Miles' bluster dares Blazers to make a choice
Friday, January 28, 2005
S omething was in the air again on Thursday. Trail Blazers practice ended an hour early. The general manager and the coach were behind a closed sliding-glass door talking with serious looks on their faces.

It wasn't a sucker punch, it wasn't a practice fight, there were no arrests, but in the end, it was something. Nobody said a word. Nobody had to. It was in the air. And you half-expected to open your eyes and see Bonzi and Rasheed at it again.

Instead, it was just Dr. Darius and Mr. Miles.

In a team film session Thursday, coach Maurice Cheeks reportedly was making a coaching point to Darius Miles. The player then directed a racial slur at Cheeks and shouted something about not caring about losing "20" games in a row because Cheeks is going to get fired anyway.

It went on and on. And Miles was asked to leave the practice facility by Cheeks, to which he basically said, "Make me."

Try shouting those kinds of things at your boss today. Because the bet here is that you would be unemployed by noon.

So today, Miles gets waived, right?

Nope.

Miles was just given a six-year, $48 million guaranteed contract by the Blazers. So while waiving him is the emotional reaction, it's not a smart business reaction.

So today, Miles is traded, right?

Nope.

The $48 million contract makes Miles nearly impossible to trade. Especially because he's been injured and, also, because he's been the biggest disappointment of the Blazers season. Right down to the way Cheeks has been unable to guess what Miles will give him night to night.

(That's not to mention the way Miles publicly pouted when Shareef Abdur-Rahim beat him out for the starting small forward position.)

So today, Miles is suspended for insubordination, right?

Well, that's debatable, and it's exactly what Miles dared Cheeks to do, full well knowing that the coach is dangling from the NBA coaching cliff by his sneaker shoelaces. On Thursday, GM John Nash said he'll support what Cheeks wants to do.

But it's private support that matters.

If Cheeks is hung out to dry while management privately explains that ownership doesn't want the bad publicity connected with suspending a player, we're right back to square one.

That support will, no doubt, come straight from the Grand Pooh-Bah himself. If owner Paul Allen is really interested in changing the perception of the franchise, if waiving Qyntel Woods wasn't just for show, then suspending Miles is a no-brainer.

Suspend him for 20 games, in fact. Because after Miles promised in front of his teammates to lose exactly that many for his coach, how can the franchise justify putting Miles back in uniform in any of the next 20 games?

That's what we'll all be thinking the next time Miles takes the court. That, and that awful racial slur. And while Cheeks might be thinking of resigning over this, the Blazers shouldn't let it come to that. Cheeks deserves better.

By the way, Dr. Darius, don't try saying it was a blackout. That's been done.

M iles hasn't been here long enough to know that his act is tired. The bet is, Cheeks was pointing out that defensive sequence in the final minutes of Wednesday's loss in which Miles failed to rotate and stop Jerry Stackhouse from getting an uncontested layup.

On the play, Miles wilted in his shoes.

Don't be fooled into anyone telling you this incident is insignificant. It threatens to send the rest of the season straight down the city sewer line. But only if the Blazers fail to back their coach, and educate their future.

Keep in mind, Sebastian Telfair, Ha Seung Jin and Travis Outlaw are watching. So is Zach Randolph. They had front-row seats when Miles was showing Cheeks who's boss.

So, who is the boss?