Darius Miles

Darius Miles

Darius Miles, 2006
Small forward/Power forward
Personal information
Date of birth	October 9, 1981 (1981-10-09) (age 30)
Place of birth	Belleville, Illinois
Nationality	USA
High school	East St. Louis HS (East St. Louis, Illinois)
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College	None
NBA Draft	2000 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3rd overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Clippers
Pro career	2000–present
Career history
2000–2002	Los Angeles Clippers
2002–2004	Cleveland Cavaliers
2004–2006	Portland Trail Blazers
2008–2009	Memphis Grizzlies
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie First Team (2001)
Stats at NBA.com

Darius LaVar Miles (born October 9, 1981) is an American professional basketball player.

The 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), 235 lb (107 kg; 16.8 st) small forward was selected directly out of high school by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 3rd overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft. He was a First Team NBA All-Rookie in 2001, a first for a prep-to-pro player.

Miles playing career nearly came to an end when he was released by the Portland Trail Blazers in April 2008 after two years away from the court following microfracture surgery on his right knee. While he rebounded by joining the Boston Celtics for the 2008–2009 pre-season, his regular season debut with the Grizzlies was postponed for ten games while he sat out a league-mandated suspension for violating its substance abuse policy.

Early years

Miles was born in Belleville, Illinois and attended East St. Louis High School in East St. Louis, Illinois.

NBA career

Los Angeles Clippers

Miles entered the 2000 NBA Draft and was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers as the third overall pick, at the time the highest a player had been drafted directly from high school. He played his first two seasons with the Clippers, earning an NBA All-Rookie Team first team honor in 2001.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Following the 2001–2002 season he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he spent a season and a half before being traded to the Portland Trail Blazers midway through the 2003–04 season.

Portland Trail Blazers

During the 2004–05 season, Miles made headlines after a confrontation with then-coach Maurice Cheeks in which Miles reportedly insulted Cheeks with racial slurs^[1] and remarked he "did not care if the team were to lose the next 20 games" since Cheeks was "going to be fired anyway". According to ESPN's Chad Ford and other accounts, after Cheeks asked the disorderly Miles to leave, Miles' response was "Make me." When Cheeks left the room to see John Nash (GM of Blazers), Miles ran behind him shouting, "That's right, run to your daddy." ^[2] On April 19, 2005, he scored a career-high 47 points in a loss against the Denver Nuggets, which tied for the eighth-highest single-game output in franchise history.^[3]

Midway through the 2005–2006 season Miles severely injured his knee. Five days later, on April 15, 2006, he played in his 40th and last game of the season.^[4] He missed the entire 2006–07 and 2007–08 NBA seasons due to microfracture surgery to repair his injury.^[5]

In an effort to shed Miles' $18 million dollar contract,^[6] the Portland Trail Blazers petitioned the NBA and the NBA Players Association in March 2008 to provide an independent doctor to decide if Miles could play again.^[7] The examination determined that Miles' knee injury was severe enough to be career-ending, prompting the Blazers to request waivers for his release on April 14, 2008.^[5] However, Miles had the option to sign on with another team if offered a contract, potentially reverting the $18 million dollar break the Blazers hoped to gain if Miles played in 10 games in 2008.^[8]

Complicating matters was a 10-day suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy levied by the NBA, which Miles was required to serve before he could play for any NBA team.^[6]

Boston Celtics

On August 22, 2008, the Celtics signed Miles to a non-guaranteed contract offering him a chance to earn a roster spot at training camp.^[9] Though he worked out twice with the team and impressed with his health and attitude,^[10] he was waived on October 20, 2008, before the regular season started.^[11]

Memphis Grizzlies

On December 13, 2008, Miles signed with the Memphis Grizzlies.^[12] After sitting out his ten-game suspension, Miles made his season debut with the team on January 4, 2009, playing the last 1:46 in a 102–82 win against the Dallas Mavericks.^[13] On January 7, after collecting only 2 rebounds and 2 blocks in 9 minutes over two games, Miles was waived.^[14] On January 9, following a controversy over his re-signing, the Grizzlies signed Miles to a 10-day contract. The next game, against the Cavaliers on January 14, Miles played 14 minutes and exhibited some of the quickness and leaping ability he once possessed. He recorded 13 points on 4 of 6 shooting and making 5 of 7 free throws in a 102–87 loss.^[15] On January 30, 2009 the Grizzlies signed Miles for the rest of the 2008–09 season.^[16]

On July 9, 2009 the Grizzlies renounced their rights on Miles in order to save cap room.

Career-ending injury controversy

Under NBA rules, if a team is granted salary-cap relief for a career-ending injury to a player who thereafter participates in at least ten games the next season, the salary cap relief is terminated and the amount is added back to the team's salary cap ceiling.

On January 8, 2009, after Miles played six pre 2008-2009-season games with the Celtics and two before being released from a non-guaranteed contract by the Grizzlies, the Portland Trail Blazers threatened to sue any of the other 29 NBA teams that picked up Miles and played him specifically to adversely impact their salary cap and tax positions.^[17] In response, the NBA players' association threatened to file a grievance against the Trail Blazers.^[18] After a directive from the NBA Commissioner's office the next day declaring that any team could sign Miles and the League would approve the contract, the Memphis Grizzlies re-signed Miles on January 10, 2009 to a 10-day non-guaranteed contract. Miles then played the two games necessary to trigger re-addition of the $18 million to Portland's cap amount. Miles then re-signed two more 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies before being signed for the rest of the 2008–09 season on January 30, 2009.

Acting career

Miles had a role in The Perfect Score (2004), as a high school basketball star who needs to achieve a qualifying SAT score to attend St. John's University, closely paralleling his real life situation coming out of high school. He also appeared in National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), along with then-Clipper teammates Michael Olowokandi, Lamar Odom, and Quentin Richardson. He also appeared in a documentary titled The Youngest Guns (2004), which detailed Miles' and Richardson's first few years in the NBA.^[19]

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2000–01	L.A. Clippers	81	21	26.3	.505	.053	.521	5.9	1.2	.6	1.5	9.4
2001–02	L.A. Clippers	82	6	27.2	.481	.158	.620	5.5	2.2	.9	1.3	9.5
2002–03	Cleveland	67	62	30.0	.410	.000	.594	5.4	2.6	1.0	1.0	9.2
2003–04	Cleveland	37	16	24.0	.432	.167	.542	4.5	2.2	.7	.7	8.9
2003–04	Portland	42	40	28.4	.526	.200	.702	4.6	2.0	1.0	.8	12.6
2004–05	Portland	63	22	27.0	.482	.348	.600	4.7	2.0	1.2	1.2	12.8
2005–06	Portland	40	23	32.2	.461	.200	.534	4.6	1.8	1.0	1.0	14.0
2008–09	Memphis	34	0	8.8	.485	.167	.742	1.7	.5	.3	.6	3.5
Career		446	190	26.3	.472	.168	.590	4.9	1.9	.9	1.1	10.1

Personal Life

On August 3, 2011 Miles was arrested in Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for carrying a loaded gun. ^[20]

References

1. ^ Blazers suspend Miles
2. ^ http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&id=1980732
3. ^ Trail Blazers request waivers on Miles
4. ^ http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/players/Darius_Miles
5. ^ ^{a b} Blazers waive Miles
6. ^ ^{a b} http://www.hoopsworld.com/TheWireStory.asp?id=14458#
7. ^ Quick, Jason (2008-03-18). "Miles' future with Blazers up in air". OregonLive.com. http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/120581071320230.xml&coll=7. Retrieved 2008-04-05. 
8. ^ http://grg51.typepad.com/steroid_nation/2008/12/darrius-miles-.html
9. ^ Miles, thought to have career-ending injury, signs with Celtics, ESPN.com, August 22, 2008.
10. ^ Celtics sign Darius Miles, Boston Herald, August 22, 2008.
11. ^ Gary Dzen, Celtics waive Miles, The Boston Globe, October 20, 2008.
12. ^ Griz sign former star forward Darius Miles, December 14, 2008
13. ^ Mayo's 18 second-half points keep Mavs at bay
14. ^ Memphis Grizzlies Wave Darius Miles SI.com, January 7, 2009
15. ^ Report: Grizzlies ignore Blazers' threat. Retrieved on 2009-01-10.
16. ^ Grizzlies Resign Miles ESPN.com, January 30, 2009
17. ^ Reports: Blazers try to blackball Miles, January 8, 2009.
18. ^ Union to file grievance vs. Blazers. Retrieved on 2009-01-10.
19. ^ Miles at IMDB
20. ^ http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_b9d03669-5f5e-5297-b7c7-d97f833e0b16.html

External links

• Darius Miles at NBA.com
• Darius Miles at Basketball-Reference.com

Persondata
Name	Miles, Darius
Alternative names
Short description	American basketball player
Date of birth	1981-10-09
Place of birth	Belleville, Illinois
Date of death
Place of death