The NBA Draft is this Thursday?  Doesn’t it seem like there has been much less press/hype/coverage leading up to this year’s draft?  There are no LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, or Dwyane Wade caliber players in this year’s draft pool, but there are plenty of guys ready to contribute strong minutes in the NBA.

Even though there are less opportunities for players to showcase their skills in front of NBA teams, it seems like the athletes don’t mind.  In fact, many players are opting out of invitations to work out in front of scouts and GMs.  Some teams have taken a worse media backlash than others.  Chad Ford of ESPN.com thinks that the Memphis Grizzlies, in particular, are struggling with some image problems.  He quotes an unnamed person as saying,

“[The Grizzlies] don’t spend any money anymore. They don’t have a commitment to put a winning team on the floor right now. It’s not where an agent wants to send his star pick.”

Agents do have a lot of sway when it comes to where their superstar clients are picked.  A lot of that decision often revolves around the market of the city that the team plays in, the players already on the team, and the money that teams ordinarily dish out.  For rookies, though, that first contract is pretty much set in stone depending on the slot you get selected.

Memphis isn’t all that bad!  There is good BBQ, and it’s home of the Memphis Redbirds, where Pete Parise is tearing it up.

I wrote several articles relating to this specific matter regarding Miles (Blazers Miles From Resolving Conflict) and his financial situation with Portland, and after this last bit of news it is pretty much official.  Even if Darius did not re-sign for the entire season, the Blazers were in debt to him for $18 Million from a two year contract since January 16th, when he participated in his tenth game of the year.  The Blazers were told that Miles was to have career ending surgery on his knee last year when he had two years left on his contract.

Since his amazing return from injury, Miles has averaged 5.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 10 games this season.  He is looking good for someone who had a “career ending injury.”  Maybe Portland was too quick to dismiss him and pay the minimal amount for ending a contract with an injury, versus paying the rest of his salary and seeing if he could recover.

Despite everything, the implications of this are not as severe as the Trailblazers made it out to seem when they sent threatening emails league-wide.  The new arrival of Darius’s yearly salary to this year’s cap puts Portland at $80,884,803 on the season.  The additional $9 million each year would clearly place them over for this year and force the team to pay a large luxury tax, which would change the team’s ability to go out and re-sign and sign free agents this off-season.  Not to mention another $9 million they would have to account for in 2010.

This could be good for some players and agents as the Blazers will be looking to unload some talent and large contracts to free up much needed cap space.  Channing Frye, Steve Blake and Ike Diogu will all be looking to sign again with the team after this year and could be the first ones management looks at to find some space.  All three have no official contract for the 2009 season yet, only qualifying offers that are non guaranteed contracts.  No one on the team has a contract with an early-termination clause.  Stars like Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, and LaMarcus Aldridge are looking good in Portland jerseys and will likely continue to do so for many years to come.

The Blazers have many young, talented players, making the future seem bright.  However, the Darius Miles situation does throw an unexpected wrinkle into the salary aspect of the team and will cause this free agent season to be one to remember for Portland.  On top of Miles, Portland is paying Steve Francis $15,730,000 for this season and he is no longer with the team. Any way you see it ,the team will have to make some adjustments.  Agents for some players will be forced to get their clients adjusting to playing elsewhere.

After all of the hype last week about the Blazers sending threatening emails to all NBA teams, Miles did not do much over the weekend and still needed only one more game to make the Portland organization really upset.  Well, as of only hours ago, the Grizzlies have signed Miles to yet another 10-day contract.

After his first debut with Memphis, Miles played in three games overall and averaged 8.3 points and grabbed 3 rebounds.  His stats and ability on the court are what the Grizzlies will be evaluating again, however, what the Blazers and the rest of the league will be watching for is if Miles will step on the court in a game for any amount of time and ruin the Blazers off-season.

After signing a second 10-day contract, it seems likely that Miles will log some minutes.  The number of games and overall minutes he plays in will be crucial as Portland is likely to file some type of greveince or complaint regarding the issue.  A loss of $18 million more to the Blazers budget will only make the rough economy seem worse for Portland, but realistically they have to honor the contract they made with Darius and may be held to it fully.

Dallas Mavericks

Jake Kerr: Mavs Moneyball

Houston Rockets

grungedave and UofTOrange: The Dream Shake

Memphis Grizzlies

Joshua Coleman: 3 Shades of Blue

New Orleans Hornets

Rohan: At the Hive

ticktock6 & mW: Hornets Hype

Ryan Schwan & Ron Hitley: Hornets247.com

San Antonio Spurs

Graydon Gordian: 48 Minutes of Hell

Also see links to all the previews at CelticsBlog.com

Ehadadi’s NBA dreams have now come true. The Memphis Grizzlies website reports that they have officially worked out an undisclosed deal with Hamed. The 23 year old is now the tallest player in Memphis franchise history and will be the first Iranian ever to play in the NBA.

The unpolished Ehadadi (also spelled Haddadi), is a 7′2, 254 pound center who will need to gain some weight and get tougher if he wants to keep up with other centers in the NBA. Although Ehadadi led all Olympians in average rebounds and blocks per game, he still has a lot of learning to do. It took Yao Ming several seasons to get accustomed with the NBA’s physical style of play down low. I believe it will take Hamed the same amount of time before he is seen as a force in the paint. The Grizzlies traded Pau Gasol to L.A. last season and are hoping Ehadadi can fill his shoes. The Grizzlies will also feature Pau’s brother Marc Gasol in their lineup this season.

With so many great players leaving the NBA and heading overseas this off-season, it is great to see a talented player like Ehadadi doing the opposite and coming to North America. The Olympics this summer showed us that although the USA still has dominant athletes, other great players and teams do exist out there. The Ehadadi story along with the passion of the Chinese fans toward our NBA athletes prove that the NBA dream still exists for many athletes and others.

Well, that comment and his notable skills during only four games in group play caused NBA commissioner David Stern and the NBA legal counsel to advise NBA teams of their rights when dealing with Iranian players.

In the letter, which was sent to all NBA teams Friday, the NBA legal counsel wrote: “It has come to our attention that representatives of Hamed Ehadadi, an Iranian basketball player, may be contacting NBA teams to discuss the possibility of signing Mr. Ehadadi to an NBA player contract. We have been advised that a federal statue prohibits a person or organization in the United States from engaging in business dealings with Iranian nationals.”

Ehadadi was asked in a press conference if any NBA teams had contacted him so far. He replied by stating that two or three NBA teams had already contacted him, including the Memphis Grizzlies.

In Iran’s four losses in Pool B of the Olympics, Ehadadi averaged 16.5 points, 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. He is considered a project by many NBA teams, but recently has shown improvement with his inside game, showing more strength than in previous settings. Ehadadi also has shown that he can block shots. His most impressive attribute however, remains his height. At seven-foot-two, the young 23 year old is a project that many NBA teams would like to start working on right now.

Currently, the NBA is applying to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control to get a license that would allow any NBA team to negotiate with Ehadadi. Until the NBA gets permission, no franchise is allowed to discuss anything with the HUGE Iranian.

I wonder if the NBA will investigate any of the three teams that have contacted Ehadadi already. If Major League Baseball investigated Manny’s situation after he was traded to L.A. then David Stern will certainly be looking more into this situation and the NBA teams involved. I do not believe it will result in anything substantial, but contacting an athlete who cannot be legally contacted is a violation of NBA rules.