Will Miles play tonight? (Merged)

No, that's not the issue. Lots of players can't hold up to the rigors of playing an NBA schedule. Tracy McGrady can't. Yao Ming doesn't seem able to. Shaq often couldn't. That isn't what determines being a capable of having an NBA career. The question is whether Miles is able to play at a high enough level often enough to be worth a roster spot. Sure, we can wait and see, but Miles playing well now (in addition to doctors' reports from other teams this season) is pretty strong evidence that he is still capable of continuing his NBA career.

 

Many players enjoyed long careers despite their knees NOT being able to "hold up to the rigors of playing an NBA schedule".

Sabas, for example, who played for several quite productive years in excrutiating pain.

 

You do realize that anyone can post on any of the message boards at S2? Topics regarding the Blazers are posted in the Blazers forum, to post on a topic of interest such as this, the threads are likely to be in the Blazers forum.

There is no rule on S2 about having to be blindly pro-team of whatever team forum you're posting in on S2.

 

You have demonstrated such a glaring lack of understanding other than your emotional reaction on this matter I just have to laugh.

Irrelevant

Maybe if you continue to call McMillan a racist, you'll be the biggest troll on the board.

 

I realize that. I also realize that spewing ignorance and posting cryptically about the "dirty dealings" of the Blazers are the marking of an ignorant troll.

 

Again, that's great and all, but if he is able to be productive, the NBA denied the one team that wanted to guarantee him a contract the opportunity to do so.

I'm still waiting for someone to show me the NBA being allowed to do this in the CBA or in any league rule.

 

My understanding of the CBA rule is that the NBA has determined 10 games a year the amount that represents a career in the NBA. (Something like $120k for Miles). $100k+ a year seems like a pretty good career.

 

As I recall, this came up with Alan Houston...the rules prevent a team and player from doing a "medical retirement" and then having the team re-sign the player, thereby avoiding the cap hit while the player still gets to play for the team at full salary.

I don't know the CBA well enough to tell you the section or rule. This is just what I've read reported.

 

Actually, that had to do with paying the original salary and still having it count toward the cap.

As I understand it, it had nothing to do with the team waiving a player being able to bring him back.

I think David Stern messed up on this, and the chain of events after the denial of a claim make perfect sense when viewed through that prism.

Another hypothetical. Miles starts averaging 30 ppg, the Grizz beat out the Blazers for the 8th spot due to his incredible play, and the NBA denied the original claim by the Blazers to obtain a player that they had every legal right to claim and then sign. Now THAT would be fun!

 

It was a real pleasure watching Miles do what he did against Cleveland. Imagine if he had two good knees! OMG, the guy is done! What an absolute joy to see this happen.

 

lol...im checking out this thread after a Lakers victory and this is what a see...oh BH...youre all good in my book but this one is pretty hard to defend

 

The problem, as I see it, is that the CBA sets up a process that asks doctors to make their best medical determination as to whether an injury is career-ending and yet uses a much lesser practical test to overcome an unfavorable medical opinion. The judgment of the doctors appointed to review Darius' case was that his knee injury was so severe that he wouldn't be able to continue his basketball career without severe medical repercussions. But the CBA says that if Darius can play in 10 NBA games for as little as one second each, then the doctor's opinion is thrown out the window. I suspect that if the league-appointed doctor had been asked if Darius would be able to make cameo appearances in 10 games in one season, rather than giving his honest opinion as to whether it is medically wise or even practicable for him to play anywhere close to a full NBA schedule, he would have said yes. By that standard, any former NBA player with a pulse could come out of retirement.

I know that it's not going to help the Blazers, but the current rule needs revisiting. As it is, a team can be harmed significantly for trying to do what management believes is in the player's best longterm health interests.

 

I agree, basically. I think the system as set up is a bit silly. To steal a point from Boob-No-More, it should be a minutes-based thing, something along the lines of 200 or 300 minutes. To either show he can play a fair number of minutes over a short period of time or lesser minutes over a longer period of time. It shouldn't just be "appearances." That's completely irrelevant to medically able to play.

My original post in this thread was simply about being glad that it seems (on early returns) that Miles can legitimately play basketball. He's not going out there as a farce. But I still think the system should be overhauled.

 

Minutes isn't that good, because there are scrubs.

Maybe something like apperances of 2 minutes or more. You're going to have to go up and down the court a few times in 2 minutes.

 

Scrubs play well over 200-300 minutes in a season.

 

If the NBA is really interested in the health of its players, it seems to me that once a player has been deemed by a league-appointed physician to not be fit to continue his NBA career then that player should have to ask for a new evaluation and receive a favorable health clearance before being allowed to sign to play with any team. Additionally, I think that if cleared to resume his career, the team that originally held his contract should be given the first opportunity to re-sign the player for the life of his original contract. As it is, the team gets left holding the bag even if its intentions are purely legitimate.

 

And better probably.

Evidently Miles isn't that hurt. What have I been saying for the last 1-2 years?

 

Sour grapes.

Miles wasn't that hurt. ONE doctor's opinion doesn't mean shit. Miles is evidently healthy enough to play in the NBA, as I've been saying for the last couple years.