(PHOTO CREDIT: SLAM.)
The Los Angeles Clippers were a young, happy, exciting, up-and-coming team in the early 2000s. In 2001-2002, the Clippers won 31 games. Then bolstered by the Elton Brand trade, the Clippers went 39-43 in 2002-2003. Their core was Brand, Michael Olowokandi (who really showed improvement that season, if you can believe that), Corey Maggette, Quentin Richardson, Jeff McInnis, and Darius Miles. The troubled Lamar Odom only played 29 games. Led by coach Alvin Gentry, the Clippers looked poised to get to the next level the next season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have much going on. In 2001-2002, the Cavs missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season but they did have one diamond in the rough in Andre Miller. Miller led the league in assists that season. But the Cavs had other plans. There was a high school player in their state who had been making waves for a few years now. At the time, high school players could go declare for the NBA draft and the Cavs (the league, really) anticipated this phenom to be the prize of the 2003 Draft. His name was LeBron James.
So with Cleveland eyeing LeBron, they knew they needed to be bad enough to get the best chance at the #1 pick. They made Andre Miller available.
The Clips were eyeing playoffs the next season. They decided that the fiery Jeff McInnis wasn’t the solution at point guard and concocted a deal that would be best to get Andre Miller. There were murmurs that the Clips were ready to deal Lamar Odom (reminding again that he only played 29 games the season before) but, apparently, Odom balked loudly enough that he didn’t want to go and the Clippers acquiesced. Then-owner and forever-terrible person Donald Sterling apparently LOVED Darius Miles (who LOVED being in L.A. and was very close to Quentin Richardson; two pounds to the head for the both of you guys) and he didn’t want him to go. But Sterling agreed to the deal after much-wrangling.
CAVALIERS GOT
Darius Miles
Harold Jamison
CLIPPERS GOT
Andre Miller
Bryant Stith
And the deal made sense for both teams. The Cavaliers were ready to throw away the next season for a chance at LeBron James but they also picked up a raw, athletic player teeming with potential in Darius Miles. The Clippers were ready to take the next step towards the playoffs by picking up a floor general in Andre Miller. Miller could also be the older player (at 26 at the time) to be the guy the young Clippers could go to.
But Miles was really never the same. There were times when he was uninterested and there were times when he looked like a guy that was ready to break out. The Cavaliers sunk to 17-65 in 2002-2003 so the team got what they wanted. However, Miles’ stats didn’t exactly improve (9.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and shot a career-low .410). Once LeBron got there, the Cavs decided to trade Miles to Portland halfway through the 2003-04 season. Still, mission accomplished?
(PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images.)
The Clippers had much of the same story but a different ending. Andre Miller also looked very uninterested and didn’t gel with his new teammates. Miller shot a career-low .406 and his stats lowered to 13.6 points and 6.7 assists (10.9 assists the year before!). Not only that but injuries limited most of their core (Olowokandi played 36 games and his career never recovered; Odom was limited to 47 games; Brand played 61 games; Maggette played 64 games; Richardson played 59 games). Alvin Gentry was let go two-thirds through the season. The Clippers’ playoff hopes and dreams seemed doomed right from the start; they finished with a 27-55 record.
Darius Miles showed some flashes of brilliance in Portland, including a 47-point game in 2004-05. But his career would be cut short after microfracture knee surgery. He last played in the NBA in 2008-2009.
Andre Miller would escape the Clippers after that horrid season and signed with Denver. Miller is still playing and became one of the more respected players in the league with his old man game. Well, he’s not so respected within the Clippers fan base.
Lamar Odom would also flee the Clips and sign with the Miami Heat. The reason I mention Odom here? He was rumored to be traded to the Cavs for Miller and he was rumored to have squashed it himself. But he left the Clippers, anyway.
We know what happened to the Cavs afterwards. As for the Clippers, with Odom and Miller gone, they only had a 28-54 record in the 2003-2004 season under new coach Mike Dunleavy. The Clips would eventually reach the playoffs in the 2005-2006 season with Brand and Sam Cassell leading the way.
But, oh, Darius Miles. I wonder how he would’ve fared in a more veteran-led team. He was with the young Clippers, a tank-employing Cavs, and the guys known as the Jail Blazers. What if, what if, what if…?
Follow Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass for all tweets about the NBA and terrible pop music. Also, check out his podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental.
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