Courtside: More on Darius Miles

I know I already wrote about Portland’s efforts to thwart Darius Miles’s comeback bid in order to retain the salary cap relief it acquired from the National Basketball Association in the offseason, but a couple of developments yesterday compel me to get in a few more licks, pronto. Like all you hoops habitues out there, I was shocked by news, courtesy of Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, that the franchise actually moved to take its former player off waivers for the sole purpose of parking him in the sidelines. And, like you, I was intrigued by his 13-point burst in 14 straight minutes of action bridging the third and fourth quarters of Memphis’ homestand against Cleveland. To be sure, Portland attempted to sign Miles in consonance with its resolve to keep its $18-million cap relief and thereby avoid venturing into luxury tax territory. However, the endeavor exposes its subsequent decision to threaten other teams with a lawsuit if any of them add him to their roster as disingenuous at best. It’s akin to the pot calling the kettle black, especially since it referred to the conduct as violative of the "fiduciary duty [of] an NBA joint venturer." Significantly, Miles’s performance yesterday put to rest all questions regarding his capacity to keep playing; after all, he couldn’t have put up all those points and played all those minutes sans rest if his knee injury were, indeed, career-ending as Portland insinuated in its application for cap relief. And because hindsight underscores its embellishment, there’s reason to argue that it deserves to have the remainder of the $48-million contract it inked him to in 2004 count against its salary cap. In any case, the point will become moot on Saturday, when Miles is expected to play his 10th game since being waived by his immediate past employer. His exposure in Memphis’ hosting of Utah will formalize the rescission of Portland’s cap relief, and because his remarkable showing yesterday proved that he belongs in the NBA, there’s no ground to claim that he’s being given spot minutes simply to spite the Oregon franchise. And for all his mistakes, I dare say he’s not the one suffering most from an image problem.