After the Bucks beat the Portland Trail Blazers recently, Jennings (@YUNGBUCK3) said the following:

“Back to 500. Yess!!! “500″ means where doing good. Way to Play Hard Guys.”

For his Tweet, which came less than 45 minutes after the game, Jennings was fined $7,500 by the NBA. Following the fine, Jennings has threatened to delete his Twitter account.

“I’m bout to delete my twitter. Twitter cost me 7500. Looks like no Gucci and Louie for Xmas.”

Truthfully, it’s pretty lame for the NBA to come down on a young player who is celebrating the fact that his team won a game. There are a lot more things the league could be doing than playing the role of Twitter Mommy.

Brandon Jennings + Twitter = Fine

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Twitter Gets Brandon Jennings in Trouble

However, it now seems like Oden is starting to figure it all out. On Monday night against the Chicago Bulls, the Portland Trail Blazers starting center had a dominant outing. In only 27 minutes, Oden poured in 24 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots, while hitting 7-of-8 shots from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line.

Though he’s playing his best basketball of his NBA career this season, there are two areas where he is still struggling: turnovers and fouls. In slightly more than 24 minutes, he’s averaging four fouls and nearly two turnovers. To truly become an elite player, he’ll have to lower both of those numbers.

The Blazers, who beat the Bulls by a final score of 122-98, are currently a very good team. If Oden lives up to the hype and becomes a dominant player? The Blazers could be a great team.

Greg Oden - Portland Trail Blazers (Image: Zuma Press)

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Greg Oden Living Up to the Hype?

Anthony finished the game with 41 points — 19 of which were scored in the fourth quarter. His big finish allowed the Nuggets to outscore the Blazers in the fourth 35-27 to win by a final score of 97-94. Anthony shot 11-of-21 from the field and 18-of-19 from the line. He also had six rebounds three assists and one steal.

Chauncey Billups was also big for the Nuggets, scoring 22 points, dishing out six assists and pulling down four rebounds. The Blazers were led by Brandon Roy’s 30 points, while Rudy Fernandez chipped in 22 points off the bench.

The Nuggets next play the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, while the Blazers travel to Houston to play the Rockets on Saturday.

Carmelo Anthony - Denver Nuggets (Image: Zuma Press)

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Carmelo Anthony Carries Nuggets to 2-0 Start

While the negotiations between Aldridge and the Blazers weren’t always smooth, both sides have to be happy that a deal was struck. For Portland, they have one of the better young bigmen in the NBA locked in for his prime.

Last season, Aldridge averaged 18.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and one block per game. He shot 48.4% from the field and 78.1% from the free throw line. The 24-year-old from the University of Texas is an above average shooter who is learning to improve his play closer to the bucket.

Earlier in the offseason, the Blazers signed Brandon Roy to a contract worth about $80 million. The team now has a core of young players it can build around. The playoffs appear to be a certainty this year — the question is whether the Blazers can get out of the first round.

LaMarcus Aldridge - Portland Trail Blazers (Image: Zuma Press)

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LaMarcus Aldridge Signs Extension

The 6-foot-9 power forward played Charlotte Bobcats and Denver Nuggets last season. He only played three games with the Nuggets, but while with the Bobcats he averaged 4.4 points. 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 11.5 minutes per contest in a total of 39 games.

With the Blazers, Howard likely won’t play many minutes but he gives the team an experienced bigman who can add some muscle when it is needed. He’s also considered to be a high character player.

Said Kevin Pritchard, the GM of the Blazers: “Juwan Howard will add a wealth of experience and veteran savvy to our young, talented roster. We look forward to Juwan’s contributions on the court and in the locker room.”

Juwan Howard - Portland Trail Blazers (Image: Zuma Press)

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Juwan Howard Signs with the Blazers

Despite that bad news for Pendergraph, he received good news on Tuesday when the Blazers signed him to a contract. The surgery will likely be much easier to swallow with the contract in hand.

The 6-foot-9 power forward played his college basketball at Arizona State. As a senior, he averaged 14.5 points per contest.

Pendergraph played with the Blazers summer league team in July. In five games he averaged 10.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in 27.6 minutes. He shot 55.3% from the field and 85.7% at the free throw line.

With the Blazers this year, a healthy Pendergraph would have a chance at winning minutes at backup power forward.

Jeff Pendergraph - Portland Trail Blazers

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Jeff Pendergraph to Undergo Hip Surgery

Greg Oden - Portland Trail Blazers (Image: Zuma Press)

After missing his entire would-be rookie season due to microfracture surgery, Oden was able to make his NBA debut last year. While he showed promise at times, most honest fans of the Portland Trail Blazers would say they were disappointing. Yes, he was a good backup center but the Blazers and the rest of the basketball world were expecting stardom — not solid play.

Going into his second season, we’ll get a really good read on what type of player Oden will be on the professional level. Is he going to take the next step and become a star? Is he simply going to prove to be an above average NBA bigman? We’ll find out soon enough.

We aren’t the only ones looking as his second season as pivotal. Oden himself knows the importance.

Said Oden, in an interview with the Indianapolis Star: “This is going to be a big year. Everybody comes in and has that first year, that get-used-to-the-league year. But you have to break out in your second year. You have to, and that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

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Greg Oden Ready for Pivotal Season

Since Millsap is a restricted free agent, the Jazz will have a week to match the offer. According to various reports, the contract is worth as much as $36 million over four seasons.

Last season, Millsap averaged 13.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and one block in 30.1 minutes per game. He shot 53.4% from the floor and dished out 1.8 assists per contest.

In 38 games last year as a starter, Millsap was very effective. When in the starting lineup, Millsap averaged 16 point and 10.3 rebounds per game.

For the Jazz to match the offer, most league experts believe Utah will need to trade Carlos Boozer. The Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks are two teams reportedly interested in Boozer.

Paul Millsap - Portland Trail Blazers (Image: Zuma Press)

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Paul Millsap Signs Blazers Offer

Although the Raptors can pay him a little bit more — reportedly about $53 million instead of $50 million — it sounds like the city of Toronto was the main selling point. Turkoglu and his wife reportedly like Toronto’s international flavor and that was the turning point.

For the Blazers this is obviously bad news. Turkoglu would have fit perfectly at the small forward position. Next to Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden, Turkoglu would have made the Blazers a championship contender. Now with Turkoglu off the board, they’ll probably turn their attention to someone like David Lee of the New York Knicks or Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers.

With the Raptors, Turkoglu will join Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon. That foursome should be enough to make a major push for the playoffs.

Hedo Turkoglu Raptors (Image: Zuma Press)

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Turkoglu Changes Mind, Headed to Toronto

Last year with the Magic, Turkoglu averaged 16.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists during the regular season. In the postseason, the native of Turkey was instrumental in leading the Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals.

With the Blazers, Turkoglu will play small forward next to Brandon Roy at shooting guard, LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward and Greg Oden at center. The 6-foot-10 Turkoglu gives the team a playmaker with size who has a knack of coming up clutch in important moments.

The Magic have already made plans for life after Turkoglu. On draft day, Orlando traded for Vince Carter of the New Jersey Nets and waived goodbye to Turkoglu.

On Friday, the Blazers are more than happy to welcome Hedo Turkoglu on board.

Hedo Turkoglu Leaves Orlando to Join Portland (Image: Zuma Press)

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Hedo Turkoglu Headed to the Blazers