February 25'th target return date for Darius Miles
By:
Jason Quick
We walked into the practice today and did a double take. The team was running four-on-four drills, and in the group with the guards and small forwards was Darius Miles.
Granted, this was not full live scrimmaging, but there were cuts and rotating and shooting involved, and Miles was in the middle of it.
“He did more than I expected,” coach Nate McMillan said. “What we wanted to start today was getting him more involved in warming up, not going through as much as we did today. He went through the drills. We didn’t do anything live today, mainly station work, drills, but he was rotating, three-man weave and doing a little one-on-one.”
Word was, Miles even dunked a few times. The right knee on which he had surgery Dec. 16 felt OK, Miles said.
“It’s strong, but I gotta get it way more strong,” he said. “I ain’t in no rush right now. They playing well.”
The target date for Miles’ return seems to be the Blazers first game after the All-Star break. That’s Feb. 25 against the Cavaliers in Ohio. McMillan made it clear that Miles’ return will have a lot more positive aspects than any negative disruptions to the rotation.
“We can definitely use him, and he should bring back all the things he was doing for us,” McMillan said. “That’s another solid player that’s coming back in the rotation, and the bottom line is to try and get those guys out there and try to get a combination that works.”
Funny moment as Miles spoke to reporters. Ruben Patterson came up behind Miles and yelled out, “First day of practice I’m going to bust his ... welcome him back!” Patterson said. “Let him know!”
Miles just laughed and said, “We’ll see.”
written by Jason Quick - a little edited by me