September 1, 2004

The Portland Trail Blazers met with local media today to announce the signing of Darius Miles to a long-term contract. Miles, along with his fiancee Brandi Nash, was introduced by Trail Blazers General Manager John Nash and spoke briefly about the opportunity to remain in Portland. Per Trail Blazers policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Click here to watch the press conference

Click here to listen to the press conference

The following is summary of the questions and answers from the press conference:

Question: Have you been doing anything this off-season to work on and improve your jump shot?

Darius Miles: Yes, I've been working on it all summer. I've been working out with Alonzo Mourning and a lot of NBA players up and down in Chicago and a lot of places, just trying to get my body right lifting weights and working on my jump shot.

John Nash: Right before coming here to this press conference, Darius was in Houston with Damon Stoudamire, Nick Van Exel, and some of our other players who were there working out with those guys, in addition to Stevie Francis. He's been making the rounds and playing all summer long and we've been keeping tabs and we've been hearing about how well he's been performing. In fact, during his physical, he's a lot lighter today than he was at the end of the regular season, so we know that he's been working hard in the off-season.


Question: What do you value most about Darius?

Nash: He's a terrific, multi-talented basketball player whose athleticism is at the very, very highest level. Defensively, he's able to stick with the best small forwards in the league, and in transition he excels, and I think as Darius continues to improve his perimeter game offensively, he's a high-level player.


Question: What does it mean to you to get a long-term deal with the Trail Blazers?

Miles: It's great. It was really good when I first got here. I never had any problems with the team or coaches. Basically, they gave me my chance and I feel like it's home. I played the best I've ever played in my career here…I'm really happy to be here and be with Coach Cheeks. He really understands the players and he understands me. So, I definitely wanted to come back here.


Question: What do you like most about playing in Portland?

Miles: The management has really treated me well through the ups and downs. I had no problems with the team and I like the coaching staff and the fans.


Question: What are you doing to stay focused and away from off-court distractions?

Miles: I'm just trying to stay humble and keep good people around me. My mom is going to move here and my fiancée is going to be here.


Question: Are you done making transactions this summer?

Nash: You're never done. We have 15 players on our roster, however, so we have no roster spots right now, but we'll continue to probe the league and determine if there's an opportunity to make a trade. Darius is not going to be traded. He's here. We still feel as if we'd like to better balance our roster if that's an opportunity that develops.


Question: Is there a position in particular you are looking to fill?

Nash: This off-season, we made a concerted effort to pursue a couple of free-agent shooters. We also pursued a defensive perimeter player in Trenton Hassell, so I think we'd still like to improve our perimeter shooting and we'd like to improve our defense, and if we're able to find somebody, especially a backcourt player, then that would be helpful. Not much was made of the signing of Richie Frahm when we signed him, but he's a guy that we think is going to make some contributions to us this year. We like our squad and if you look at where we ended the season and the players that are no longer with us and then examined what additions we've made, we think we've improved. But you're never finished. You're always trying to improve further.


Question: How involved was Paul Allen in these negotiations?

Nash: He's the guy writing the check, as is the case in any organization. Ownership has to sign off on what management wants to do and I think it is safe to say that Darius Miles is a player that Paul felt was a vital part of our future.


Question: Has the situation with Shareef Abdur-Rahim changed in recent weeks?

Nash: Yeah, Shareef invited our coaches and a bunch of our players to Atlanta a couple weeks back and they had a good workout in Atlanta and then he joined our players in Houston last week for a while, so we look forward to the start of camp and the opportunity to use Shareef, Darius, Zach and see how it all works out, but at the present time there's been no reason to believe Shareef won't be with us. He had, at the end of the year, expressed the desire to be traded, and I told him that we would accommodate him if it was in our best interest. But I think right now, it appears that Shareef will be with us at the start of camp.


Question: Is there a logjam at the two forward positions?

Nash: Not necessarily. There are 96 forward minutes and they're up for grabs, but Zach Randolph is going to grab a lot of them and Darius Miles is going to grab a lot of them. But I don't see any reason why Shareef can't grab as many as 30 of them. He's demonstrated over the course of his career that he can score and rebound with the best forwards in the league, and he's done it at both the small forward and power forward positions. We see a situation possibly where those three players I just mentioned play and share a lot of the forward minutes.


Question: Has Shareef backed off his stance of demanding a trade?

Nash: No, I don't think he's backed off in any way. I'm not going to try and speak for Shareef. He made his position clear, but I think he's come to recognize that it may not be possible and that, at least in the short-term, it may be in everybody's best interest for him to come in and play at the highest level.


Question: How does having the security of a big contract compare with when you first came into the league?

Miles: I was really looking forward to it. I've been on three teams in four years and I was looking to just be somewhere and just find somewhere that I can call home, somewhere I can be stable and somewhere I know I'm going every year instead of hopping from city to city.


Question: Having been on other teams and experienced a couple different locker rooms, what is it about the Trail Blazers locker room and players that made you want to be here for a long time?

Miles: When I first got into the league, we had a very young, deep squad (in Los Angeles) and I didn't really get the opportunity to really show my talent. You've got to wait your turn and I felt that when I got here, they really gave me a chance. Paul Allen, Maurice Cheeks…they gave me the chance to really show my talent.


Question: Are the Cardinals going to win the World Series?

Miles: Most definitely.