News the Trail Blazers did not want to hear

Darius Miles has signed with the Boston Celtics on a non-guaranteed contract.

In other words, the C's have taken a shot on the oft-injured, oft-questioned and much maligned forward and will bring him into training camp to prove himself.

Talk has been circulating for some time that the Celtics were taking a look at Miles. This is news that the Portland Trail Blazers definitely were not looking forward to hearing.

If Miles is to play ten games in the league, he will hit Portland's cap space. To see detailed analysis of how this would work, see two great posts from Dave at Blazersedge over a month ago, here and here.

The fact remains however, that Miles will have serve a 10 game ban initially, as part of his infringement of the Anti-Drug Policy of the league. That is assuming of course, that the Celtics are happy with his play and think that he can contribute to the team.

Miles has a lot of reasons to make this happen. Two of those being his pride at stake and the fact that he'll be playing for a very genuine title contender.

The Celtics can afford to take a gamble on Miles, as they already have a very strong locker room and a very strong roster. Miles could be a very handy addition, given the loss of James Posey to the Hornets. The other, side factor to all of this is the residual matter of the C's eating into Portland's cap room. As much as Danny Ainge would never admit it, that is a nice bonus in being able to inhibit a competitor.

(photo courtesy of atibaphoto.com)





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