Micah Nori is walking into Portland with a real chance to put his stamp on the Blazers - and maybe to do it by solving a roster that hasn’t exactly come with a clean blueprint.
The backcourt is in flux, the roster is a jumble, and that might actually be the opening Nori needs. With so many different guard combinations available, he has room to shape the team’s identity instead of just inheriting one. That matters in Portland right now, because the last two coaching stops already gave the franchise two very different versions of itself.
Chauncey Billups built the first defensive foundation. Tiago Splitter, after being thrown into the job unexpectedly, handled the surprise run well and got the Blazers to the playoffs with the fast style of play he brought over from Paris.
Nori’s background suggests a coach who’s seen plenty and adapted plenty. He’s been an assistant since 2009, with stops that include the Raptors, Kings, Nuggets, Pistons, and most recently the Timberwolves under Chris Finch. That kind of path usually tells you something about a coach’s instincts, but Portland may learn even more from what Nori said at his introductory press conference.
His message centered on possession. Winning that battle, he said, starts with not leading the league in turnovers. He also pointed directly at Portland’s late-game execution, a problem that could have easily knocked the team out of the playoffs last season.
That’s the challenge in front of him: take a roster Joe Cronin left as one of the messiest in the league and make it make sense. Nori’s creative, “Ted Lasso” style personality feels built for that kind of job, because this is not a plug-and-play situation. It’s going to take some real imagination to get the most out of a group that doesn’t naturally fit together.
The hope is that the Blazers can keep the best pieces of both previous versions. Donovan Clingan and Toumani Camara give Portland the defensive playmaking base, while added playmakers like Ja Morant and Damian Lillard are expected to help clean up the turnovers and late-game issues.
For Nori, this is also a personal breakthrough. After years of being passed over for head coaching jobs because he had never done it before, he finally got the chance in Portland. He called it a rare opportunity for a first-year coach to step into a winning situation.
But this is still a pressure job. Portland has team options on Nori’s second and third seasons, so the runway may be shorter than it looks.
And the situation around the hire wasn’t exactly smooth. Tom Dundon was interviewing to replace Tiago Splitter when the Blazers were back in the postseason facing the San Antonio Spurs, and Splitter even took the Chicago Bulls job while still a finalist in Portland.
So now the question is simple: is Nori truly Dundon’s guy, or just the best available answer after a messy process?
Either way, he’s the one holding the marker now. If he can settle this roster, lean into its strengths, and build a style that fits a point guard- and center-heavy group, he could end up being exactly what Portland needed. If not, this may wind up as a short audition.
That’s the risk for the Blazers. It’s also the opportunity.
Splitter left the bar high after guiding an inexperienced, injury-riddled team to a finish above .500, a seven seed, and a playoff berth. He also got an All-Star season from Deni Avdija and a second-year jump from Donovan Clingan.
Breaking that up may have created more questions than answers. Now Nori gets the chance to prove the move was worth it.
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Sharpes next step now feels less like a straight line and more like a test of fit. His game has long been built around on-ball scoring and pressure on the rim, but Portlands retooled attack looks built to spread those touches around and ask for more movement from every spot on the floor. If that translates into a smaller role, the question becomes whether Sharpe can thrive as a secondary option in this system or whether the Blazers eventually have to consider bigger decisions about where he fits in the long run. [Read more 🡒]