Crisis management with Larry Miller

It's always interesting to watch people handle a crisis.

In politics, the usual modus operandi is deny, deny, deny. A cheating spouse can always revert to emotional blackmail and, in the world of sports, the current rage seems to be throwing someone under the bus to save your own skin.

Portland Trail Blazers president Larry Miller went in a different direction when he reached a fork in the road last week. Instead of playing by the book and throwing an underling to the dogs over the Darius Miles debacle, Miller created his very own crisis management handbook -- entitled "threaten the competition."

In case you missed it, Miller and the Blazers attempted to bully the entire league by promising litigation if any team signed Miles, the third overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft that might be better known for his roles in Van Wilder and The Perfect Score than anything he has done on the court.

The reason?

If Darius Miles can play in two more games this season, the Blazers will be back on the hook for the $18 million remaining on his previous contract.

Portland received salary cap benefits when Miles' knee injury was ruled career-ending. If the former East St. Louis high school star can play in two more games this season, the Blazers will be back on the hook for the $18 million remaining on his previous contract with the team.

Perhaps more importantly, all that cash would count against the team's salary cap and force the Trail Blazers to pay a luxury tax, forcing them out of this summer's free-agent sweepstakes.

As one of the league's ascending teams, with a legitimate superstar in Brandon Roy and an ever-improving big man in Greg Oden, Portland figured to be a major player this summer.

Sensing his plans going awry, a desperate Miller rolled the dice.

"The Portland Trail Blazers are aware that certain teams may be contemplating signing Darius Miles to a contract for the purpose of adversely impacting the Portland Trail Blazers salary cap and tax positions," Miller wrote in the e-mail to each NBA team.

"Such conduct by a team would violate its fiduciary duty as an NBA joint venturer. In addition, persons or entities involved in such conduct may be individually liable to the Portland Trail Blazers for tortuously interfering with the Portland Trail Blazers contract rights and perspective economic opportunities. Please be aware that if a team engages in such conduct, the Portland Trail Blazers will take all necessary steps to safeguard its rights, including, without limitation, litigation."

When talking to reporters, Miller claimed that his team wasn't trying to block Miles' return to the NBA, just sending a "message" to possible Western Conference rivals who wanted to intentionally hurt their financial interests.

"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," Miller said. "This was our way of responding to that and letting folks know that we were not going to take it sitting down."

Of course, the huge hole in that logic was that the Blazers, who are currently two games behind Denver in the Northwest Division, were screwed whether the Nuggets or, say, the Philadelphia 76ers signed Miles.

The NBA didn't make a big deal of Miller's antics but made sure to inform every team that Miles had cleared waivers and was eligible to be signed to a standard contract.

The NBAPA, however, was a bit more effusive with its response.

"We are shocked at the brazen attempt by the Portland Trail Blazers to try to prevent Darius Miles from continuing his NBA career," executive director, Billy Hunter said in a statement. "Their attempt to intimidate the other 29 NBA teams by threatening frivolous litigation merely for signing this capable NBA veteran is a clear violation of the anti-collusion and other provisions of our Collective Bargaining Agreement. We will vigorously defend Darius' rights."

In the end, they never had too.

The Memphis Grizzlies guffawed and re-signed Miles on Saturday. When he avoids a DNP-CD two more times, the Blazers will be on the hook for the entire $18 million.

If I were Miller, I would have just thrown an intern under the bus.

Deja Vu in Portland?

The parallels are obvious.

In 1984 Kentucky center Sam Bowie entered the NBA draft and, after the Houston Rockets selected Hakeem Olajuwon with the top overall pick, the Portland Trail Blazers took Bowie over North Carolina shooting guard Michael Jordan with the second selection.

Of course, Jordan was picked third by the Chicago Bulls, and the rest is history. "Air Jordan" would go on to be one of the greatest players in basketball history, earning five Most Valuable Player trophies and winning six NBA Championships.

Greg Oden sprained his right foot and is expected to miss two-to-four weeks.

To make matters even worse, two other future Hall of Famers - Charles Barkley and John Stockton - were also taken after Bowie, whose promising career was derailed by a series of leg injuries.

Fast forward to 2007. The Blazers select can't miss center Greg Oden from Ohio State over sensational scoring threat Kevin Durant.

It might be quite the stretch to compare Durant to Jordan, but there's little question that the former Texas star is going to develop into one of the NBA's best scorers over the next decade.

Oden, meanwhile, missed his rookie season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee and, after over 500 days between real games, he was diagnosed with a mid-foot sprain after landing awkwardly in the Blazers' season-opening 96-76 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.

The injury had disaster written all over it. "Lisfranc" was on the tip of everyone's lips, but afraid to be muttered.

Finally, the Blazers were able to breathe a sigh of relief on Wednesday when an MRI and CAT scan confirmed Oden had a mid-lateral right foot sprain and will miss only two to four weeks.

Still, leg injuries to a 7-foot, 285-pound men aren't exactly comforting.

Hindsight is the only exact science in sports, and with that firmly in their corner, many experts have called Portland's decision to draft Bowie one of the worst moves in NBA history.

Sports Illustrated even called the former Kentucky standout the biggest NBA draft bust ever. A ridiculous statement considering Bowie was a supremely talented player that finished his NBA career averaging 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.78 blocks per game.

The label of "bust" is tagged on Bowie thanks to the injuries and Jordan. However, few remember at the time of the '84 draft, Bowie was the logical choice for the Blazers since the team had just selected Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler, a shooting guard, during the prior season.

Lightning may be on the verge of striking twice in Portland.

At the time of his selection, few disagreed that Oden was the right choice but the injuries could derail everything.

Meanwhile, twenty years from now, if Durant is cobbling together his induction speech for the Naismith Hall of Fame and other players from the '07 draft like Atlanta power forward Al Horford and Sixers swingman Thaddeus Young develop into perennial All-Stars, the revisionists will be back, ridiculing the Blazers and breaking out the "bust" word all over again.

The truth is always far less interesting.

Sometimes it all boils down to luck, and the Trail Blazers aren't feeling all that lucky right now.

Blazers breathe sigh of relief

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) Scan today confirmed Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden has a mid-lateral right foot sprain.

The MRI revealed a couple of avulsions that are not believed serious and do not require surgery.

Oden is expected to be out 2-4 weeks.

The injury occurred during the first quarter of Portland’s Tuesday night game at the Los Angeles Lakers.

Blazers cut Jackson, Hill

The Portland Trail Blazers waived forward Luke Jackson and rookie center Steven Hill, General Manager Kevin Pritchard announced today.

"We want to thank Luke and Steven for their contributions during training camp and preseason and wish them all the best for the future," said Pritchard. "They've conducted themselves as real pros on and off the court and we believe both of them have a bright future in basketball."

A former All-American at the University of Oregon, Jackson (6-7, 215) played in three preseason games, averaging 5.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 19.3 minutes. The four-year NBA veteran was 5-for-15 (33.3%) from the field and 1-for-4 (25.0%) from 3-point range.

Hill (7-0, 245) saw action in three preseason games, recording averages of 1.0 points, 0.7 rebounds, 0.67 blocks and 9.0 minutes. The rookie from Arkansas was a member of the team's 2008 NBA Summer League squad and signed on August 27, along with Jackson and Jamaal Tatum.

Blazers waive Tatum

The Portland Trail Blazers waived rookie guard Jamaal Tatum, General Manager Kevin Pritchard announced today.

“Jamaal came in and did a great job for us, and we look forward to watching his career progress,” said Pritchard. “We really enjoyed our time with Jamaal and wish him all the best.”

Tatum played in three preseason games, averaging 0.7 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 5.7 minutes. The 23-year-old played four seasons at Southern Illinois, averaging 12.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.21 steals in 131 games.

Blazers' Webster has foot surgery

Portland Trail Blazers guard Martell Webster underwent surgery Thursday to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. He is expected to be sidelined for 8-10 weeks.

Dr. Jay Crary performed the procedure at Southwest Washington Regional Surgery Center in Vancouver, Wash. As part of the wurgery, Webster had a screw inserted into his fifth metatarsal bone.

The injury occurred during Tuesday night’s preseason game against the Sacramento Kings.

Injuries, injuries, injuries

Wizards big man Brendan Haywood has torn ligaments in his right wrist and will undergo surgery.

A report from the Washington Post on Wednesday put the timetable on Haywood's return at four-to-six months, putting his entire season in jeopardy. The Wizards will not report on a timeline for recovery until after surgery, which is yet to be scheduled.

The surgery will repair a torn dorsal scapho-lunate ligament in his right wrist. Haywood visited two hand specialists earlier Wednesday, both of whom concluded that surgery was necessary. He suffered the injury during training camp last week.

Haywood averaged a career-high 10.6 points and 7.2 rebounds last season for Washington and matched a career-mark with 1.7 blocks per contest. The UNC product also set a new career-high for average minutes played with 27.9 per game and competed in 80 of 82 games.

The news comes one day after Washington forward Antawn Jamison hurt his right knee in the first quarter of Tuesday's preseason opener against the Dallas Mavericks.

Meanwhile, Blazers swingman Martell Webster was diagnosed with a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his left foot on Wednesday.

The injury occurred in Portland's preseason game Tuesday against Sacramento. X-rays taken Tuesday night showed the injury, and further tests on Wednesday confirmed it. Webster will be re-evaluated on Thursday to determine a treatment and timetable for his return.

Webster has spent each of his three NBA seasons with the Trail Blazers, and in 2007-08 posted career-high averages in points (10.7) and rebounds (3.9) in 75 games (70 starts).

Blazers made right choice with Oden

It may have taken a year longer than expected but the Portland Trail Blazers can rest easy. They made the right choice.

Greg Oden punctuated his delayed arrival to the NBA Tuesday with a thunderous dunk two minutes into the team's preseason opener against Sacramento.

"The big fella is a beast, man," teammate Brandon Roy gushed.

The Blazers went on to rout the Kings, 110-81, as Oden flashed his gaudy potential.

"I think Greg showed us what he can do when in deep," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said. "We've got to get him in shape but you've got to see the potential he has. Sacramento could see it early by double teaming him, showing him some respect. He has great hands. He can get off the floor quicker than a lot of people his size."

If you were a fly on the wall at The Sports Network offices, you would know the staff has some pretty entertaining arguments.

Most of them involve the more mundane topics like calling out the slobs who can't clean the microwave or contacting Jack Bauer to find those missing pens. But, some actually involve sports -- the most spirited of which before the 2007 NBA Draft was Greg Oden versus Kevin Durant.

Being the wily veteran of the group I, of course, was on the right side since Day 1 -- Oden.

But, a surprising number of my colleagues were seduced by Durant's unbelievable skill. It seemed like every time the Durant buried another three at Texas, it was like the Dark Lord of the Sith had clouded the vision of the staff.

I thought I could yell gin then I pointed out a national poll where 20 of the 21 NBA general managers with the courage to answer the question of Oden versus Durant before the draft picked the obvious choice. And 20-of-21 isn't exactly a tight knit affair.

Then, it was Ohio State that punched its ticket to the Final Four while Durant was stuck on the sidelines accepting his AP Player of the Year award and dreaming about that upcoming multi-million dollar shoe contract.

The ultimate validation came in June of 2007 when David Stern stepped to the podium and informed us Portland selected Oden with the top overall pick.

Of course in the end -- at least to the people in the know -- it was never really a choice. Oden versus Durant was the ultimate no-brainer.

That's not a shot at Durant. You see there are always skilled wing people. Athletic guys on the outside are as overpopulated as it gets in the NBA landscape. That's not to say players as good as Durant come around all that often -- it just means guys you can win with do.

Oden on the other hand is an endangered species. A true big man that actually plays like a big man in a game bastardized by the three-point shot.

And spending a year with the Buckeyes only sold me even more on Oden. While others saw it as a chance to poke holes in his game, I saw Oden developing the attitude it takes to succeed at the next level.

He was a huge and intimidating presence standing next to his college foes and that's where you develop the "big man" mentality, at least according to this generation’s most dominant center -- Shaquille O’Neal.

"When you got three little dudes hanging on you and you're still dunking on their mugs, it makes you feel like a superior being," O'Neal told Mike Wise of the Washington Post.

Still, Portland had to be wondering if it made the right choice last season. It was Durant who was the NBA Rookie of the Year, albeit with a terrible Seattle team, while Oden's much-anticipated debut was delayed due to microfracture surgery on his right knee.

Now Durant is preparing to have another great statistical year in his new home of Oklahoma City.

Oden? He will be prepping for the playoffs with a 50-win Trail Blazer team.

"I had no problem (in adjusting to his first NBA game)," Oden said. "The guys told me, just to take a deep breath and go out there and play basketball. That’s all it is. I'm not as good as I was but I'm going to get there."