Blazers Issue Warning About Miles

[Roy Hobbs]

As a lawyer, I can assure everyone here that this is the most bogus threat I have seen in a long time.  The only retaliation that other clubs could fear would be the Blazers refusing to do business (i.e. trades) with the club that signs him. I am disgusted with the idea that their attorneys would issue this threat.

Footey, do you think Darius has a case against the Blazers now?

The Blazers *may* have a case, but as indicated above, they would have to prove that the other team purposefully signed Miles for the sole purpose of affecting their cap.  That's an impossible burden of proof, unless someone admits it.

Miles would have absolutely no shot at a law suit, either.  The Blazers are simply publicly indicating that they intend to exercise their legal rights.  A threat to sue generally does not give rise to liability.

[crownsy]

As a lawyer, I can assure everyone here that this is the most bogus threat I have seen in a long time.  The only retaliation that other clubs could fear would be the Blazers refusing to do business (i.e. trades) with the club that signs him. I am disgusted with the idea that their attorneys would issue this threat.

Footey, do you think Darius has a case against the Blazers now?

I was just thinking this, doesn't miles have a case against them for trying to blackball him?

[Markeras]

To me the question is why the Grizzlies signed him in the first place if not to damage the chance of another team with cap space...
Further, that they just waived him after 2 games seems weird to me, too. Sounds like someone called Chris Wallace and told him "release the guy or watch out!".

Either way, I wish Miles well and hope he gets another chance in the league. The issued warning is just plain ridiculous and sounds more like a threat than a like warning. From Miles' point of view it is a rather hindering move regarding potential "employment opportunities"...

[Brickowski]

The Blazers' threat is bogus.  Individual teams aren't responsible for the NBA salary cap rules, and Miles has a right to earn a living in any legal way he sees fit. In fact, I'd like to see the Celtics resign Miles and waive Cassell.

If no team is willing to sign Miles, Miles might have a claim against the Blazers for restricting his economic opportunities, plus a potential suit against the league for collusion. And if he wins a collusion suit, the other teams could sue the Blazers for contribution (if permitted under the league charter and by-laws).

[makaveli]

OH PLEASE...as far as I know, that's the American capitalism turning against them.
Deal with it.
I wouldn't mind at all if a team publicly anounces that they are going to sign Miles just for fun. Nobody forced them to give him that contract, and now they want a bail out, it doesn't work that way.
Miles should say that he'll give half of the money to whatever franchise that signs him hehehe  

[Lucky17]

I think it was a columnist on ESPN's site who pointed out that the team that signs Miles to a 10-day, minimum contract could actually profit from the move. Doing so would put approx $9 mil back into the general pool for revenue sharing (from luxury taxes), divided equally amongst the eligible teams in the league.

So, if Miles is signed to a contract costing less than $300K, the team that signs him profits ($9 mil divided by a maximum of 29 eligible teams below the luxury tax). So Miller's rant about fiduciary responsibilities doesn't even hold water.

[Jon Niednagel]

I used to like the Blazers (when not playing the Celtics). I love the product they have now and their bright future. However, after that *notice* I don't like them much any more. That was sleezy.

[RebusRankin]

Does this have any basis in law because it just seems petty to me?

[cordobes]

What are "perspective economic opportunities"? Don't they mean "pROspective economic opportunities"?

[crownsy]

side note:

What GM do you think wanted to screw with portland a bit and leaked this memo?

[CelticsWhat35]

side note:

What GM do you think wanted to screw with portland a bit and leaked this memo?

Hopefully the team that's gonna screw them even more and sign Miles to a 10-day conract.

[bdm860]

I think this is an excellent point from he yahoo article reporting this:

“The point that everybody is missing is that this isn’t about Portland’s salary cap. It’s about whether this guy [Miles] is healthy enough to play or not,” said an Eastern Conference executive. “He obviously is healthy enough to play. It doesn’t matter how good he plays. He can still play, and they said he couldn’t.

“Portland received benefits when [Miles’] injury was ruled career-ending. If he can play, they don’t deserve to have those benefits.”

Portland gets an unfair advantage because they said Miles wasn't healthy enough to play, and he is.  And now they threaten to sue if that unfair advantage is taken away and they get brought back to where they should be?  Makes sense to me 

Nothing makes me want to say "Screw 'em" more than something like this.

Mark Cuban's got balls, maybe he'll do it to spite them.

[RebusRankin]

As I said on the front page I can not wait to see a team sign him and then get to take a look at the Blazer's lawsuit and how they plan to go about proving intent of a corporation to screw them financially if Miles is contributing on the floor.

Should make for some good old fashion comedy Perry Mason style. (Youngsters please ask mom, dad, grandma, or grandpa who Perry Mason is). GOD I'M OLD!!

Perry Mason. isn't that a song by Ozzy?

[MattG12]

Disregarding legal action, is there any kind of punishment David Stern can issue to the Blazers? If you want your association to be respected and seem like you do business properly you probably shouldn't allow something like this to happen.

[winsomme]

As a lawyer, I can assure everyone here that this is the most bogus threat I have seen in a long time.  The only retaliation that other clubs could fear would be the Blazers refusing to do business (i.e. trades) with the club that signs him. I am disgusted with the idea that their attorneys would issue this threat.

Footey, do you think Darius has a case against the Blazers now?

The Blazers *may* have a case, but as indicated above, they would have to prove that the other team purposefully signed Miles for the sole purpose of affecting their cap.  That's an impossible burden of proof, unless someone admits it.

Miles would have absolutely no shot at a law suit, either.  The Blazers are simply publicly indicating that they intend to exercise their legal rights.  A threat to sue generally does not give rise to liability.

i do think that Miles had a case when POR was talking about his injury publicly and affecting his ability to catch on with another team....

the question was what were PORs motives when they were discussing his medical condition publicly....this report makes their motives crystal clear.