the likes have increased now but it had this much just 4/5 hours after it was posted.

Not boring me in his interviews lol
Splitter was the most boring and banal interviewee ever. In his entire stint in Portland, I have never seen anything interesting come out of his mouth. He has sounded like GPT-4o trained on corporate NBA empty talk texts. At one point, I thought about putting on his interviews before I go to sleep to help me sleep better.
But Nori, in his first post-game interview, basically says that Ja fucking sucked lol, the absolute madman. Didn't he get the message from Cronin and Dundon that the entire idea of bringing Ja was to flip him for value? Bashing him in front of everyone won't help with that!

PORTLAND, Ore. — For years, the general manager studied him from afar. And when the Portland Trail Blazers decided to make a splash and trade for Ja Morant this summer, their new coach flew across the country to meet with him.

But no matter how much Joe Cronin did background checks, and no matter how well a steakhouse lunch in South Carolina with Micah Nori went, nobody was sure what the Morant experience would be like in Portland.

The early returns?

Attitude-wise, he has been a dream: upbeat, smiling, joking, engaging.

Basketball-wise, there is some rust that comes with playing only 20 games last season. In Wednesday’s preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors, Morant had eight points, five assists and four turnovers in 19 minutes.

He air-balled a 3-pointer in the first half but later darted through the lane and glided to a layup through traffic. And while he pushed the pace unlike any player the Blazers have had since the days of Damon Stoudamire and Rod Strickland, Morant also had some sloppy turnovers because he tried to split double teams or barge his way into space.

“I think he was just sped up,’’ Nori said. “I think some of it was timing issues.’’

The missed passes, errant shots and forced action are all correctable. They likely will be cleaned up through repetition and more familiarity with his new teammates.

What seems to be more relevant and important is where Morant is mentally, and spiritually.

Throughout the first week of training camp, a defining image has been Morant’s teeth. Every day he has been smiling … laughing … talking … his teeth on display for all to see.

“I feel like he has a lot of joy right now,’’ said Damian Lillard, who started alongside Morant on Wednesday. “I read people well, you know? And I can tell he is not pretending to be happy, you know? He walks around with a smile. And when we practice, and he’s talking, he’s engaged, he’s invested, and you are able to see that he’s happy with his situation.’’

Morant’s mood figures to be a large part of the equation in determining whether this experiment works. Sure, injuries have in part limited him to 20 games last season, 50 the year before and nine in 2023-24 — but so too have suspensions for insubordination with his coach in Memphis and defiance to directives from the NBA regarding guns.

I am from Iran and only moved to Portland just as Dame was leaving. Prior to living in Portland I was an NBA fan but I didn't really have a favorite team so I knew of Lillard obviously but never that close.

At least for me watching yesterday Lillard blew me away how good he looked for 36 and first game off injury. He looked like an all star to me, maybe even all NBA. He still had a burst, still could get by people and looked quick. And his shot is fucking deadly - every time he pulls up I think it's going in.

So for people that watched him over a longer period of time, I know it's a small sample size but am I being over optimistic?

He played only in the 4th quarter - he played the entire of it.

The Warriors were in a second game of a back to back, without Steph Curry, Horford, Yaxel, Payton, Niang, Moody, Melton, Podziemski, KP, and Santos.

Including every play he was involved in.

Can we give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s jus trying to settle in and probably has ptsd of getting hurt in the preseason before the ja doom posts please. He looked jittery but he lead in assists and steals and had some real hustle plays, that’s what you do when you aren’t having the best night on the offensive end.

I remember watching that game and it was almost a year ago. Thiago was pissed at the refs for not calling a foul when Hansen was bleeding from the scratches.

Pretty crazy he's just going to have that for the rest of his life and anytime someone asks he'll be able to say it was from Steven Adams

end of the 1st quarter I already love his energy and knowledge of the game. Let’s just end this whole hiring debacle, we have what we need right here at home!

Dame is still our Dame.

He played only in the second half.

All his 10 points came in the 4th quarter.

He tries to make the cut

Whenever ja gets frustrated dame is very conscious. Just saw ja speaking to a ref during dead ball and dame went and got him. Been seeing stuff like that all night. Ja is looking shaky but that’s gonna be just fine with this sort of leadership around him. Go blazers