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Screwing the Blazers' possible future dynasty. Lets see which team would be the most cruel team.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...yhoo&type=lgnsUntil now, Portland Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard had a secret it appears most of the NBA hadn’t taken the time to discover for itself: Darius Miles is on the brink of blowing up the Blazers’ salary-cap space.
Most of the NBA believed Miles still was eight regular-season games away from devastating the Blazers’ salary cap, but Yahoo! Sports learned on Wednesday that Miles is just two games away.
Teams had been under the impression that the league’s collective bargaining agreement demanded that Miles play 10 regular-season or postseason games for the $18 million – which is split evenly between this and next season – to return to the Blazers’ payroll.
All along, the Blazers knew exactly that the preseason games counted, but a league official said Wednesday night, “He wanted to keep it quiet.”
Apparently, no team had called the league for clarification on the rule that states the season is cons uted by the “first day of training camp and ending immediately after the last game of the NBA Finals.”
The league office confirmed to Yahoo! Sports that the six preseason games that Miles played for the Boston Celtics counts 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 that pushed him to eight total.
Any team in the NBA simply can sign Miles to a 10-day contract, play him twice and punch out one of the summer’s top free-agent destinations. The Blazers are a prime destination for free agents, and the cap space also made them a fierce compe or for sign-and-trade deals. If Miles returns to the salary cap, he also will push Portland into the luxury tax. That means every team under the tax would benefit with about $250,000 of revenue sharing from Portland.
Most NBA executives are reveling in the fact that clogging the Portland cap could be a way to slow the rapid rise of the franchise. Beyond that, there is a level of jealousy over the way that Portland’s owner, Paul Allen, buys up draft picks from poorer teams for his GM to use.
All in all, league executives have been rooting hard for Miles to play those 10 games after he missed two years with a knee injury that Portland and league doctors declared was career-ending.
“Someone is going to scoop him up and play him those two games now,” one Eastern Conference executive said when told the news on Wednesday night. “Portland is screwed.”
One West GM thinks the Denver Nuggets, who moved under the luxury tax threshold on Wednesday, will be motivated to sign Miles.
Another GM wondered whether the Blazers might pick Miles off waivers and just keep him on the bench, although it’s unlikely the NBA would allow that. Portland also has been collecting insurance money on Miles, and it just seems too unlikely that Allen and Pritchard would go to such an extreme. Nevertheless, the Blazers have an incredible amount to lose here.
When reached on Wednesday night, Jeff Weschler, Miles’ agent, said he suspected the rule clarification might be true but had yet to get a confirmation from the NBA.
“We’re not focused on that,” he said. “Our focus is on Darius getting back and playing ball again. Our focus is not trying to hurt the Blazers.”
Do it Stan! Bring him for 2 games
Screwing the Blazers' possible future dynasty. Lets see which team would be the most cruel team.
it's not the case that the Blazers would be screwed.
yes, it will hurt them, but the biggest damage would be that their rise is decelerated for one season. if they focus on the 2010 free agency (which is likely), this won't hurt their long term plans much. Blazers will have a boatload of cap space in 2010 so or so.
what hurts are the millions of additional lux tax they would have to pay, on the other hand, compared to all the millions Allen has burned in the past, this looks like peanuts.
The Spurs need to pick up Miles. First of all, the Blazers were bragging about how they stole Batum. This would be some nice payback.
Secondly, Miles has two blocks in his 10 minutes of action. Long three? Blocked shots?
I'll take it.
Timvp, which team do you think will do it? Jazz? Nuggets? Eventually someone will IMO but I don't think it'd be Pop, he's too classy and he also knows that someone will do the dirty job.
Also, do you think there is anything on or off the table portland could do to prevent it? That's a whole lot of money wasted for them, even for Paul Allen.
Don't think Portland could do anything to prevent it. If they even tried, the players' union would go after the Blazers.
I think if Miles gets through waivers that the Grizzlies will pick him back up. I don't think they finished evaluating him. They could sign him to a pair of 10-day contracts to continue to figure out if he has anything left.
low-risk, high-yield and a chance to fistf*ck portland? why not?
Exactly, storm in a teacup. So the young Blazers wait one more season until 2010 to sign a veteran leader (by which time they'll be ready to explode), and Paul Allen s s out a few more millions... ho hum.
I agree generally, but it's a funny situation which presents a possibility for some teams to even try blackmailing the Blazers, as they're totally unable to do anything at all like you said.
A Vaughn for Batum trade like someone suggested lol then we sign and keep Miles on the bench. I'm not being serious here of course but you see my point. I think the NBA might have to do something if some dodgy suggestions like this one start being rumoured.
If no one signs Miles and plays him, the NBA should investigate... or maybe the FBI. Seriously.
From what I've read everywhere, the CBA isn't clear at all about Miles case. There area lot of dark areas and I wouldn't be surprised if this story end up with an arbitration.
It now looks likely that Grizzlies will sign him to oen or two 10 days contract and screw Blaers. Even if preseason games doesn't count, 2 10 days contract is long enough for Miles to play 8 games.
Grizzlies interest is triple :
First, they will get $300K in escrow share which is the more than the cost of two 10 days contract.
Second, they will be, like the Blazers under the cap in 2009. Their interest is to weaken an opponent for the 2009 FA class.
Third, they help Lakers to weaken one of their rival.
The CBA also says that teams can't use loophole in the CBA. One can argue that Portland try to do that by exaggerating Miles injury but one can argue that Memphis is also doing that by suiting just long enough to screw another team.
I've been thinking more along the lines of : Miles suddenly deciding to call it a career and retire wink wink.
pay back to the Blazers? they just did smart business, if there is a team we can blame for the Batum story, it's the Rockets.The Spurs need to pick up Miles. First of all, the Blazers were bragging about how they stole Batum. This would be some nice payback.
Secondly, Miles has two blocks in his 10 minutes of action. Long three? Blocked shots?
I'll take it.
however, I also don't think Spurs should burn all bridges to the Blazers by signing Miles. Blazers traditionally have been one of our business partners and looking at their roster I see quite some nice options for business with them.
(is it just me, or do some others also think that Ike Diogu, for a adequate low price of course, might be worth a try? same goes for Frye, but he would likely cost more than we can offer)
This was the first thing that came to my mind after reading this article. Memphis is one of the few teams that will have cap room in 2009 and will probably steal a player while everyone else is eyeballing 2010. It would be foolish of them not to sign Miles long enough to take Portland out of the running.
TBQH...its not about screwing anyone. The NBA is a business just like any other business and making moves that give you a significant advantage over the compe ion is what keeps your business alive. It's not Memphis' fault that Portland invested in a player and he didn't pan out...and it's not underhanded for Memphis to look out for their own interests. Anyone who has been a part of this league for an extended period of time knows that success or failure could come down to one pick, one trade or one signing. I see nothing wrong with Memphis doing what they have to do to find themselves in position to possibly be in that one moment.
Last edited by benefactor; 01-08-2009 at 12:50 PM.
?
Grizzlies have waived him before the 10 games were played. if they wanted to make sure that Blazers don't have cap space in 2009, they would have needed to play him 2 more games. what they didn't.
adrian wojnarowski's column on the topic:
Blazers’ magic number for cap turmoil: 2
By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports 8 hours, 14 minutes ago
*
Buzz up! 0 votes
*
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* Nelson insists he hasn't reached end of the road Jan 7, 2009
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Yahoo! Sports
Until now, Portland Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard had a secret it appears most of the NBA hadn’t taken the time to discover for itself: Darius Miles is on the brink of blowing up the Blazers’ salary-cap space.
Most of the NBA believed Miles still was eight regular-season games away from devastating the Blazers’ salary cap, but Yahoo! Sports learned on Wednesday that Miles is just two games away.
Teams had been under the impression that the league’s collective bargaining agreement demanded that Miles play 10 regular-season or postseason games for the $18 million – which is split evenly between this and next season – to return to the Blazers’ payroll.
All along, the Blazers knew exactly that the preseason games counted, but a league official said Wednesday night, “He wanted to keep it quiet.”
Apparently, no team had called the league for clarification on the rule that states the season is cons uted by the “first day of training camp and ending immediately after the last game of the NBA Finals.”
The league office confirmed to Yahoo! Sports that the six preseason games that Miles played for the Boston Celtics counts 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 that pushed him to eight total.
Any team in the NBA simply can sign Miles to a 10-day contract, play him twice and punch out one of the summer’s top free-agent destinations. The Blazers are a prime destination for free agents, and the cap space also made them a fierce compe or for sign-and-trade deals. If Miles returns to the salary cap, he also will push Portland into the luxury tax. That means every team under the tax would benefit with about $250,000 of revenue sharing from Portland.
Most NBA executives are reveling in the fact that clogging the Portland cap could be a way to slow the rapid rise of the franchise. Beyond that, there is a level of jealousy over the way that Portland’s owner, Paul Allen, buys up draft picks from poorer teams for his GM to use.
All in all, league executives have been rooting hard for Miles to play those 10 games after he missed two years with a knee injury that Portland and league doctors declared was career-ending.
“Someone is going to scoop him up and play him those two games now,” one Eastern Conference executive said when told the news on Wednesday night. “Portland is screwed.”
One West GM thinks the Denver Nuggets, who moved under the luxury tax threshold on Wednesday, will be motivated to sign Miles.
Another GM wondered whether the Blazers might pick Miles off waivers and just keep him on the bench, although it’s unlikely the NBA would allow that. Portland also has been collecting insurance money on Miles, and it just seems too unlikely that Allen and Pritchard would go to such an extreme. Nevertheless, the Blazers have an incredible amount to lose here.
When reached on Wednesday night, Jeff Weschler, Miles’ agent, said he suspected the rule clarification might be true but had yet to get a confirmation from the NBA.
“We’re not focused on that,” he said. “Our focus is on Darius getting back and playing ball again. Our focus is not trying to hurt the Blazers.”
As Bruno mentioned this makes perfect sense for any team under the cap, one ten day contract is less then the 250k they'd get from the Blazers so its instant profit.
I hope the Spurs sign him. It would be really funny and you never know. He might block more shots than Oberto.
Block more shots then Fab? lol Maybe this is why Tlong hasnt been coming around much. There is no doubt in my mind that Pop could teach this kid something. But to sign him for just screwing over the Blazers money is quite........Eval......
The other added bonus is that Darius has those 'crazy eyes' of his to scare the opposition.
Pull the trigger Pop!!
Never the less, this is an interesting twist, and who knows the outcome and the ripple effect it can have.
My statement was geared more towards the future than what has happened already. Perhaps they are thinking that someone will take a chance on him and they won't have to worry about it. What I was referring to is if that doesn't happen it obviously would be in Memphis' best interest to go ahead and give him a 10 day and get him in a couple of games....and that I see nothing shady about doing that.
The Spurs need to pick up Miles. First of all, the Blazers were bragging about how they stole Batum. This would be some nice payback.
Secondly, Miles has two blocks in his 10 minutes of action. Long three? Blocked shots?
I'll take it.
As a 7 year vet, his minimum salary is $1,070,118. Fernandez is getting $1,084,080, and Batum is getting $1,040,640. Sign Miles, play him one game, and then offer to trade him (+ Possibly second round picks or cash) to Portland for either Batum or Fernandez... At that point, Portland can accept the trade (and keep him until the roster finalization deadline - 16 April IIRC), and save their capspace or pay the price...
We trade their ability to protect their future capspace, in return for a prospect. This is called good business.
Well, I am sure the $250K for those teams under wouldn't hurt at times like these when the economy is not at its best.
What do you think Miles feels knowing that some team might sign him just to get those $250K and to mess up the the Trailblazers future?
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