Portland native Aaron Miles has received a formal invitation to join the Trail Blazers at training camp, which begins in less than a week. Miles, who starred at Portland's Jefferson High School, went on to have a very successful college career at Kansas University. He played 19 games for the Golden State Warriors last season, before being waived on January 5th.
"He's a young, improving player and we are happy to give him a chance to make our regular-season roster," says Blazers player personnel director Kevin Pritchard. "We've brought in another solid individual, and good person, and I think Aaron has the potential to stick in this league."
The signing of Miles, to a non-guaranteed contract, brings the total number of players on the roster to 14. There will be a 15th player invited to camp, and we should have information on who that will be in the next couple of days.
Miles left Kansas as the Big-12 Conference's all-time assists leader, and sits eighth on the NCAA's all-time list. He was also known as a hard-nosed defensive player with the Jayhawks, and was named to the Big-12's all-defensive team his last three years in college.
"Miles won a lot in college, and we like that," says Pritchard. "He knows how to play and plays the right way. He'll definitely push guys in camp. He's busted his tail getting better, and now he has a chance to be part of our organization. I've seen him a lot, and have seen him really improve his game. The biggest thing to me is, he makes players around him better, and we're always looking for that."
Miles joins fellow Kansas alum Raef LaFrentz on the Blazers roster. Pritchard, of course, led Kansas to a national championship in 1988. Another former Jayhawk, Darnell Valentine, is the team's director of player programs. Pritchard laughed at the notion that people are starting to think of his team as the Portland Jayhawks.
The Blazers continued with their pre-training camp workouts on Tuesday, and the pick-up games were as spirited as ever. The one player who is showing the most improvement, in my opinion, is Travis Outlaw. Something has seemed to click with Travis in the past couple of weeks, and he's as aggressive on the floor as I've seen him. It also appears the work he's put in on his outside shot is paying off, as he was stroking the mid-range jumper during the pick-up games. The play of the day involved Outlaw, but actually went against him. In one of the final games of the day, he attempted to finish a fast break with a high-flying jam. He cocked the ball back with one arm, but was then met at the rim by Joel Przybilla, who impressively capped the dunk attempt. Outside of that, it was probably Travis' best day yet.