Happy Memory: Blazers vs. Bulls, when everything felt like it was coming together. Greg Oden burst out of his shell like Terry Crews burst through the walls in one of the new Old Spice commercials. He went into a ‘Beast Mode’ level that the majority of Blazer fans had forgotten he could reach. If you do not recall, Portland beat up on the Bulls 122-98 at the Rose Garden. This is a great memory because at the time Portland was in a weird stage. The wins were coming but it never felt like Portland was playing well, some guys were on when others were off, etc. This was the night where we finally got our first glimpse as to what this team could be. 24 points, 12 boards, 10/12 from the line and 6/7 from the field for Mr. Oden. LaMarcus Aldridge dropped 24, Andre Miller had 16 and seeing all of our stars play well at the same time was a treat.

Hamstring? Meniscus? His better is still better. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Scottie Pippen memorial Most Valuable Player Award, or Guy That Gets Followed Around by Dr. Dre Who Will Produce Live Theme Song Mixtapes Behind Him All Year Because Guy Was So Good…Award: This was the toughest award to hand out, and sparked the liveliest conversation between SJ and I — partially because I said Martell Webster, just for fun, and SJ went into All-Caps mode. At one point or another this season, nearly every non-rookie on the team has been the MVP for a one or two game stretch. Almost every player has missed time with injuries as well, and that’s how Andre Miller and LaMarcus Aldridge got into the discussion.

The case for Miller is that he’s been remarkably consistent ever since permanently replacing Steve Blake in the starting lineup in January. The 14 points and 5.5 assists per game don’t knock you out of your seat, and neither does a solid 18.1 PER, but Miller has also had more of those “Step Up” moments than just about anyone else on the team. A guard get hurt or in foul trouble and you need points, Miller gets you points. A big get hurt or in foul trouble and you need rebounding or paint scoring, then Miller gets you rebounding and paint scoring. You need someone to keep the offense moving at an aggressively patient pace, he’s your guy. The case against Miller is that he had a rough start and really didn’t show his magical qualities on a day-to-day basis until he stole the starting spot. For whatever strange reason, he was also blocked by Steve Blake for almost three months of the season. And as great as Miller has been, the perimeter drawbacks of his offensive game have still hurt at times, as there have been games that he shot Portland out of just as he layup-ed them back in. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s been Portland’s best perimeter defender (for the entire season, so stop yelling “Batuuuuum” at me) and easily the guy you want getting around pick-and-rolls.

But we can’t realistically put Miller in front of two franchise players, can we? Nay. In fact, I made a lengthy argument for Aldridge and almost won SJ over. While Aldridge has to be discounted a little for struggling to adjust to Greg Oden’s involvement in early-season offense, he, like Miller, has been money in the Swiss bank since we switched to 2010. Like Miller, he’s Portland’s best player at his position at guarding the pick-and-roll — really, he’s the only one capable of consistently showing on the ballhandler and recovering to his man — and has also made strides in the help defense department, strides which don’t show up in blocked shots but surely would in shot defenses. “But his PER fell from 19.1 to 18.2″, you say. This is true, but a little odd, since his true-shooting percentage, defensive rebounding percentage, assist percentage and turnover percentage improved, with a slight dropoff in offensive rebounding. He also hasn’t become more an an interior player despite an ever-expanding post arsenal, but we don’t have the numbers to show how he’s improved when dealing with double teams — and he’s seen many with all the various injuries around him.

In the end, we have to be boring and give this to Brandon Roy because, well, he’s easily the best player on this team and the most valuable by whatever definition. He missed 17 games yet still leads the team in win shares (9.1) and is an easy second in qualifying offensive efficiency behind Batum despite the highest usage rate on the team. Just because Roy has looked hobbled for a large portion of the season and saw statistical dropoff across the board doesn’t make him any less of an MVP. He fought through the frustrations of nagging injuries, at times played when he shouldn’t, dealt with more defensive attention than anyone else and remained the leader of an increasingly more veteran team. Being different by not picking Roy doesn’t make you right.

Happy Memory: January 8th, 2010. Brandon Roy’s 32-point, 6 assist, 5 rebound, no turnover performance in Portland’s 107-98 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Roy out-dueled the Black Mamba, shooting 9-for-11 from the field on the same night that Kobe went 14-for-37. Any home victory over the Lakers is nice but watching the Maestro put on a show like that takes it to the next level. And while the final score made it seem a lot closer than it was, make no mistake about it Portland was giving the Lakers a whooping. And anytime you can watch the Lakers get blown out is a *Walt Frazier voice* splendiforous stupendous event. *ahem*

The Contract-Year Theo Ratliff memorial Defensive Player of the Year Award: What do you do when your two best defenders have only been with the team for a half and a quarter of the season, or when your two best interior defenders lose their knees to the Table of Elements? You don’t give any one of them a yearly award. Tough, Nic Batum, Marcus Camby, Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla, you didn’t do it all year. Then again, who has? Aldridge has improved defensively, but subtly and gradually. Roy has, by +/-, been the worst defender on the team. Martell Webster tried hard and had some excellent games, but hasn’t had the minutes. Even Miller had his playing time jerked around for awhile.

Then why does Miller get this? Versatility and a very subjective, non-statistical version of VORP. After watching Steve Blake get toasted by a variety of point guards over the years, Miller has been a breath mint for his ability to keep bigger guards out of the lane. His greatest value, though, is in the pick-and-roll where, if the defenders have to switch, Miller is capable of low-center-of-gravity-ing power forwards. Better yet, Miller is the best Blazer at preventing the switch, using a thinking-man’s attack to getting around screens, giving forwards like Aldridge the confidence to hedge out, get quicker ball handlers off their drive line and leave the guard to Miller, who meanwhile has Jackie-Chan-ed his way up, over and around the obstacle. Looking at the upcoming Phoenix series, this interaction with Miller, Aldridge, Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire will be a hinge.

We could get into Miller’s pick-pocket ability, how well he plays the passing lanes or how quickly he can turn defense into offense. We could get into his defensive rebounding. We could talk about how, when he gets beat, he finds someone else to cover, usually returning the favor to whoever helped onto his mark. And, hey, look what we did there, we just talked about those things, and they’re all why he’s our DPOY.

Happy Memory: December 17th 2009 or Rex goes Jurassic Park on everyone. Take it back to Portland’s 105-102 victory over Phoenix. Rudy, Batum, Outlaw and Oden were all out. Who was going to step up? Andre Miller? Martell Webster? Enter Jerryd Bayless. Bayless–at that time the 3rd string PG–broke out on national TV, scoring 16 of his 29 points in the 4th quarter and playing a major role in why the Blazers were able to pull this one off.

Caption? Aldridge has been the ultimate pick-me-up. Duh. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Upgrading from Tom Selleck to Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones Award for Most Improved Player: You wanted Batum again, didn’t you? You can’t have him, despite that fact that we’re about to frustrate you by using the same logic to give the award to Aldridge in order to not give it to Batum.

Apart from some flashes of offensive creation, Batum’s improvements have been refinements. Better shot. Better defense. Better movement off the ball. Better confidence his teammates have in him (sic?). Best true-shooting percentage (.646). More potential than you can stick a shake at. But the sample size, particularly on offense, is a smallish 37 games, and on offense, where it looks like he’s improved the most, he’s still showing the promise of further expansion rather than, consistently, anything differently than we knew he could do.

Aldridge’s improvements have also been refinements. After that slow first month, he’s been Portland’s only consistent source of post-offense, where he’s expanded his game with the baseline-spin counter move (despite losing that running hook in the lane for some reason). He’s improved his patience with double teams and passing out of those situations. He’s been a better rebounder, not only statistically, but in “Give Me Those” boards in traffic. As mentioned earlier, he’s been better on defense. And, ironically — after having trouble adjusting to Oden — he’s shown a remarkable ability to adapt to different teammates and different defensive looks. No, he hasn’t always been the first player talked about after games for dominant performances, but conversely, complaints surrounding Aldridge have mostly been, “Why aren’t we giving him the ball more.”

So he didn’t take a huge leap to All-Stardom. He’s been a rock. And Aldridge has given pause to those of you watching closely whenever you start the, “Yeah, Aldridge is good, but I’d trade him for…” conversation.

Happy Memory: Mar-cus Cam-by. That was the chant which emanated from the Rose Garden crowd on April 12th 2010, late during Portland’s 103-95 victory over playoff-bound Oklahoma City. The game had playoff implications, the battle for 6th place in the Western Conference. Brandon Roy was out and it looked as if the Blazers could be in some trouble. However, Marcus Camby gave us one of the more special moments in Blazer history with his effort and will to win the game. He did everything you could ever want to see a player do, and some. I mean what else do you need to know: in his 10th game in the Rose Garden, he played with so much passion and effort that he made the Rose Garden chant his name. Take that Walt Williams.

The Getting the No. 1 Pick in the Draft Despite 7th Seed in Lottery Award for Biggest Surprise, or “O Rly?”: There is one correct answer and it has nothing to do with Knee-A-Splosion. The answer is Juwan Howard, who shall be spared any and all old jokes as soon as we point out his age — Juwan Howard remembers reaching his own Half-Life — 36, to explain why nobody expected much on-court from a had-become NBA journeyman.

And no, this isn’t some Roy Hobbs-like story of the old man coming back and dominating. In fact, Howard’s PER of 10 and play-if-safe-Sam defense suggest he was a decidedly below-average player. But Howard was always in the correct position, always ready to shoot a mid-range jumper — like a game winner in Dallas — and always ready to push back. So, maybe he wasn’t any better than you might have expected, maybe he wasn’t Gozer the Destructor, but he played, he logged long minutes and kept the Blazers afloat during dark times. And for that, he can be appreciated.

Happy Memory: Andre Miller’s 52-pickup explosion in Dallas. He had set his previous career high of 37 points in 2002. And then he went out and dropped 52 at the ripe age of 33 years old, the second most points in franchise history and made a lot of people listen to/quote “Forgot About Dre”. 18 of Portland’s 30 4th quarter points (including 15 of the last 17). It was the game that made us all think “…..We could have had Hedo Turkoglu”.

Executive of the Year Award: Everyone except Kevin Pritchard. Duh.

The Sebastian Telfair award for Biggest Disappointment or, “Where you at, bro?”: Is there any other choice besides Rudy Fernandez? Martell Webster has been woefully inconsistent and Jerryd Bayless hasn’t exactly made the most of his minutes increase, but neither one of those two players had been hailed as a potential future All-Star or 6th Man by various national writers before the season. I thought Rudy was being a tad overrated by our fan base because of his highlights with Sergio Rodriguez last season, but still believed he was in for a marked improvement in his second season, as is common with many European players as they adjust.

Well not only did Rudy not improve, he fell off a reasonably high precipice. His PER fell from 15.5 to 13.1, True Shooting Percentage dropped 40 points, his Turnover Percentage rose and his WARP (Wins Over Replacement Player) went from 3.4 to 1.4, not to mention a +/- rating on the wrong side of 0 by most measurements. Some of his issues can be written up to dealing with a bad back since last season, but that still doesn’t account for the greatest disappointment of all: he hasn’t been a playmaker.

While Fernandez displayed some strong instincts in his rookie season for creating inside the arc — again, a little overrated thanks to the glitzy, yet impressive, passes — he has been effectively awful when in position to do anything off the dribble in the half court. As with most shooters, the Blazers have to run Rudy off down screens to get him space, and when the open three isn’t there, he hasn’t been able to consistently get by his defenders, often backing up and dribbling back and forth, wasting valuable time on the shot clock. In the times that he has gotten past the first level of defense, he’s turned to an abortion of a floater that doesn’t always hit iron. The mid-range pullup jumper has been more effective, but rarely seen.

Rudy still shows signs, like last Sunday against the Lakers when he got into the paint off an Aldridge pick, drew the help defense and tossed a lob for Aldridge to finish. Question is, where has that Rudy been all season? Glass-half empty question is: What does Rudy do in that situation if the double team doesn’t leave Aldridge open?

Bad Memory: Anything involving injuries and Blazer players over this entire season. No-brainer. Oden being carted off, bars becoming funeral parlors late on that Saturday night, Przybilla’s knee exploding. Heart-wrenching. We’ll lump the Oden picture saga in with this, just to tear the band-air off quicker. Not just because of the attention the photos got, but because every person I had ever entered a serious Oden/Durant debate with had the ultimate upper hand/comeback. I wonder how many sons walked in on their moms looking at the Oden pics, or even worse had their mothers ask them for help in finding them. Sadly, I know people who this happened to.

The Jarret Jack “Stepping on the baseline and hitting popcorn vendors with lobs” memorial award for Inspiring the Least Confidence: Much as it pains me to say, the “winner” here is Martell Webster. While Webster played notable strong defense through the first two months of the season — picking it up lately — and shot the lights out in January, at no point in the season has he been the guy you want making decisions on a fast break or dribbling at all in general. In fact, every time Martell puts the ball on the floor, you can imagine a pack of ninjas emerging from the stands and tossing shirukens at his hands and feet and the difference between fantasy and reality wouldn’t be all that great. Nate McMillan probably envisions similar scenes, judging from Webster’s fluctuating playing time.

His effort, athleticism, cutting ability and shot (when it’s on) keep this from being a complete disaster of a season for Webster, even if you only count the months after Nic Batum took back his starting spot. While he could certainly get his mind and talents on the same page in the future, it’s impossible for even his biggest backers (myself included) to claim he’s helped his stock this regular season.

Steve Blake gets an honorable mention here for his last few months in a Blazer uniform. Blake had some very fine moments in Portland, some of those being in important late-game situations, but from the ’09 playoffs on, his work on fast breaks, defense and in the clutch caused the lamentations of many.

Bad Memory: This. Seriously. 

The Travis Outlaw “We like you, but…” award for Most Likely to be Traded: This is a tough one, especially with so many guys who could get right with a good playoff series. Portland’s only significant financial asset is Andre Miller’s $7.8 million option coming up next summer, but given how well he’s played, what Jerryd Bayless has shown as a backup point guard and the dearth of 1′s in this year’s draft, it’s tough to see Miller going anywhere unless it’s for a young point. And we know the other four starters aren’t going anywhere.

That leaves us with a trifecta of cheap and talented rookies: Bayless, Fernandez and Webster. Of that group, we’re going to cherry pick Rudy. Though it’s been an overblown media story, Fernandez has expressed dissatisfaction with his situation. We know that much. While we don’t have a lot of tangible evidence of this, Rudy might also think he’s a better player than he’s ever displayed in Portland, and surely there are those in his camp that would like to see him play in a faster offensive system with less of an emphasis on defense.

Of the three, Rudy’s stock is probably the highest, as he carries a strong international pedigree and there are probably a few GM’s that want to stick Rudy in the open court and see what he can do. Rudy’s cheap rookie contract makes him tough to deal for equal value without putting him in a package deal, but he still has the highest ration of value to expandability — for personal and on-court reasons — on the team.

Bad Memory: The stretch from February 19th to February 21st. Two home losses, both crushing in their own separate ways. It all started with a 20-point thrashing courtesy of the Boston Celtics, notable because this was right after the trade deadline and there was a small sense of optimism that got absolutely annihilated by the C’s. Then onto the 21st and a matchup with the Jazz where the Blazers saw a 64-39 lead with seven minutes left in the third quarter turn into a 93-89 overtime loss. If you were of age and a Blazer fan you were probably doing bad things to your liver.

The “Using your trading card as a form of identification when pulled over for speeding” award for “Come on, really?”: To Blazers management, for firing Tom Penn weeks before the playoffs and draft season and creating the media cluster**** that followed. This personnel move led to a number of nasty columns being written about Kevin Pritchard, questions about Pritchard’s future with the team, a joke of a press conference in which Pritchard looked defeated and Larry Miller said nothing and Paul Allen sending out a press release that read, “I support everyone who works for me”, which is like a Disney character giving you a hug and a photo-op at DisneyWorld.

Could the Blazers have completely avoided the bad P.R. from a Penn firing during the summer? No, but it would have been blunted at least. Worst of all, they hearkened back to the awful management during the Jail Blazer days and, depending on how you read them, broke their own 25-point pledge. (Honorable mention here goes to the Oden pics, again).

Bad Memory: The fact that we almost had Hedo Turkoglu instead of Andre Miller. Or that really weird, unnecessary and annoying “OMG Andre Miller is such a bad guy” phase that the fans had with him for a little bit. Probably the most overblown story I can remember.