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Darius LaVar Miles (born October 9, 1981 in Belleville, Illinois) is an American basketball player for the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers.
Darius Miles is somewhat of an enigma of a basketball player, an spectacular athlete who can play any position, execute breathtaking dunks, and hold his own on defense against the top players in the NBA, but seems incapable of making an open jump shot and can go into lapses of concentration that drive coaches crazy. He is thought of by many as a prime example of the typical raw young player in today's NBA, possessing amazing natural gifts but not well-schooled in fundamental basketball skills. He is also considered partially responsible for the flood of high school players entering the NBA. Before Miles, all players who attempted to make the jump from high school to the professional ranks had all been players who were considered remarkable talents, such as Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady. Miles, however, was relatively unknown and not even considered the best player in his high school class, yet was drafted high anyway, thus paving the way for other questionable preps-to-pros jumps by mediocre talents such as Kwame Brown, DeSagana Diop, and Ndudi Ebi.
Miles attended East St. Louis High School, and, after failing to receive a qualifying SAT score to attend St. John's University, entered the 2000 NBA Draft and was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers as the third overall pick, making him the highest-drafted high school player ever at that time. For the next two NBA seasons, Miles, a 6-9, 210 pound small forward, formed, along with Lamar Odom, Quentin Richardson, and Elton Brand, the core of a young Clippers team that became popular among young basketball fans for their exciting, high-flying style of play, despite only registering 31-51 and 39-43 records in those two seasons. Miles, being one of the youngest players in the NBA, became the face of the team, even though he didn't even start. However, prior to the 2002-03 season, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, for Andre Miller. Expectations were high for Miles that season, the year he was supposed to be blossom into a superstar. However, the team won only 17 games and Miles seemed completely incapable of handling a leading role on an NBA team. Luckily, the Cavaliers, with the worst record in the league, won the NBA Draft Lottery and were able to select high school phenom LeBron James, a close friend of Miles', with the first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Most speculate that the team had purposely tanked the season in order to secure the top pick in order to take James, a native of nearby Akron, and that Miles was set up to fail in Cleveland. Whatever the case, the team obviously felt it no longer needed Miles, and the Cavs dealt him in midseason to the Portland Trail Blazers. While in Portland, he began to flash some of the talent that he had started to show with the Clippers before being traded, though most still agree that he has yet to tap into his true abilities. Nevertheless, the Blazers signed him to a 6-year, $48 million contract extension after the season.
Miles had a role in the 2003 movie The Perfect Score, which starred Scarlett Johansson. He also appeared in National Lampoon's Van Wilder, along with then-teammates Michael Olowokandi and Quentin Richardson, in 2002. There was also a documentary titled The Youngest Guns, which detailed Miles' and Richardson's first few years in the NBA, released in 2004.
External Links
Career Stats at NBA.com (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/darius_miles/)
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