Blazers' Lawsuit Against the NBA Re: Miles (Oh Yeah, Blazers Womp Warriors Too!)

Do Blazers management ever do anything right when it comes to Darius Miles?

First, they signed a very talented young player in 2004 when we were struggling to make the playoffs, but they were paying him way too much money.   Picking him up seemed little more than a desperate attempt to get rid of Rasheed Wallace.   Darius played good that year, and the Blazers made a valiant push for the playoffs. 

We were close, but no cigar.

Over the next two seasons, The Blazers got OWNED by the league.  They could not win a game if you paid the other team money to lose.  Darius gets a bum knee, made friends with Zach Randolph's sorry excuse for a Mafia, and he became known as a pariah whose off court antics were not just frowned upon for their criminal conduct, but the sheer stupidity behind their actions. 

Darius Miles turned into an overpaid bum, and the management wanted him out.  Problem was, a big part of the reason Darius became the bum that he was is because of the way management handled him in the first place.  They got him just to ditch Sheed...and look what happened. 

We still had a bunch of ignorant thugs, except this young group had no idea how to win a game, zero leadership skills, and all they wanted was their paycheck for the stats they were supposed to produce. 

Bad Basketball. 

Finally Portland zapped Miles into the distance with a doctor's note saying his knee was bad and he could never play again.  Phew!  With Miles retired, Portland can save money to resign and even build talent around Roy, Aldridge, Oden, and Rudy. 

Right?

Except...Miles did not retire.

No, Miles played pitifully for Boston during the pre-season, and was cut.  Now he signed a 10 day contract with the struggling Memphis Grizzlies...which means The Blazers will have to pay miles millions more dollars...potentially damaging their fiscal future.

So DID the Blazers Management make another pivotal mistake when they emailed the whole league threatening litigation if anyone hired Miles?

Is this a good case?

Depends.

For the Blazers to win that case, they would have to prove beyond a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant willingly, intentionally, and maliciously, signed Miles for the SOLE purpose of damaging the Blazers financially.   

The only way to provide such evidence is for the defendant to present discovery (evidence in a civil case, usually a lot of paperwork) via subpoena that proves they only signed Miles to damage Portland.

Does that evidence exist?  Is it written somewhere, "Sign Miles...DESTROY the Blazers...Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Ask yourself: Would President Larry Miller have sent out such an email if he did know that evidence existed?  I would like to think not.  I would think the Blazers management, who have been pretty darn intelligent lately, do INDEED know they can prove this case beyond the preponderance of the evidence in court. 

Or were Larry Miller, Paul Allen, and Kevin Pritchard sitting around drinking, heard about Miles being signed, and just went ballistic and started firing off emails? 

I don't know.  I don't know.  I don't know.

I DO know that ALL OF THIS is because of the Blazers previous managements' hideous mistakes.  Our previous management messed the team up so badly, and the media has never held them as accountable as they have the players.   

(I.e. which is why I threatened my own litigation in 2007, which I posted in a previous article.)

Now, this was a conflict which could have, and should have, been resolved behind closed doors?  Probably. 

Should the Blazers management have taken a deep breath before acting?  Maybe. 

Do I really know how the ruthless world of professional sports works.  No.  Not at all. 

But I do know this...the Blazers went into Saturday nights home game against the Golden State Warriors amid controversy.  Brandon Roy returned to the line up, and we made Don Nelson's team (By the way, does anyone agree Don Nelson looks like a mix between Billy Bob Thorton in Bad Santa, and Tony Curtis in The Bad News Bears III?) we just clobbered them. 

My older brother got me a ticket, too!  Thanks Jason!

Golden State made some good shots, but Portland turned into a human highlight real, and Golden State could do nothing but whimper off the court.

So Blazers win.  

But did we also lose?

We have this darned case mulling over our franchise, and that is already disappointing the league.  If we hope to make the playoffs, we should not pick a fight unless we know we can win.

Do we?

We better.

Go Blazers.