NBA Report

STORY OF THE WEEK

PORTLAND PAYING FOR POOR PLANNING

It’s understandable that the Portland Trail Blazers would be bitter that they never got any positive returns from the six-year, $48 million contract to which they signed Darius Miles in 2004. But their fear of getting burned by the injury-plagued player once again — this time in the form of $18 million and a luxury tax hit - turned to paranoia as they threatened lawsuits against any team that signed Miles following the Jan. 10 date in which contracts turn to fully guaranteed deals.

Before signing with Portland, the former lottery pick — who had stints with the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers — was considered a bust. But the Blazers gave him a big deal anyway, only to have a knee injury limit him to just 103 games from 2004 to 2006. Portland waived Miles at the end of the 2007-08 season when a doctor determined he had yet to recover from a November 2006 microfracture knee surgery. Miles tried to catch on with the Celtics earlier this season, and then with the Memphis Grizzlies, but has only appeared in two games.

When Memphis waived him last Wednesday to avoid having to pay him a guaranteed contract the rest of the season, it looked as if the Blazers would be off the hook. But when word surfaced that Miles might get picked up by another team, the members of Portland’s front office broke out in hives. If Miles signs and plays two games, the Blazers would have to take that $18 million hit and pay $8 million toward the luxury tax. That in turn would kill any wiggle room the Blazers have to spend on free agents this summer.

First, the Blazers considered signing Miles and stashing him on their bench to ensure no one else would sign him and play him, but the league told them they couldn’t do that. And then legal threats came, which made Portland look worse.

But when questioned about the threats, Portland team president Larry Miller said: “We were hearing a lot of rumblings and rumors that there were teams out there planning to sign Darius Miles specifically and maliciously to hurt our organization. This was our way of responding to that and letting folks know that we are not going to take it sitting down.”

Well, the Grizzlies — not batting an eye at the threats - have acquired Miles again, this time to a 10-day contract. Two more games of action and the hit kicks in for Portland.

It’s a shame to have to continue paying a player that never lived up to his contract, but injuries happen. Perhaps Portland should have considered not signing a player already deemed a bust to such a large deal in the first place.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

ORLANDO MAGIC

The Orlando Magic last season became one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams. But this year — and especially in the last week — Dwight Howard and company are making a case that they belong among the league’s elite. First came back-to-back wins over Atlanta — the second of which was a 121-87 thrashing — and then a 105-98 victory over San Antonio to improve to 30-8 and surpass Boston for second place in the East and also join the Celtics and Lakers as the only 30-win teams in the NBA.

Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis remain Howard’s sharp-shooting sidekicks, but the most improved player on the team is point guard Jameer Nelson. The former first-round draft pick is having a career year averaging 16.4 points on 50.4 percent shooting and 5.1 assists.

POWER RANKINGS

1. L.A. Lakers (30-6)

Story Continues →