Hornets Hype

Oh. You thought I was kidding.

You don’t know me like that.

Anyway, I am pretty sure these are the official stats on my James Posey jersey, laid out gamer style. It’s 6-1, plus I am convinced it saved me from death by decapitation. Really, what more can you ask for from one $35 item of clothing? Ya know what I’m saying?

One of the best posts of the year over at Hornets247: Remembering Bobby Phills.  Read it.

Hey Trailblazers’ fans, remember this pic?  Darius and his wife at the signing conference?  The travesty that is “medically unfit to play” and the Curious Case of the Disappearing Salary?  Well the strange saga that began on April 14, 2008, is all about to end, the final chapter  hopefully written within the next two Grizzlies’ games.  Darius Miles, once a top NBA prospect, has been the center of recent controversy, and with his salary about to land back on the Trailblazers salary cap, Blazers’ president, Larry Miller, thought it would be a good idea to send a letter to the other 29 teams in the League threatening legal action.  It was a pathetic attempt to try and assert that the Blazers had any legal ground to stand on in making this threat, which only served to question why they had been granted this exemption in the first place.  Here is Darius’ take on it:

“They made a decision on the career-ending injury, they made it for the organization, but I felt they didn’t have my best interests at heart. I don’t have to prove anything, because I always knew I had the skills to play at this level. But it did make me hungry and fired up. I really wanted to go to a great situation, if I did get another chance.”

(Courtesy of Boston.com)  And Miles got another Chance early this year, after two years with no on-court action, with the Boston Celtics.  But after playing in six preseason games, with 14 guys already holding guaranteed contracts, and with only one spot left for either him or Sam Cassell, well, we all know how that ended.  (Which, considering that Sam Cassell has yet to play this year, and the Celtics bench is weak, one has to question.)  After that, there were rumors that the Clippers were interested, and why wouldn’t they be?  (Incidentally, could Miles be any worse than the guys riding their pine?)  That never happened, though.  Nor did any other team take a chance on Miles.  Don’t forget, there was also a 10 game suspension hanging over Miles’ head for a violation of the League’s substance abuse policy even if he made a roster.  Honestly, by this time, most teams already had full rosters.  So Miles’ dreams of returning to the NBA appeared over.

Until the Grizzlies rolled the dice.  In December, they gave this 27-year-old, who hadn’t played in a regular season game since April 15, 2006 a chance.  After two more games, Yahoo leaked that the preseason games that Miles had played were significant.  Miles playing in 10 games proved that we was not medically unfit, and so his salary in 2008-09 and 2009-10, which were already guaranteed, would go back on the Blazers salary cap.  The Blazers had previously asserted this meant 10 regular season games, and no one had bothered to check the actual rules, until Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the preseason games had counted against the 10-game count.

And let me tell you people, with Miles salary back on the cap, the Blazers’ outlook is not pretty.  Already at $70,060,316 in team salary (just under the luxury tax of $71.15 million), that figure would balloon to $79,060,316, meaning that the Blazers will be paying $15 mil in luxury tax if they don’t slash salaries (dollar for dollar double the amount over the luxury tax threshold).  Yet the Grizzlies cut him after he appeared in two games.  TNT’s David Aldridge said both Celtics and Grizzlies sources had told him, however, that Miles “didn’t have any physical limitations brought on by the microfracture surgery he underwent on his right knee in 2006.”  Speculation was that the Grizzlies had only cut him because they didn’t want to guarantee his contract all year, that they were hedging their bet on Miles.

With Miles only needing to play 2 more games to put his salary back on the Trailblazers cap, and terrified that the initial travesty (getting Miles off their cap space) would come back to bite them in the ass, the Blazers threatened the other 29 teams with a lawsuit if they signed Miles just to screw them under the cap (the full letter can be found here), alleging two causes of action: (1) breach of fiduciary duty to a joint venturers; and (2) tortious interference with their contractual relationships.  One Western Conference GM said, “They’re daring someone to sign him now.”  Maybe.  But I think the Blazers’ lawyers are just stupid.

Here’s how it works in Oregon, where Trailblazer contracts are likely interpreted:

“To prevail on [a] claim for intentional interference with contract or prospective advantage, [a plaintiff] would have to establish each of the following elements: (1) the existence of a [contract], (2) intentional interference with that [contract], (3) by a third party, (4) accomplished through improper means or for an improper purpose, (5) a causal effect between the interference and damage to the economic relationship, and (6) damages.”

(As stated in the case, Leif’s Auto Collision Ctrs., LLC v. Am. Family Ins. Group, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78811 (D. Or. Oct. 22, 2007).)  So, obviously, there was a contract (1), which would be affected by a third party if another team signed and played Miles (3), which would, of course, damage the Blazers under the luxury tax implications (6).  But what the Blazers would never be able to prove are elements 2, 4, or 5, without any one of which they cannot make their case.  First, to prove “intent” to damage another team (2), rather than simply hiring a capable player is the inverse of trying to prove an at-will employee was fired for an illegal purpose: short of the alleged offender coming out and admit it, it’s almost impossible.  As for “improper means” (4)?  Under Oregon law, any “legitimate business purpose” will satisfy this requirements.  Miles is 6′9″, 235 lbs., and had so much potential he jumped to the NBA straight from high school.  What more would you need to say.  Oh, and just for the nail in the coffin, the causal relationship (5), I’ll let one Eastern Conference exec close it:

“The point that everybody is missing is that this isn’t about Portland’s salary cap. It’s about whether [Miles] is healthy enough to play or not.  He obviously is healthy enough to play. It doesn’t matter how good he plays. He can still play, and they said he couldn’t.  Portland received benefits when [Miles’] injury was ruled career-ending. If he can play, they don’t deserve to have those benefits.”

(Courtesy again of Yahoo.)  That’s the bottom line.  The Blazers have tried to argue they deserve something that they never deserved.  So it has taken Miles three years to get back to playing shape.  So be it.  But you have to question why the Blazers couldn’t get him into playing shape, when other teams with little incentive could.  Miles himself said: “It was a long two years. I felt I could have played last year, but that wasn’t in the [Blazers'] plans. It was real frustrating.”  Pretty sheisty if you ask me, could it be his association with the old “Jailblazer” team?  I don’t know.  But the team exposed a dark side of the business, and they got burnt.  Guess what, in the NBA most contracts are guaranteed, that is a fact of life.  So why should one team get out from under the salary cap implications of serious injuries to high-priced players when other teams don’t?  They shouldn’t.

As for the Trailblazers’ assertions of violations of Fiduciary Duties by a team signing Miles?  Equally stupid.  Especially as to joint venturers, who have lesser duties than corporate officers or other business partners actually working together to a common goal.  But the joint venturers in the NBA are all working together to work against each other.  Follow me?  Yeah, they all want to make money, but they each want to step all over the other 29 teams to get there.  What duty did the Jazz have not to steal Boozer away from the Cavs?  None.  It’s every team for itself.  The only way they could really be harming each other’s fiduciary duties is by supporting other basketball leagues over the NBA.  Besides, on this matter, Oregon law is going to take into account the “Business Judgment Rule Defense,” which provides that:

It is a presumption that in making a business decision [the person] acted on an informed basis, in good faith and in the honest belief that the action taken was in the best interests of the [business]. Thus, [such] decisions will be respected by courts unless the [persons] are interested or lack independence relative to the decision, do not act in good faith, act in a manner that cannot be attributed to a rational business purpose or reach their decision by a grossly negligent process that includes the failure to consider all material facts reasonably available.

(As stated in the case, HLHZ Invs., LLC v. Plaid Pantries, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78817 (D. Or. Oct. 23, 2007) (emphasis added).)  Guess what, a good lawyer would argue that pushing the Blazers over the luxury tax is a rational business purpose within the competitive NBA joint venture.  Or maybe finding equity in the Blazers being denied an award they clearly didn’t deserve (getting Miles off their cap), and equalizing their rights as compared to the other 29 joint venturers is a rational business purpose.  Or also that whole 6′9″, 235 lbs., high school phenom thing.  Please.  Blazers, prepare yourself for the return hit.

The Blazers empty threats didn’t work.  Miles is signing a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies today.

From a legal perspective, it’s fortunate for Trailblazers that the Grizzlies have re-signed Miles, because if no one did, he’d probably have a claim under unfair trade practices laws.  As it is, no one is happy with their overhanded (and stupid) methods.  First, the League made it clear that any “Any such contract [signing Miles] would be approved by the NBA.” Then, the Cavs’ owner called the Blazers, “Dead Wrong.”  Further, players’ association director, Billy Hunter said: ”We are shocked at the brazen attempt by the Portland Trail Blazers to try to prevent Darius Miles from continuing his NBA career.”  Hunter added (as argued above) that the Blazers litigation threat was frivolous, and “a clear violation of the anti-collusion and other provisions of our Collective Bargaining Agreement.”  SI.com also reports that the players union will file a grievance against the Blazers.

This is one basketball fan that will not cry when Miles’ $9 mil a year goes back on the Trailblazer cap for this year and next.  I was incensed when they got this exemption.  It seemed to get swept under the rug, too.  Listen, I like the Blazers, I really do.  This is nothing personal.  But as quoted above, Miles is medically fit to play, so they don’t deserve the exemption.  Plus, I’ve always liked Miles, and have always been disappointed that he never broke out.  Always like the trademark head thump thing he and Q-Rich did as Clippers, too (which both have kept doing elsewhere).  Why not?  Plus, like I said before, I believe in giving guys second chances.

Make the most of yours, Darius.

Byron Scott: “It should be him and Kobe starting… There’s just no way in hell that Chris Paul should not be starting on the All Star team.”
David West: “Now that’s ridiculous… Someone like myself (shrug), it really doesn’t matter, but for someone like CP, who undeniably is the top point guard out here, that’s ridiculous.” (That’s such a D West thing to say, by the way. P.S. We got a glimpse last night of the D West bobblehead they’re giving away on MLK Day. It doesn’t really look like him, but it does look bald and mad… so really, maybe it does look like him after all.)

Oh, and shout out to the Times Picayune/NOLA.com for the vid. I rag on their blah coverage a lot, but they included a couple of video clips in their coverage yesterday. It’s a step in a good direction, and I shall acknowledge.

That is all.

Keep going on with your lives as planned until you hear from me. But we’re starting a movement. You heard it here first. He’s a cool guy. He has pool balls with the Hornets logo on them, we think, somewhere in the Warehouse District (This was on TV. But it was in a bar, with no sound, so we aren’t entirely sure what was going on there, whether that was CST’s version of Hornets Cribs. But whatever, the 8 ball was solid. P.S. Yo, Hornets– you should put that Hornets Insider stuff on the web so people can see it. And not in the audio archives, in the video, because I only know about 2/3 of the team’s voices and I can’t tell who’s talking. And it actually sorta creeps me out to admit that I know 2/3 of the team by voice, and makes me feel like a stalker. Thanks, Hornets).

Anyway, we love Mo. We always have. There will be signage. It was going to be Free JuJu but we decided Mo Pete’s situation was more dire.

Plus, he knows when Boxing Day is. You go, Mo. We’re right there behind you… Oh, and like, the Hornets beat the Clippers behind Rasual Butler and James Posey and stuff. But I’m so irrationally enraged about the Morris Peterson situation that I’m not even gonna talk about it.

This is war, Hornets org. That is, if this post makes any sense. It may not.

I love Mo Pete. And I’m totally sober.

… but this blogger just said it 100% better: “Hey, LeBron, here’s 10 better ways to use your chalk.” For instance, #7:

Perhaps Lebron could get his whole team involved – he is supposed to be unselfish after all – and have everyone tossing up chalk at the scorers table. It would lead to a cool illusion where for 3.5 seconds Zydrunas Ilgauskas would completely disappear.

I nearly snorted gin and tonic out my nose. When someone is being way funnier than me, I recognize. Shout out to Truth About It for the link.

Why not?  The Hornets have an extra roster spot.  The pundits say that we still lack a reliable big.  Darius Miles is a lanky 6′9″, 235 lbs. that we could use.  You say he’s already 27 and injury-prone; he’s barely played in the last two-three years.  Does he still have anything left after what was declared a career-ending injury?  (Which by the way, was a way bigger deal than most people give credit for…I mean what were Jamal Mashburn’s injuries?  How long did he sit on our cap space after he couldn’t play and was talking in a TV studio?)  I say it’s worth it to find out.

The NBA, like all big business, is a risk-reward equation.  For the Hornets, there is almost no risk in signing Miles.  Sign him to a 10-day contract at the League minimum.  I’m sure he’d be dying to be here (plus the Trailblazers are paying him $9 mil any way each for this year and next).  Keep res-signing him to those 10-day contracts up until just before March 1st, when the playoff roster must be set.  If you like what you see by then, sign him to a contract through the rest of the year.  If not, you can cut him at any time.

Listen, we had issues behind the scenes with Birdman.  Then, he looked horrible last year when he played.  But now he’s doing well in Denver.  Too bad those issues kept us from re-signing him.  Let’s not make the same mistake here.  First of all, as aforementioned, there’s so little risk.  Second, it puts $9 mil back on the salary cap of the Blazers for the next two years.  How can we not want to stick it to a rival like that, especially when we got screwed on the abovementioned Mashburn deal?  I’m sure George Shinn is a good ole boy who doesn’t like to play dirty, but this is, again, a big business; that’s how it’s played. 

So, we stick it to a rival who has way too much cap space and too many players to trade, hamstringing their ability to make moves, and, who incidentally, is directly threatening to our positioning in the conference. Worst case scenario, give him two minutes of play in eight straight games and cut him.  You fuck the Blazers (who I do like and respect, but come on, this isn’t about being nice, it’s about winning), and you get an almost free look at Miles.  Best case scenario, you find another big who can play.  That sounds like a good risk-reward equation.

I say pull the trigger on it while you can, Jeff Bower.

He might not actually be a real person right now. He might not even be on the same planet as everyone else. Outscoring Kobe Bryant with 40-11! Make that the same planet as everyone else except Chris Paul (32-15!).

You know, to tell you the truth, I had a good feeling about this one. I had it all day. You ever read the Harry Potter books? The best comparison I can think of is when Harry takes the Felix Felicis potion, the one that makes you lucky, and he’s coasting through the day like, “Nah, man, it’s aaaaaaallll good. Let’s just roll with this.” And I can’t even explain it. I felt very relaxed about this game, very unstressed. And the Hornets just roll in and show us who they can be. No pressure or anything, guys. They did it with great performances. They did it with one of the best games of the season. (Three All Stars going off? Insanity. There was total insanity happening at the Staples Center.)

I’m scared to officially announce this, but the Hornets’ season might be out of beta. Looks like we’re scheduled to release on time after all.

It’s on. Tell your friends.

…if you haven’t seen it, you should. Technically, it has to do with our foes tonight, the Lakers.

See what I did there, Gil.

(By the way, for those of you watching on CST instead of the Blazers’ feed on League Pass, Gil was dropping the puns in rare form last night. After Travis Outlaw nearly airballed a free throw, he cracked, “That shot was a crime by Outlaw.” Ho ho ho! Gil, you slay me.)

But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. We’re here to recognize our boy Hilton, who was forced to play big minutes against Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden after Tyson Chandler was ejected in the third quarter. If you come here a lot, you know that we’re relentless believers in Hilton Armstrong. Sometimes we get made fun of. Sometimes we cringe. But sometimes the second biggest of the Hornets big men comes up strong. It’s usually when he has to– we haven’t lost a game this season that Hilton started, I believe.

The joke around these parts is that, at least once a night, Hilton receives his obligatory “because you’re Hilton Armstrong and the other guy is not, sorry” foul. Usually, as well as a couple other offensive fouls of a dubious variety. The other story is turnovers. The Hilton Armstrong turnover is sometimes impossible to spot in the wild. Like, all three Hornets blogs and various fans don’t recall seeing it happen, yet there it is in the boxscore. It’s like, “Oh, that hotel guy’s playing tonight. Spot him his turnover,” and they check the box.

Well, last night in Portland, Hilton Armstrong played probably the best quarter (game?) of his career, ending up with 12 points on 6-6 shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, and… wait… wait for it… 0 turnovers. He also took a key charge from Greg Oden that forced the Blazers to sit the old man. After being called for two consecutive fouls at the 6 minute mark of the 4th quarter, Hilton could have caved. Instead, he raced back down to the other end of the floor and appeared out of nowhere to put back a monster dunk of a James Posey missed three.

Oh, it has been brought. Whatever, NBA. I just dare you to suspend Tyson Chandler. Our boy’s gonna dominate.

Turning our attention to Tyson Chandler now, I want to first say that I’m really, really proud and pleased at the way the rest of the team handled his ejection. Another game where the officiating didn’t quite go their way (You’re telling me Przybilla doesn’t deserve at least a technical for hitting back? Someone got T’ed up for a butt slap the other night), and, when forced to work around personnel issues, they gutted it out. Can it be we’ve seen a subtle change?

Blazers fans will be saying Tyson’s a dirty player. They will be wrong. Apparently, three out of the four ejections Tyson’s had in his career have come in the Rose Garden. This is the second year in a row it’s been as a result of a scuffle with Przybilla. Dudes just don’t like each other. Here’s what went down:

See, here’s what I want to know: if Tyson’s the dirty one, how come this stuff never goes down in New Orleans? We don’t hear from Przybilla here. I’m not saying TC didn’t hit him– he did. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have been kicked out. But he’s not exactly a thug. It’s hard to be a thug when like 75% of your altercations are against one guy. Besides, if you read his blog or have seen him in interviews, you know that’s just not TC’s personality. We should just accept that they play scrappy against each other, that there’s probably more to it than what’s in the video, and shrug it off. (Except, by the way, don’t you love the way the Blazers TV team cut this? Most of the times they slo-mo it, you don’t get the part leading up to when Chandler throws the arm. Naturally.)

When asked whether he hit Przybilla’s broken wrist on purpose, Tyson replied: “I didn’t know he had a bad hand. No. Not at all. If he’s worried about that, he should keep it off people.” Oh, Tyson. You slay me too.

Byron Scott said 2-2 would be good on this road trip, 3-1 would be great. So this puts us halfway there…