If you're ever read one of my comments, or struggled through one of my fanposts, then you already know that I love posting pictures. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and thusly, my stupid pictures have to be worth at least 500 words, right?

Anyways, I imagine most of us have been frustrated with the NBA season, and therefore, what better way to deal with those frustrations then to make fun of everything we possible can when it comes to the NBA.

So here are some NBA Memes I enjoyed, and feel free to post your pictures in the comments below:

He deserved it.

Yep. 7.

Sorry Dad.

Yes.

Philosophical Veloci-Bosh.

3 Words: "This Team Stinks."

Ned Griffin.

0 points, 1 assists... Good Game.

OMG!!!!!!!

Linsanity?!? Psssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

"This isn't a number 2 pencil? Fire Stan!"

S-M-R-T

"U take the last shot... I took the last 20."

Holy Eyebrows, Batman!

You and me both, Fry.

Boy, what a season.

Personally, I kinda loved that things went awry. Most of us realized that this team was not going to go far, even if we even made the playoffs (which we didn't-- thanks math!), and without Championship aspirations we already had an eye towards the future. The nice thing about the tanking, or preview to the rebuild, was that we got to see a lot of the young, new guys get a chance to play more minutes.

So without further ado, here's a breakdown of all our guys who were either rookies, sophomores, or joined the team this year:

-- Raymond Felton -- I carelessly threw around terms like PGOTF, and BBIQ, and excellent shooter before Ray was traded to the 'Zers. Clearly, these terms don't apply to Ray-Ray. You broke our hearts early on, and then you drove us to the point of insanity. When we wanted to win games, you single-handedly lost them for us; when we were tanking, you brought out your best game.

Sigh.

-- Jamal Crawford -- nice seeing you on the sidelines in a suit. You brought exactly what we all thought you would bring, which was the mentality that you never met a shot you didn't like, but boy, you still made us shake our heads (a lot).

-- Kurt Thomas -- at the beginning of the season, I thought you were a great acquisition, and that the Bulls really missed out. Then I realized that you were a better version of Juwan Howard, i.e. 6 hard fouls, a solid shot within reasonable distance, and a great veteran for the young guys. But boy, if you weren't one of the guys that mentally checked out after the All-Star break, then maybe I was wrong and just underestimated you.

-- Craig Smith -- aka the Rhino, Craig really didn't bring much to this team in his limited play. At the beginning of the year, he was a fringe rotation guy, grabbing boards and scoring on limited shot attempts. All of a sudden, something changed, and it was all offense for Craig. Which was great, until you realized he played soft defense and his rebounding was sub-par of what he was asked and expected to do.

-- JJ Hickson -- boy, you were a shining light for this team in the last third of the season. We picked you up off the waiver wire, and you brought energy and hustle every game, doing the dirty work and fitting in reasonably well with LaMarcus. Hopefully, we can bring you back either with the QO, or a nice 2-year, $4M a year contract, or something in that ballpark.

-- Luke Babbitt -- when you started getting minutes off the bench, you were nervous, until you became our Chalupa Savior. Now, you're hitting 3s with the best of them, and you're soo close to being the leading 3pt% shooter for 2011-2012. Now, if only we could get you to work on your defense. On the plus side, your handles are better than I would have imagined. Thanks for not letting us Nevadans (ok, just me) down. Btw, thanks for that whole Getting Your Candy Stolen clip- whenever I think about it, I smile :)

-- Elliot Williams -- you have so much potential, and yet we're unsure of whether we should be seriously concerned about your injury-plagued first two years in the league. But damn!, you can jump, and you've got a nice stroke too. Can't wait till you're back on the court.

-- Nolan Smith -- at times, you had things working for you. At times. But for the most part, you looked lost; your shot was iffy; and you were a step or two behind the game. I don't know what to think about 0 assists in almost 40 minutes in the last home game, and in fact, I'm leaning towards you, Matthews, and Shawne Williams as the guys to throw into a trade.

-- Jonny Flynn -- I was excited when we picked you up, as I always thought you were under-appreciated. Yes, you're short. No, you won't be a high % shooter from 3pt-land. However, you have nice court vision, can dish out assists, and can finish around the rim. You'll never be our PGOTF, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind you backing up our starting PG, as long as you're on the cheap.

-- Hasheem Thabeet -- You were our comedy relief for the end of the year, and I for one truly appreciated it. You're 7'3" tall, and yet you could hardly play defense. In fact, your best block this season happened when you kicked the ball out of Al Jefferson's hands. Nonetheless, I always got a kick out of seeing you on the court, as I partially smiled/ partially cringed. I'm not sure if you'll even be in the NBA next season, but it's probable, as some gullible team will take a chance on a human giant.

-- Shawne Williams -- we hardly knew 'ye, and hopefully it remains that way. I'd like to see you thrown in a trade during the Draft, as your sub-5 PER was worst in the league for a guy averaging 20 minutes a game this season.

Anyways, feel free to share your thoughts, hatreds, and dreams about the new guys in the comments below.

Much like life, these last couple years for the Blazers have been a roller-coaster...

...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We've had some high highs --- like Brandon Roy's ridiculous 4th quarter of Game 4 in the playoffs; LMA's recent game-winner; and Elliott Williams's coming out party --- and we've had some low lows --- pretty much anything having to do with Brandon Roy after that; the whole Greg Oden situation; the recent health scares of Elliot Williams (shoulder), Nicolas Batum (shoulder & knee), and LaMarcus Aldridge (hip).

However, this is the perfect, opportune time to start a rebuild (or re-tool on the fly if you prefer that term/ way of thinking). Right now, we only have a handful of guys on guaranteed contracts next year; we have several fantastic top-15 picks in the upcoming deep draft; we have an opportunity to hold onto a fantastic backup for a reasonable price in JJ Hickson; and we're about to have a [$#!%]ton of money to spend on free-agents.

There's only one thing that could possibly temper my outrageous expectation for this team's future, and that's the re-signing of Nicolas Batum.

Let me start off by saying that Nicolas Batum is a fantastic player[!]... once in a while.

Currently, among small forwards, he has:

• the 7th best Player Efficiency Rating [PER] in the league (17.35); 76th best overall (LMA has a 22.78)
• the 7th best true shooting percentage (.575); 39th overall (Manu Ginobili has a .659)
• the 8th highest estimated wins added (5.8); 52nd overall (Kevin Love has a 14.9)
• the 8th highest value added (174.2); 52nd overall (Andrew Bynum is a 355.6)

all while putting up 14 points/ 1.3 assists/ and 4.6 rebounds per game. However, he also has:

• the 19th highest usage rate of small forwards (18.6); 146th overall (Lou Williams has a 26.3)
• the 32nd best rebounding rate (8.8); 172nd overall (Aaron Gray has a 20.2)
• the 33rd best turnover ratio (10.1); 121st overall (Steve Novak has a 5.5)
• the 50th best assist ratio (8.9); 252nd overall (Andre Igoudala has a 29.3)

Those are just a couple stats, with his placement at his position (SF) and overall in the league, and then an example of another player in the league who's not the highest in that statistic.

The point being- I think that Nicolas Batum is a (somewhat-easily) replaceable player. He's about to get off his rookie contract, where he makes $2.15M a year, and he'll be making closer to $8M on his new contract. He was a GREAT value over these last couple years, but now that we're about to pony up nearly four times the amount, per year, of what he's currently making for similar production over the next couple years, I ask, 'Is he worth it?'

(I'm asking YOU a question)

I'd have to argue that he's not. If it came down to paying Nicolas Batum $8-10M a year or letting him walk to another team like the San Antonio Spurs, I say let him walk. If we're talking about doing a REAL rebuild, or re-tooling on the fly, then $8M a year for Batum's services is just not a great value.

Remember: There are only 5 starting spots on this Blazers squad. The only one locked up is LMA at the 4.
Do we really want Nic to be a lock at the 3 for the next 4 years?
Is this not the Wesley Matthews signing all over again?

The fact is, Wesley Matthews is a below average starting 2-Guard in the league, and Nicolas Batum is an above-average starting Small Forward in the league, but not by much. In some categories, he's in the top third of all SFs, and in others, he's in the bottom third.

A team's makeup is of the utmost importance in this league, and how we are currently constructed is obviously not working out. Do we really want Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum as our starting wings on this team?
It would be nice to have an elite player at one of those positions to play alongside LMA, and right now we're putting all our eggs in one basket hoping we get some 'Miracle' point guard to solve all our problems. Well, the simple fact is that he's not out there. Everyone available has a ton of flaws or just isn't likely to find his way onto our team. And it's laughable to think we could solve our Center-position problems, as 75% of the league is looking for a starting-caliber center. They're just few-and-far-between.

The best (i.e. ideal) option we could hope for is that Wesley Matthews is packaged with one (or both) of our 1st-rounders in a trade for an elite (i.e. near-star or better) PG, SG, SF, or C. But that makes too much sense for this Front Office to make happen, and thusly is unlikely to happen.

So I ask you, if someone throws a nice offer Batum's way, such as San Antonio or Sacramento,

Would it be so bad to just let him walk?

(Which way will the ball fall for you?!)

.....

Nic, Nic, Nic...

Our French LeBron.

We'd love to build around you and LaMarcus.

But this has been a frustrating year.

At times, you're the best player on the floor.

However, you aren't showing that you can create all that much off the dribble;

...your defense has been suspect;

& some games, you hardly look like you're into it at all.

Listen: We'd love to re-sign you this summer, and hopefully we've already made a handshake deal with your agent that first we'll spend a chunk of change on a nice free agent and then sign you with your Bird Rights.

But what sort of contract do we give you, Nicolas--- our French conundrum? How many years/ how much a year/ how much total/ player option for the last year/ team option... etc. etc. etc. ???

It's been rumored we offered a joke of a contract to you (vastly undewhelming). There were rumblings that the team and your agent were roughly $4-5 million apart, per year.

I mean, sure, if we offered you 4 years/ $20 million, I bet you were a bit insulted. But are you worth $9 million a year?

Wilson Chandler received a nice contract recently, at $37 million total for 5 years, which by my understanding (and correct me if I'm wrong) was roughly $8.5 million a year for 4 years, and roughly $3 million for the remaining 20 odd games left this season.

My best guess: We may offer a 4-year contract worth $30 million with a 5th year team option at $8 million. You're probably worth the Blazers matching another team's offer of 4 years, $34 million. Does that seem fair?

Please, voice your praise, frustrations, comments, questions, and overall guestimates below.

Make this an all-encompassing Batum thread if you'd like. Or don't.

And if you've got some secret insider information, then please share it with us all.

You know what they say:

"All good things come to an end never come."

This is a Trade Drawer / Rant Drawer / Junk Drawer for all your Blazer needs (can I even do that?!).

In the Trade Drawer aspect: I'm not sure I want or expect anything from this team at the trade deadline.

I mean, what do we expect? Ray for Rondo? Jamal for Eric Gordon? Marcus Camby for DeMarcus Cousins? (Wouldn't that be nice!)

In the Rant department: Boy, it was hard to watch the Knicks game tonight.

But hey!- that Luke Babbitt sure can play, dontchathink?

In Junk fashion: I have been furthering my addiction to Netflix. You can't go wrong with $8 bucks a month... well, actually you can. I spend way too much time watching bad movies. And yet, what's the difference between a bad movie and the games we've seen from the current Blazers?

At least a bad movie can be entertaining from time to time...

Oh yeah... I've got a crazy addiction to this series called PEEP SHOW (coincidentally on Netflix). No, the name does not describe some cabaret act, but rather you see the world from the detailed perspectives of two roommates in London who are socially inept. It's brilliant, and possibly my favorite film or television show of all time, and I must have stumbled upon the show at least 6 years ago. I can't say enough good about it.

This picture gave me a Jamal-sitting-out vibe and is pretty representative of the Blazers, anyhow.

Chris Andersen... Chris, Chris Andersen... I shake my head just thinking about you.

Those tattoos.

That hair.

That block you had on Rudy where the ball smacked him right in the face.

That ridiculous swagger.

You're averaging 11 rebounds and 12 points per 36 minutes. You're sporting a PER over 20. You're also putting in 20 solid minutes a night for a good team that gets up the floor. You're making under $5 million this year. You're 6'10 and 33 years old. You're shooting 57% because you don't know anything but 5 feet and in from the rim.

(Sigh)

Boy, I'd love to have you on our side. You took a Duncan elbow to the face and still tried to contend the dunk...

Anyone? Anyone?

David Thick of BSBasket.com reports that former Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden is considering playing basketball again... Maybe.

Audio of Thick's interview with Oden is posted on BSNNW.com.

Here's a transcript of Oden's comments.
---------------------------
"I've been doing things like treatment and partying in Vegas and whatnot. I'm trying to leave it open to the fact that I can be able to come back to basketball if I care to, or at the very least I can work my way into the adult film industry. I'm not saying it's something I will do but there's some treatment options, and/or sexy ladies out there that I've been looking far into. Really far. If those things can work, don't be surprised if you see me playing basketball again, or maybe see me in a couple of classy films in the future."

"It's hard being away from the game. I watch Kurt [Thomas] dragging his corpse all over the court, I follow all his games... It's just something, that drive to make that skrillah is pushing me to want to do it, that is when I'm not watching movies on Netflix. Don't be surprised if you see Greg Oden make his way back to the court minus the epaulettes, or at a theater near you with the epaulettes."
---------------------------

Blazers guard Raymond Felton, who has a friend who's a friend with Oden, offered these thoughts on Shidder.
---------------------------
"Let me put out a P.E.P.S.I. about Greg so I can answer it just once... it's something he's joked about (playing again) but he hasn't told me that for sure at all... I read it like everyone else, saw a couple of his films, dropped my jaw at a couple of his pics... when we talk it's about life and mostly Netflix, not just ball, so I wasn't doing an interview when I last saw him, lol, though I'd be open to interviewing him following the likely loss of my NBA job in the future... he misses hoop that's for sure, or at least the ladies that come with playing hoops."
---------------------------

The Blazers saved Oden, 87, using the We-Feel-Bad-So-We're-Gonna-Give-You-A-Restructured-Contract Clause in December of 2011. At the time I wrote that I would be surprised if he attempted a comeback, as he's been described as having a "bone-and-a-half" and would fit in quite well in the po.. adult film industry.

Update: Oden's carcass of a career has already been removed from Portland and is currently being shown in the Bodies exhibit in Las Vegas.

Because Oden clearly may never play basketball again, he is free to "double dip" [Editor's note: LOL] wherever he wants... He would still receive payment from his previous deal with the fleeceable Blazers and could sign a lucrative film contract with that Long John Silver's of his, or he could sign with any NBA team other than the Blazers, if they were so gullible. If that happened, the Blazers would laugh and send a a big 'Good Luck, Sucker!' card to the naive team, according to ThankYouForBlaze.

Update: Joe Mamma of The Oregano reports from Blazers' practice in Derrrver that coach Nate McMillan was caught off guard by the news...

----------------------------

He flashed a half-stunned look.

"I haven't seen that, I haven’t heard that," McMillan said rather unbelievably quickly of Oden's playful pictures. "But that wouldn't be all that surprising."

[Editor's Note: My new favorite picture of Greg was subsequently deleted after a polite request. However, Google has more than a couple pictures that were even more risqué than the picture posted, so please feel free to google-laugh accordingly]

With the signing of Joel over the weekend, and the release of Armon Johnson, it is apparent that the Blazer brass have decided to hold onto Greg Oden for at least the short, foreseeable future.

Greg's $1.5 million contract is an easy enough pill to swallow, after we've been paying him a good deal more over the years for the same level of production (that is, zero production), and we could always include his salary in a trade if the right one came along.

My question is, what do you foresee happening in the Greg Universe in the next year or so (or before, such as the March 15 trade deadline)?

Obviously, when Greg is on the court, he shows all the talents that made him the number 1 pick in the draft years ago. He can rebound, he can dominate, and he can fill the paint on defense like few guys in Portland's recent history have been able to. Sure, Przy has been great in years past, but Greg has/had the opportunity to be a real game changer-- a guy to build around, though that has petered out into obscurity with all the injuries the guy has unfortunately gone through.

Nonetheless, what kind of contract/situation will the future hold for Greg?

I've recently heard chatter about Portland fans hoping that the team doesn't sign him for more than the minimum... Lol, I really think that is under-appreciating the type of talent he could be. Yes, he's going to be out a solid year, and maybe won't even play next season, but a team will likely take a chance and sign him to a reasonable extended contract, hoping to find the next Roy Hibbert, DeAndre Jordan, or even the overpaid Kendrick Perkins.

In my opinion, a 3 or 4 year contract for around a full MLE is what some team out there is going to offer, at the very least. Even if Greg sat out the entire season next year, and came back healthy for 2 seasons of the contract, he'd be worth $15 million over 3 years, even if he only played 150 games.

Thoughts? Desires? Criticisms? React below.