http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&page=capkillingcontracts-090630 I don't think I need to explain why this is relevant to the Blazers.
Memphis stuck him on the bench late in the year, has no intention of resigning him, and waived him just so they could guarantee him at a cheaper deal after contracts became locked for the year. I f**king hate Chris Wallace, and I hate David Stern for blocking Portland's attempt to claim Miles off of waivers. I still want to see an appeal on that for the sake of principal alone, but it's too late now to do anything, so Portland blew that one. $18 million would have solved both PG and SF, and the roster spots were there to bring in players. Did I mention I hate Chris Wallace's guts?
Memphis got us. They didn't do anything WRONG in getting us, though. Having that extra cap space sure would be nice... I blame John Nash for extending Darius and I'm much more upset with his incompetence than with Wallace screwing us. Ed O.
It could (and has) been argued that the Blazer did nothing wrong by attempting to claim a player on waivers that no other team wanted. Plus, it's clear at this point that it was done solely to screw over Portland, which in a roundabout way is Memphis literally stealing money from Portland due to the new cap hit. It was shady at best.
Portland followed the rules. Darius was found unfit to play by more then one doctor. Darius decided to work hard and get back into the NBA. Which he did. Pretty impressive to be honest. I didn't think that dude could work that hard. Memphis probably brought in Darius to give him a workout only. But then Portland decided to try and play hardball. I have to say, were I the owner of the Grizzlies and some jackass told me I couldn't sign a guy, I would do so out of spite. The fact he played decent for them was probably a bonus. I am thinking if Portland had not sent out that letter, Darius might not have gotten signed. But really, it comes down to the absurd contract he was given in the first place. Two of those 15 player's contracts were done by Portland in the same year. Not a banner year in Blazer history, that's for sure.
Yeah. All he had to do was play 10 games for any combination of teams and Darius's contract went back on the books. I think this is the last year, so at least there is a small, tarnished silver lining there.
The email wasn't sent until Miles had only two more games to play until he counted against the cap, not when Memphis brought him in for a workout. Get your facts straight. You criticize Pritchard at length on this board, yet you clearly have no grasp of what actually happened. It was sent in January, FWIW.