Micah Nori is wasting no time setting the tone in Portland.
The Trail Blazers’ new head coach has already handed his staff homework, and it wasn’t some dry playbook packet. Nori asked the entire coaching staff to read Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” as a way to shape how he wants the group to communicate during the 2026 season.
He laid out the reason plainly.
“In this day and age, everything the players digest is Instagram … Snapchat … TikTok … Twitter … everything is 10 seconds,” Nori said, per The Athletic. “The attention span of this generation is very quick.
… So, I wanted to get across to our coaches that you can tell your story, get your point across with not so many words. Keep the main thing the main thing.”
The book choice fits the message. Hemingway’s novel is one of the best-known works in American literature and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. It follows an aging fisherman as he tries to bring in a massive fish.
Nori drew a straight line from that style to the way he wants his team to operate.
“(Hemingway) didn’t use a lot of words. Everything was essentially headlines and cut to the chase,” Nori said.
“So I figure as a team, we are together for seven months. I don’t want my voice to become like that Charlie Brown teacher (wah-wah-wah).
You can hit these guys with your point, then get out.”
For Nori, this is his first run as an NBA head coach. He’s been around the league for years as an assistant, with stops including the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors.
The Blazers are trying to push themselves into Western Conference relevance this season. Portland reached the NBA Playoffs in 2026, then lost a series to the San Antonio Spurs.
The franchise has one championship to its name, and it came back in 1977.
In Other News...
Blazers Fans Just Got A New Sign In Portland Talks
Tom Dundons latest trip to Portland brought another visible sign that the Trail Blazers arena and future in the city are still very much in motion. The team owner was in town ahead of an exhibition game, using the stop to meet with legislative leaders and business figures as talks continue around Moda Center renovations and what it will take to keep the franchise anchored long term.
The broader framework is already in place, with the state, city and county having approved funding plans tied to a lease agreement. What remains is the part that matters most, because that lease has to be finalized by the end of the year for the public financing to move forward, leaving Portlands basketball future dependent on the next round of negotiations. [Read more 🡒]
Scoot Henderson Is Making Portland's Extension Decision Much Tougher
Joe Cronin has a decision hanging over the Trail Blazers as the regular season approaches, and Scoot Hendersons recent play has made it harder to simply wait and see. The point guard has shown enough in the playoffs and preseason to keep the front office thinking long term, even with questions still attached to his consistency and a backcourt that already has plenty of bodies.
ESPN analyst Bobby Marks pointed to the growing case for an extension, noting the ways Henderson has looked sharper as a shooter, more engaged defensively and more committed in his work habits. For Portland, that creates a familiar kind of dilemma: the upside of locking in a young lead guard early against the risk of paying for promise before it fully becomes production. [Read more 🡒]
Blazers Preseason Win Put Two Young Names In Focus
The Trail Blazers opened preseason with a 2-0 start, and the early takeaway was less about the result itself than the way a pair of young players shaped the conversation. Portlands win over the London Lions, a non-NBA opponent, showed a team already finding some rhythm from the perimeter, with the group connecting on 47.1 percent of its three-point tries and a few rotation pieces flashing the kind of growth the staff has been looking for.
Scoot Hendersons continued progress as a shooter stood out, giving Portland another encouraging sign from a player central to its future. Yang Hansen also earned attention with extended run and a productive night that had the Blazers bench and coaching staff taking notice, especially for the way he moved the ball and made things happen within the offense. For a team trying to sort out its next core, those are the kinds of preseason developments worth tracking even before the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]