The Grizzlies waived Darius Miles on Tuesday to avoid paying the rest of his salary for this season. He didn't get much of a chance to play in the brief time he was with the team, mostly based on the clause that said if he played more than 10 total games this season, the Portland Trailblazers would have to claim his $18 million salary and would end up paying a luxury tax. Miles is expected to clear waivers today, which would make him available to all 30 teams. The Grizzlies could then re-sign him if they wanted. The Trailblazers, however, have threatened to sue any team who signed Miles to a contract. They claim that any team that signs him would be doing it for the sole purpose of putting his salary on the Blazers' payroll. It seems to me that the Blazers are being very immature and really won't have a case if a team does sign him and it ends up in court.
The Grizzlies have floundered lately, dropping seven of their last eight games. The only bright spot was Sunday's shocking rout of Dallas. As with the team's earlier losing skids, the players talk as if they know what needs to be done to correct their play on the court. They just have to do it.
The Grizzlies (11-25) travel to Toronto tonight to face their former expansion brothers, the Raptors (15-21). The Grizzlies need Hakim Warrick to continue his stellar play off the bench. Kyle Lowry's much-improved production over the last couple of weeks has resulted in a starting role, so Warrick and the other reserves need to step up.
Darrell Arthur gets the difficult matchup against Toronto's Chris Bosh. He did a fairly good job against Tim Duncan with Darko Milicic out of the lineup, but Bosh is the new superstar center in the league.
O.J. Mayo's production has slipped lately. He is now averaging just under 20 ppg for the season. The Grizzlies need him to have a big night and get some other guys to contribute if they are going to pull out the win on the road.
