Blazers Issue Warning About Miles

[guava_wrench]

The reason why I find the Blazers' letter problematic is that it increases the appearance of insurance fraud. If Miles can play, than there is no problem with teams signing him to force Portland to pay the contract they agreed to with Miles. Why should an insurance company have to pay a contract for a player who can fulfill his contract?

[nickagneta]

Apparently the NBA and the NBA Player's Union's attorneys have put this subject on the docket for a previously already scheduled meeting for today. Should be interesting to see what, if any, statement comes out of the player's union's attorneys.

[winsomme]

The reason why I find the Blazers' letter problematic is that it increases the appearance of insurance fraud. If Miles can play, than there is no problem with teams signing him to force Portland to pay the contract they agreed to with Miles. Why should an insurance company have to pay a contract for a player who can fulfill his contract?

exactly.

The Insurance Co should send out their own email that if there is collusion amongst NBA teams to prevent a player from performing his job just to collect an insurance settlement then they will be forced to take action...

[Brickowski]

The reason why I find the Blazers' letter problematic is that it increases the appearance of insurance fraud. If Miles can play, than there is no problem with teams signing him to force Portland to pay the contract they agreed to with Miles. Why should an insurance company have to pay a contract for a player who can fulfill his contract?

exactly.

The Insurance Co should send out their own email that if there is collusion amongst NBA teams to prevent a player from performing his job just to collect an insurance settlement then they will be forced to take action...

Yes, this did not occur to me when I posted but even if D Miles doesn't bring a collusion claim, the insurance company will.  They have alot more at stake.

[LarBrd33]

I knew this would happen.  This whole situation just seems so sketchy.  There have been all sorts of signs that just seem really "off".

First of all... Portland had Miles under contract, but somehow got doctors to determine that Miles had a "career ending injury" that would prevent him from playing.... so they got to remove him from the cap as a benefit and cut the guy.

Miles has continued to say that he's healthy enough to play.  The Celtics were obviously impressed enough with him to give him a chance.  The Grizz were apparently impressed enough with him to give him a chance.  I know there was at least one other team that had brought him in for a tryout and had come away impressed.  It's clear that Miles is healthy enough to play on the level.  He might not be good enough, but certainly healthy enough, right?  I mean... even if he plays worse than a bottomfeeder NBDL player, the fact that he can play means he didn't have a "career ending injury".

The whole situation surrounding his drug suspension... and the fact that the Blazers leaked it out also seemed really suspicious and sketchy. 

And now the Blazers putting this out... threatening to sue anyone who signs him... is also pretty sketchy. 

Someone needs to investigate this whole thing.  The way the Blazers have handled this situation just seems bizarre.

And I don't believe that some team is trying to blackmail the blazers into accepting a trade "or else".  That seems like more BS. 

This isn't the first time I've had the feeling that the Blazers were up to no good in this situation.   Maybe I'm still bitter that we were stuck paying Vin Baker for 3 years despite the fact that he had clearly been determined to be an alcoholic. 

[illantari]

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.

No fraud?  Equitable estoppel?  Tortious interference with contract?

Man, I gotta rethink my 'what the law is supposed to accomplish' philosophy.

[LarBrd33]

This is from October 26th.  Apparently the Blazers had been bad mouthing Miles in hopes that nobody would sign him:

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/55086/20081026/have_blazers_been_bad_mouthing_miles/

The Celtics have been praising Darius Miles, whom they recently released, but two NBA general managers claim that the Blazers have been bad-mouthing the free agent forward.

"He can still play, and he also hasn't played in two years, so you have to understand that he will get better," one NBA GM said.

"Too bad Portland is putting out bad information that he is not a good kid. Anything and everything they can say bad they are. It's too bad. He's a nice kid with a bad injury who has fought back. Right now, he's still an NBA player, and he's going to get better. He's going to improve. It will be a smart pick-up for someone."

This is from October 1st regarding his drug suspension
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3619002

NEWPORT, R.I. -- Darius Miles says he has no clue what made him fail a drug test that will cause him to serve a 10-game suspension if he makes it through training camp with the Boston Celtics.

Speaking at length Tuesday for the first time since his suspension was announced by the NBA over the summer, Miles said he never took diet pills -- the over-the-counter medication in which the banned stimulant he tested positive for, phentarmine, is most commonly found -- and had never taken any medication other than what was prescribed by Portland's doctors and trainers.

"I wish I knew. I really do wish I knew, but [Celtics president] Danny Ainge told me 'leave it alone,' so I left it alone," Miles said.

The NBA e-mailed teams over the summer to alert them to Miles' pending suspension after it became clear he was serious about a comeback. The Portland Trail Blazers released him and had an insurance company on the hook for his salary after an independent physician confirmed the team doctor's opinion that Miles would never be able to return from microfracture surgery on his right knee.

"I'll just serve my suspension. I could have gone to a team that would have me to appeal it and fight it, but I went to a team that told me to leave it alone, so I'll leave it alone," Miles said. "What's better than to come back from an injury and play for the champs? That makes me look good and other teams look bad."

This is from July 25th before the Celtics even signed him.  Supposedly the Blazers may have violated federal regulations in their comments about his injury:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=121693653261551200

A violation of federal regulations in regard to public comments about the medical condition of former player Darius Miles may have been committed by the Trail Blazers, specifically General Manager Kevin Pritchard.

....

“Two doctors said Darius had the worst microfracture injury they had ever seen,” Pritchard said on an Oregonlive.com blog this week. “They would never have him play basketball and the odds of having knee replacement surgery is high. I hear that, and as a general manager, I didn’t want it on my conscience – that I had a kid have to go through a knee replacement surgery. That’s a pretty major surgery. They saw (two bones) and replace (the knee). It’s a bad deal.”

 In a story posted April 14 on the Portland Tribune’s Web site, Pritchard said, “The doctors had actually said, ‘If you were my son, I’d never have you pick up a basketball again.’ I’m the kind of GM (that) I wouldn’t want that on my head that he ever had to have knee replacement.”

The problem for Pritchard and the Blazers is that those statements could be a violation of the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Availability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Since the HIPAA privacy rule went into effect on April 14, 2003, pro and college teams in all sports have been very reluctant to reveal specific details of player injuries without the permission of the player.

Most teams have come to the point where they will reveal only whether a player may sit out a game, but not give any specific details of the injuries. HIPAA’s privacy rule prohibits “covered entities” — often interpreted as employers who provide health care or health-care clinics for employees, which teams do for their players – from revealing health information about those employees without their consent.

It just seems like the Blazers have been leaking out a lot of info and saying a lot of stuff to prevent anyone from signing Miles.  For example... the drug thing.  Isn't it NBA policy to not even mention what drug a player is suspended for?  I dunno... it seems sketchy to me. 

Miles wouldn't have a case against the Blazers? 

[bdm860]

Maybe Portland can hire the Coca Cola guys who want to sue Coke Zero for this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-s_TAgM2_M



I think it's cool that Cleveland's owner has responded with an email of his own:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-gilbertresponse010909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

“With all due respect…although the Cleveland Cavaliers have no interest in signing Darius Miles and will not be signing Darius Miles,” Gilbert wrote, “I find your email quite peculiar from two standpoints:

“1. It’s dead wrong. I believe that all 30 NBA teams were and are fully aware of the terms and provisions of the collective bargaining agreement as to which all teams and the NBA are a party to, including the Portland Trailblazers.

“2. Are legal threats through a mass email the best way to circumvent the known potential consequences that could result from the Trailblazers decisions and actions they took with respect to Darius Miles?

“I fully understand the frustration you and your team’s ownership must be feeling in regards to this situation, but a preemptive threat of ‘litigation’ directed at all of your partners through a group email does not sit well with me and seems to be incongruent with the spirit of keeping a ‘fiduciary duty’ and good ‘partner-like duty’ to your ‘NBA joint venturers.’

“I would think there has got to be a better tactic than this one.”

[liam]

Reggie Lewis counted against the The Celtics cap for like 5 years.

[LarBrd33]

Reggie Lewis counted against the The Celtics cap for like 5 years.

Yeah there is some sketchy stuff happening there.

The players union is rightfully ticked off.  The NBA seems to say they will support any team that signs Miles.   It's on the daily agenda.  Article about it here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3821503

And Truehoop has some thoughts:  http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-27/Darius-Miles--Cap-Space--E-mails--Oh-My-.html

This Darius Miles situation is a mess.

Before we get to talking about threatening e-mails and all that, let's back up for a minute, and all agree on one thing: Darius Miles is not, and should not be, medically retired.

Portland's claim, supported by an independent doctor, that they should get salary cap relief for his career-ending injuries was a mistake. And now there's a 27-year-old who demonstrably would like to play basketball for a living. The Collective Bargaining Agreement's standard for assessing when a medical retirement was a mistake appears to have been a good one. Even before ten games are up, it's pretty clear.

Main point being... he's obviously NOT medically retired. 

It seems to me the Blazers tried to look for a loophole to get them from under Mile's contract... and now are desperately trying to prevent that from being remedied.

[Kwhit10]

He's played what 2 NBA games and 6 Preseason games (I had read those counted towards the 10 games).  So they're cutting it close on having to pay.

[Brickowski]

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.

No fraud?  Equitable estoppel?  Tortious interference with contract?

Man, I gotta rethink my 'what the law is supposed to accomplish' philosophy.

Well the Blazers may be liable for insurance fraud, but the insurance company would have to bring that claim.  The insurance company may have a claim against the doctors who pronounced Miles' injury as "career ending."

Miles' claim is for a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and probably one of the many federal and state fair labor/employment laws.  Courts usually protect a person's right to work.

Miles has a collusion claim (and so does the insurance company), but only if no other team signs him.

1. I expect the union to come out strongly in favor of Miles.
2. I also expect David Stern to take action against the Blazers, probably in the form of a fine.

The whole thing is bizarre-- but hilarious.

[LarBrd33]

The theory about some team trying to blackmail the Blazers is interesting.  "Trade me X player or we will sign Miles!" ...  I doubt that happened, though.

But it makes sense that the Blazers might refuse to do deals with any team who signs MIles.  And since it's the Grizzlies who have signed Miles... who does that effect the "Mike Conley to Portland" trade potential?  Lol.

It also was briefly mentioned that the Grizz had to cut Miles to prevent his contract from being guaranteed for the whole season, but they could still have plans to sign him to another 10 day contract after he clears waivers.  I really hope they do. 

[Brickowski]

What are the rules about trading and/or waiving a player who is on a 10-day contract? 

[guava_wrench]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3822392

NBA Players Union isn't happy. Grievance time. Looks like Miles could get some more money out of this.