FanHouse Darius Miles

During the NBA's slow days of summer, Mirror Mirror examines the connections between hoops stars and similarly-named figures of historical note.

On the surface, little binds Miles Davis, a phenomenal musician who made an indeliable mark on American music by revolutionizing (and some would say perfecting) jazz, and Darius Miles, the eternal character in th question "I wonder what ______ is doing?"

In this episode of Mirror Mirror, we examine what makes these men these men.

As Tim Povtak wrote earlier, Magic star Rashard Lewis has been suspended for 10 games by the NBA for testing positive for dehydroepiandrosterone, a substance on the NBA's banned peformance enhancing drug list.

But what is dehydroepiandrosterone? Is it anything like the steroids baseball and football players have been disciplined for?

In case you weren't paying attention, the Grizzlies rolled the dice on Darius Miles on Saturday, giving the oft-injured forward a non-guaranteed contract. He needs to serve a 10-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy before playing, but assuming all goes to plan, he should be eligible to take the court on Jan. 4 against the Mavericks.

It's not a complete surprise that Miles was signed -- he looked decent in the preseason and nearly made the Celtics' roster before getting caught in a numbers game. His suspension certainly scared a few times off, but what do the Grizzlies have to lose? GM Chris Wallace explained the rationale behind the move:

"We need to find more veterans -- not just so much for leadership but for production on the court. We need guys who have been there a little bit."

It's a little odd to see Miles regarded as a veteran leader, but at 27, he's older than all but a few of his new teammates. At worst, he could serve as a cautionary tale for how fleeting NBA fame really is.

If Wallace was really so desperate for a veteran presence, though, why is the team buying out Antoine Walker? The Grizzlies acquired Walker from the Timberwolves over the summer in the O.J. Mayo/Kevin Love swap but never intended to use him -- in fact, he hasn't appeared in a regular season game since last February.

But even though he's been a casualty of youth movements on two different teams, let's not forget that he's still only 32 years old -- too old to be part of the long-term solution but hardly decrepit. Is Miles, a guy who hasn't played since 2006 due to a knee injury that had independent league doctors convinced he'd never take the court again, a better bet for production than Walker? I don't see it.

Darius Miles' comeback bid with the Celtics fell short, but there's still hope that he might crack an NBA roster. And really, what better team for that to happen with than the Clippers? He worked out for his original team this week in Los Angeles, and given the general (lack of) health on the Clippers' roster, he might actually be a good fit, right?

Maybe, but not yet. Mike Dunleavy, obviously not one for nostalgia, poured water on a Miles' homecoming. From Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times:

Clippers GM and coach Mike Dunleavy said at practice on Thursday that the team would probably "wait until after January" to make a decision on the former Clipper. The Clippers have too many players out of the lineup right now because of injuries to make a move.

Wait, the Clippers have too many injuries to add a healthy body? That makes zero sense, but it doesn't really matter: even if the Clippers were to sign Miles right now, he wouldn't be able to contribute in the immediate future anyway -- he still has a 10-game suspension looming over his head for violating the league's substance abuse policy while with the Trail Blazers.

We've known about this for months, but today the NBA made it official:

The NBA announced today that Darius Miles of the Boston Celtics has been suspended without pay for 10 games for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program at the end of the 2007-08 NBA season. His violation of the program involved phentermine.

If you recall, word of the suspension leaked before it was known what he tested positive for, and initial speculation centered on steriods. In hindsight, phentermine, an appetite suppressant, makes much more sense. Miles originally tried to come back last season, and an appettite suppressant might have come in handy were he struggling to get back into game shape.

Of course, before Miles can actually serve a suspension he needs to win a roster spot -- his contract with the Celtics won't be guaranteed until he proves himself in training camp. From the sounds of things, though, that won't be a problem: Tim Grove, his personal trainer, recently estimated that Miles has regained 80-85% of his athleticism and is on pace to be close to his old self by late December. If Miles even comes close to resembling the player he once was, he's certainly worth a spot near the end of Boston's bench.

(I'm curious, though: when Miles gets suspended, will his fine be based on the $1.07 million the Celtics are paying him or the $9.5 million he's still collecting from the Blazers? If it's the former, he'll lose roughly $130,000; if it's the latter, he'll lose about $1.15 million. Or will the fine be both salaries combined?)

The Boston Celtics signed Darius Miles to a non-guaranteed contract today, a mere 860 days since he last appeared in an NBA game. Does this make him officially relevant again? Not yet -- he still has to survive training camp cuts. From the Boston Globe:

"He's coming to training camp and he's going to try to prove that he can make the team," said Celtics general manager Danny Ainge. "He has come in for a couple of workouts. He'll try to make the team somehow."

That's hardly a ringing endorsement, but as Henry Abbott notes, the fact that they gave him a non-guaranteed contract rather than a simple training camp invitation suggests Miles can still play. We'll have to wait and see in the exhibition season if that's really the case.

Even if he makes the team, though, he'll have to sit out the first 10 games for apparently testing positive for Phentermine, an appettite suppressant, at some point over the last two years. Phentermine is a controlled substance, which makes it illegal to possess without a prescription, and is banned by the NBA's drug policy, which Lindsey Hunter found out the hard way in May 2007.

Darius Miles hasn't appeared in an NBA game since 2006, and in April it was determined by a doctor appointed by both the NBA and the Players Association that his injured knees were so messed up that he'd likely never play again.

Though the Blazers (or more likely, their insurance company) still have to pay the man, that doom and gloom prognosis allowed the team to shave the remaining $18 million he's due over the next two years off the salary cap. But there's a catch: in order for the Blazers to stay in the clear, Miles can't return to the NBA -- or more specifically, he can't appear in at least 10 games over the next two years.

Trouble is, that's exactly what he's trying to do. The Boston Globe says he had "an impressive workout" with the Celtics, and the East Valley Tribune reports (via Shoals) the Suns have also inquired about his services. If he can convince some team out there to take a chance on him and he sees even spot duty this year, he could end up sabotaging Portland's master plan.

What are the chances he actually has any game left? If you remember, Miles proclaimed himself "90% healthy" last December when he was cleared to resume conditioning drills with his teammates, and it wasn't until problems with his Achilles tendon surfaced that he was officially ruled out last year.

Darius Miles' career is likely over. It is most certainly over in any capacity as a Portland Trail Blazer. The Blazers announced today that they asking for waivers on D-Miles, which fits under some standard protocol about a player getting hurt badly enough to end his career. In other words, "Adios. Amigo."

An independent medical examiner jointly appointed by the NBA and the NBA Players Association examined Miles and determined that the damage to Miles' right knee is severe enough to qualify as a career-ending injury.

Miles has missed all of the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons, last appearing in a game for the Trail Blazers on April 15, 2006.

'Given the serious nature of his knee injury, we agree with the doctor's conclusion that Darius has sustained a career-ending injury,' Pritchard said. 'This allows Darius and the Trail Blazers to move forward and achieve closure to this matter. To his credit, Darius worked hard to come back, but his body just didn't allow it to happen.'

Ahhh. The pleasant nature of media posturing. I'm not saying that Kevin Pritchard isn't saying what he really feels ... but I am saying that Portland in no shape or way wants Darius Miles near it's burgeoning young dynasty (that seems to be the relatively hip way to refer to them these days). And who can blame them?

Miles had freakish athletic talent when he came out of high school to the pros, but aside from the two years he spent coming off the pine for the Clippers, he never played more than 63 games in one season. He maxed out at 14.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game with the Blazers in the 05-06 season but man-o-man could he freaking fly. More than anything though, Miles is a pretty good reminder that the NBA extending the age at which players can leave school early to turn pro is probably a good thing.

This is kind of a tricky claim to make, since the most famous microfracture patient is none other than Black Jesus himself. Mixed metaphors aside, I'm beginning to think that this awful, awful procedure is the best thing that can happen to wayward players. Look at Amare: He was selfish, raw, and lazy. Then he blows out his knee and, after a few humps, comes back as a more complete, mature player and person.

The latest convert? None other than Darius Miles, most recently in the news for his one-of-a-kind monster lowrider. From Mike Barrett's Blog, here's a report of the new Darius:

Speaking of Darius, he continues to workout at a frantic pace ... He hasn't been cleared to play, but is running now with the team during conditioning drills. Miles, who topped out at 259 pounds following his micro-fracture knee surgery, is now down to a slim 225. He has high hopes for a return, but still has a long road ahead of him. There are varying degrees of micro-fracture surgery, and Darius' was on the very serious end. Say what you want, you cannot fault his effort in attempting to get back into shape. I've seen it every day.

See? It doesn't matter that his NBA career was a disappointment. If he works hard, and make a miraculous recovery, all that will be behind him. Next up: Kenyon Martin, whose will to appear in the season opener cannot, and should not, be seen as entitlement.

Via Blazers Blog, here's one of those pictures that speaks for itself. And then speak for itself even more, once you find out that it's the ride of Darius Miles, the Blazers' forward who may or may not still be a potential-laden youngster. He certainly has the ride of, well, something other than a savvy veteran. As Casey at Blazers Blog writes of the graphic on the hood:

Dudes with smoking guns, scantily-clad ladies and Ben Franklin smoking a spliff. I'm guessing this isn't the family car.

You can see further pics at NBA Noise, including one with a very impressed and confused Coach McMillan.