NBA Blocked Blazers' Attempt To Claim Miles Before E-mail Threat

Miles Situation Could Compromise Trail Blazer GM's Standing In NBA

KNEE-JERK REACTION: An independent medical examiner appointed by the NBA and NBPA last April determined Miles' knee injury was career-ending, and in Portland, Geoffrey Arnold notes most NBA team execs "expect changes to medical retirement rules when the league and the players association negotiate" the next CBA in '11. An NBA exec said of the Miles situation, "I wouldn't say it will never happen again. But it's an isolated incident that's unlikely to happen again because of the attention that it has (gained). It's been brought to light and that could make it less likely to happen again" (Portland OREGONIAN, 1/13). 

EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN: The SPORTING BLOG's Bethlehem Shoals wrote Trail Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard's "handling of the Darius Miles saga could compromise his standing around the league." Across the NBA, the Miles situation was the "last straw, the culmination of several seasons worth of ambivalence toward Pritchard." For any other NBA GM, it "would have been awkward," but in this case, it was "not only embarrassing -- it was just the misstep others had been waiting for" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 1/12).

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