just hurting the Blazers.
And the $9million going on Portlands pay stub is a huge deal to Portland. They would have had lots of salary cap room to sign their own players and perhaps go after a big free agent to fill their point guard and small forward holes. Now they will more than likely have to use Raef Lafrentz’s expiring contract to bring back what they need. This Darius Miles news has completely changed the direction of the Blazer’s offseason.
With that said, these bad front office moves are only compounded by the fact that they have been the shining example in the league of how to run a team the last 5 years or so. They just keep capitalizing off other teams’ poor decisions and collect multiple good draft picks that they have used very wisely up to this point. So these last few weeks of news from Portland have probably made some front offices feel a little better about their own stupid moves, but also been a big surprise coming from Portland.
The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.
by clarkpojo on
Jan 14, 2009 12:05 PM MST
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