Quick NBA Hits

by Chris Alvino on January 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

The Portland Trailblazers are threatening litigation against any team that signs Darius Miles for the sake of simply ruining the Blazers salary cap outlook going forward. If Miles plays in two more games, the Blazers will have the final two years, $18 million tacked back onto their cap number.

Truthfully, I feel bad for Miles, who has come all the way back from injury to ready himself to play in the NBA again. It is a shame that there has to be a “situation” surrounding his comeback attempt.

Marc Berman wrote a piece about Jason Kidd’s impending free agency and whether he would be willing to come play for the Knicks on their MLE. At 35, Kidd is averaging 8.6 ppg, 8.3 apg, and 6.5 rpg, while still swiping 2.5 spg.

Look, if Kidd was willing to play for the MLE, I would not mind having him. He is a future HOF, in my opinion, and he might have been the best player in Nets history. Much like John Stockton in the 90′s, Kidd defined the meaning of “pure point guard” for the first half off this decade (Nash might have claimed that from him over the last couple of years, and Deron and Paul are taking it from here on out). But with Chris Duhon in place, we might be better suited to fill a need with our MLE than to go out of our way to sign Kidd. Speaking of veterans who will be FAs this off-season, I wonder if Rasheed Wallace will be willing to sign for the MLE. His signing would alleviate the pressure of having to sign Chris Bosh the following off-season.

Lastly, the Bulls are desperately trying to deal off guard Larry Hughes. I do not like Hughes much, and if we thought that players like Nate and Al Harrington could be erratic, then Hughes might make them look like the aforementioned Jason Kidd. But he can handle the ball, and his contract expires after next season. A deal involving Eddy Curry and Larry Hughes would be the only way I would touch Hughes. And if any deal could extend to include a player like Drew Gooden (or dare I mention J Noah), then I would strongly consider taking on Hughes, if for nothing else, than to create more cap space.

About Chris Alvino

Chris Alvino grew up in Crestwood, NY. He graduated from Regis High School in 2005. There he played both basketball and baseball. Chris is currently a student at Boston College, where he practices with the varsity Women's Basketball Team (... seriously). Chris has been a Knicks' fan for years and can literally talk about them all day long, every day of the week. Chris enjoys writing on this blog and seeing what everyone out there has to say about it. View all posts by Chris Alvino →
  • BiggieSmalls

    Blazers are sliding down a slippery slope.. Who is to say Miles shouldnt sue the Blazers now for impeding his right to work.. The players association should get involved.

    I read that they are counting the half dozen games in teh preseason towards his ten games so he only has two left to screw up the Blazers cap situation.

  • http://www.thiswebsiteissoawesome.com/ The Frankman

    Trailblazer GM is a piece of sh*t, pardon my French.

    “Under league rules, teams are free to sign Darius Miles to a Uniform Player Contract if they wish to secure his services as a player, and any such contract would be approved by the NBA”

    Raef LaFrentz hasn’t been seen in like 3 years yet that isn’t stopping the Blazers from using his horrible expiring contract as a bargaining chip and taking advantage of this “broken system” in that case. Portland is just being petty. You can’t have it both ways. Contracts like his (and Malik Rose’s) are passed around and used as cap filler. Blazers wouldn’t hesitate to use it if it meant they could improve their team even though they know damn well LaFrentz ain’t playing… but since they stand to lose money if Miles actually is healthy they’re threatening to SUE? Get the f*ck out of the Association, Portland.

    I hope the Knicks sign him to a 10-day just to screw with Portland’s cap.

  • DaJoka

    I agree….the Blazers should be ashamed of themselves for releasing that statement. I can see a western conference team picking him up just to mess up the Blazers cap situation.
    Why doesn’t Donnie pick this kid up? The Blazers would do anything for us to not play Miles. We all know Dantoni doesn’t have a problem not playing people LOL.
    I haven’t seen Miles play this year. Is he any good? Can’t be right? If no team wants to keep him on their roster he can’t be that good.
    How dare the Blazers.
    Please mess up their cap space for next year.
    I had no idea that they had enough money to sign a max contract this summer.
    Their GM has done a really good job putting this team together from the Jail Blazer days.
    They have Roy, Aldridge and Oden. That right there is the best young core in the league by far. Imagine they were to sign a superstar to their roster.
    They wouldn’t sign one this summer…they would probably wait until the big summer of 2010 to spend that cap space.
    I think the Lakers would sign him in a heartbeat just to step on Portlands neck.

  • BluEandOrange

    Portland should be ashamed of themselves for acting in this despicable manner. Darius Miles free agent situation should not be hindered by the Blazer’s management.

    As someone said before, the NBAPA need to handle this situation. The Blazers should be reprimanded for this misdeed.

    Hey, the Knicks should sign Miles and use him as trade bait.

  • jcmoney

    To get off the Miles topic: That is the funniest Larry Hughes picture I have ever seen. He looks like a bizarro Jordan with 32 instead of 23, and a crazy look instead of Jordan’s poise.

    I’d take Hughes, he could help out somewhat. Can bring up the ball, shoot the J, and play some D. His erratic shooting is his downfall in Chicago and will be somewhat encouraged here. I don’t know who the Knicks have that Chicago would want, but I dont think anything would be untouchable (including Lee) if we could get back Hughes and Tyrus Thomas, who I think is another one of these guys that could greatly fit this system.

  • BiggieSmalls

    Ill put Hughes and Ty Thomas for Q Rich (Chicago Native) and Jared Jeffries out there are a suggestion.

    Seems to make some sense for both.. QW Rich adds some veteran leadership with a hometown flavor and Jeffries can play off the bench for them to replace TT’s minutes.

    TT could fit into the athletic big rotation and is much more skilled than JJ.

    I could be persuaded to Sub Noah for TT .. TT’s qualifying offer for 10/11 makes it a wash cap wise but TT is a better long term fit.. I could also argue Noah is a cheaper/better fit as a shot blocking Camby type for a lower cost (3.1 mm team option in 10/11)

    From what I read Chicago is pretty down on both of them.. Wouldnt it be something if we got our two Eddy C. picks back somehow?