{"id":2007635,"date":"2026-06-24T02:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007635"},"modified":"2026-06-24T02:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:46:13","slug":"wolves-coach-says-micah-noris-blazers-opportunity-overshadowed-by-unconventional-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007635","title":{"rendered":"Wolves coach says Micah Nori\u2019s Blazers opportunity \u2018overshadowed\u2019 by unconventional contract"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 On the biggest day of Micah Nori\u2019s career, the focus was not on his big chance \u2014 being named head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> \u2014 but rather on the terms by which he agreed to take the job.<\/p>\n

Nori committed Tuesday to sign a one-year contract with Portland, with team options each of the next two seasons, according to league sources. In a league that values security and the time to build sustainable success, it was a highly unconventional decision \u2014 both by new Blazers owner Tom Dundon<\/a> and the 52-year-old Nori.<\/p>\n

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Nori\u2019s former boss, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, said Tuesday that he wished more attention had been paid to Nori\u2019s accomplishment than to the terms of his contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a shame that a lot of the story about Micah\u2019s great opportunity was overshadowed by the nature of the deal that he signed,\u201d Finch told reporters before the NBA Draft. \u201cThat\u2019s a personal decision. That\u2019s a business decision. That\u2019s between him, the team and the agent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finch and Nori first worked together in 2015 with the Denver Nuggets, where they served as assistant coaches for three years under Michael Malone. When Finch became head coach in Minnesota in 2021, he hired Nori away from Detroit, where Nori was the offensive coordinator under head coach Dwane Casey.<\/p>\n

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Nori has interviewed for seven head-coaching positions over the years. He was a finalist for jobs in Cleveland, New York and Chicago in recent hiring cycles. Finch said he didn\u2019t have the \u201cguts\u201d to ask Nori about the terms of his Portland contract, because he knows how infrequently head-coaching opportunities arise in the NBA.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know this: There\u2019s 30 of these jobs,\u201d Finch said, \u201cThey\u2019re hard to get. They\u2019re incredibly rewarding in a lot of different ways. I know he wasn\u2019t focused on certainly money, but he was first focused on opportunity. That\u2019s what we preach to all of our guys here. You should chase opportunity, not money.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, I also know that you\u2019ve got to bet on yourself in this world,\u201d Finch said. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019re an outsider. \u2026 We consider ourselves a little bit of outsiders. We weren\u2019t raised in the game. We didn\u2019t play at Carolina or Duke, so sometimes your path is just different and you\u2019ve got to take chances along the way. I\u2019m super excited for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finch said he made Nori his lead assistant in Minnesota because when they were in Denver, he could see they had similar approaches to the game. Finch said Nori\u2019s strengths will be his creativity on offense and his grasp on how to win games by managing the details.<\/p>\n

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He said the biggest adjustments Nori will have to make in Portland will be establishing authority and building an effective staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the two biggest changes (in going from assistant to head coach) are one, it becomes less about basketball and more about leadership,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think he has natural leadership abilities. I think one thing that has handicapped Micah throughout his career is he has never thirsted after the opportunities, but that doesn\u2019t mean he isn\u2019t built for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think he naturally trusts those around him, so I think he will be good at delegating,\u201d Finch continued, \u201cHe\u2019s not a micromanager. He\u2019s the guy who is going to empower those around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jon Krawczynski contributed reporting from Minnesota.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 On the biggest day of Micah Nori\u2019s career, the focus was not on his big chance \u2014 being named head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers \u2014 but rather on the terms by which he agreed to take the job. Nori committed Tuesday to sign a one-year contract with Portland, with team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2007635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}