iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jrue Holiday and Sidy Cissoko are the first two off the bench for Portland for Dame and Deni

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Dame can still shoot it turns out

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The broadcast setup for tonight—Travis Demers doing TV play-by-play and Gareth Kwok, who does TV for the Rip City Remix, filling in on radio—seems to me like the obvious permanent long-term solution and a win-win for everybody. That’s just my opinion. TBD what they actually do.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Micah Nori says Dame, Ja, Toumani, Deni and Clingan are starting tonight. That isn’t necessarily the opening-night starters. He said they’re going to try different combinations over the four preseason games.

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I use it a lot and every time I feed my own stuff into Pangram it still comes back as 100% human-written

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Some of the phrasing and sentence structure gives it away but the real tell is whatever AI chatbot Dundon used to write this (presumably the free version) said way more nice things about Portland than he ever has.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Blazers season ticket holders just got this email, which is attributed to Tom Dundon.

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Micah Nori tells us that everybody is going to play in tomorrow’s preseason opener, with normal rotations in the first half and probably the main guys only playing one shift in the second half. Likely between 18-20 minutes for most players. TBD on the starting lineup for tomorrow.

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Should I clip the part about Braiden Bell and post it as its own standalone video? Will the algorithm reward me for double dipping? Seems like that's what people are doing 🤔

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I've been told that facial expressions in YouTube thumbnails help with the algorithm 🙂

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Statement from the Trail Blazers in response to Braiden Bell's lawyer publicly asking for his reinstatement as play-by-play broadcaster: "We stand by our statement issued last week and have no further comment at this time. We wish Mr. Bell the best."

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We're Back: Ja Morant's Blazers Debut, Broadcaster Controversy and Ownership Drama

Back podcasting with @erikg503.bsky.social, which is going to be happening regularly again. We cover Fan Fest, Ja Morant's role, the Braiden Bell situation, the continued distractions of ownership and more. YouTube: buff.ly/9wAC0Az Apple: buff.ly/O6VGxia Spotify: buff.ly/GVx2rqJ

buff.ly

Sean Highkin and Erik García Gundersen are back after a long hiatus to discuss the Blazers' annual Fan Fest, the chances Ja Morant comes off the bench, the botched hiring and firing of play-by-play…

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Today at practice Jrue Holiday was asked who the MVP of training camp has been so far, and without hesitation he answered Scoot Henderson.

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Ja Morant makes a halfcourt shot to break a tie at the end of regulation. He is officially announced as Fan Fest MVP.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Ja Morant, asked by Brooke Olzendam in the between-quarter interview if fans can expect to see more of the athleticism they're used to from him: "For sure. I'm back dunking again."

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Huge pop for Ja Morant during player intros at Fan Fest, followed by Scoot Henderson and Damian Lillard

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Oh, yeah. The “Portland is dying because of woke” people are loving this.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I've done it many times over the years and I've never posted anything like what he did either. Sometimes you just don't want every take you've ever had to still be up.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Where I’ve landed: I don’t think people should be fired over dumb tweets they made when they were 15 but if you’re interviewing for a high profile public-facing job and don’t scrub your account, that’s on you.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

RAJ Sports has hired Christa Stout as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, as well as interim president of the Thorns after they recently parted ways with team president Alexis Lee. Stout spent 12 years in executive roles with the Blazers and was one of the 70 people ownership laid off in May.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Statement from the Trail Blazers on the firing of play-play-play broadcaster Braiden Bell, who was hired earlier today, after KGW found offensive old tweets:

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"Team" is strong. Travis will still be doing games on the radio, but only because iHeart agreed to pay his salary as opposed to the team (at a pretty significant cut from what he was making with the Blazers) and he won't travel. Calling road games off a monitor.

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Calabro publicly called the offer they made him, “subprime”

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The Blazers have officially announced Braiden Bell, previously with the Phoenix Mercury and G League’s Valley Suns, as their new TV play-by-play man, replacing Kevin Calabro.

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The talent drain continues. Can’t imagine why anyone who works for the Blazers and has an offer elsewhere would choose to stay at this point. That’s played out many times publicly and privately in the past six months.

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Damian Lillard, Ja Morant Optimistic About Their Fit

Ja Morant on playing with Damian Lillard: “It’s fun. There’s so much space with Dame out there. Y’all know what type of shooter he is. But it also creates for everybody else." New story on an imperfect fit that's been "smooth" so far: buff.ly/8WGw5Bh

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The Trail Blazers' controversial guard pairing has been 'smooth' through the first two days of training camp.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

If I was going to vote for any Fire player for MIP I probably would have gone with Emily Engstler. To me, the year she had is more in the spirit of that award than Carla or Bridget, the two the team was pushing. I did put Emily on second team All-Defense, though.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I've never been a fan of giving MIP to second-year players. To me, most rookies aren't positive impact/winning players so there's a jump from year one to year two that's expected if you're going to stick.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Carla Leite finished third in Most Improved Player voting. Jessica Shepard won and Shakira Austin (who I voted for) finished second.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Toumani Camara with the most specific answer anyone has given about goals and expectations for the Blazers this season: 50-plus wins, top-4 seed, home-court advantage in the playoffs.

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Reposted by Sean Highkin

Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

On a Blazers media day with nothing but optimism from Damian Lillard, Ja Morant and Micah Nori and nothing but bad news about the new reality of the Tom Dundon era: www.rosegardenreport.com/trail-blazer...

rosegardenreport.com

Trail Blazers Media Day: On-Court Optimism vs. The New Reality of the Tom Dundon Era

Good vibes from Ja Morant, Damian Lillard and Micah Nori were overshadowed by a harsh reminder of the new ownership regime.

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Sean Highkin @highkin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

rosegardenreport.com

Trail Blazers Media Day: On-Court Optimism vs. The New Reality of the Tom Dundon Era

Good vibes from Ja Morant, Damian Lillard and Micah Nori were overshadowed by a harsh reminder of the new ownership regime.

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Robert Williams III: "I fuck with Ja, bro."

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Robert Williams III: "I went through a lot of injuries. Just happy to be back playing. I'm glad it's in Portland." Says he's still working through the plan for the season with the medical staff but doesn't anticipate as many minutes restrictions as he had last year.

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Jrue Holiday on Ja Morant: "We have so many multi-faceted guards that can do different things. ... Ja can play. I understand why we traded for him. He's a fast-paced player but he also knows how to change speeds and get everybody involved."

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Scoot on first playoff experience: "It was fire. I haven't played in a serious game since high school. Definitely trying to get back immediately."

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Scoot Henderson says he was "excited" when the Blazers traded for Ja Morant. "We're getting tight. We're both from the south so we're getting close. He's a great person."

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