Trail Blazers hiring Micah Nori as head coach

Nori, 52, has served as Chris Finch’s top assistant in Minnesota since 2021. He also spent time with Toronto, Sacramento, Denver and Detroit during his 28 years of coaching. He is best known for working as the Wolves’ acting head coach after Finch suffered a serious knee injury during the 2024 playoffs.

“I think he’s come late to the (head-coaching) party, but that doesn’t mean he’s not more than ready and won’t be successful,” Finch recently told Quick.

Nori is considered to be one of the NBA’s top assistants and has interviewed for several recent head coaching vacancies. He was a finalist this year for the Bulls job that went to former Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter and for the Mavericks opening that was filled on Monday by Dusty May.

Nori and Splitter were two of the finalists for the vacancy in Portland, along with Celtics assistant Tyler Lashbrook.

Quick notes that Nori has built a reputation as a creative offensive strategist and an effective game manager who favors an up-tempo style. Finch relied on him heavily, especially in the playoffs as the Timberwolves have won five series in the past three years.

“He is elite in what I call the small pieces of the game,” Finch said. “Small not that they are unimportant, but small in that they are often overlooked. He’s elite with lineup combinations. Elite with rotations. Elite with special situations, whether it’s ATOs (after timeouts), end of game or just understanding how to maximize possessions. He’s just been huge for us here in that regard.”

Nori will take over a Trail Blazers team that is coming off a surprising 42-40 season and a trip to the playoffs as the seventh seed in the West. He’ll inherit a promising roster built around All-Star forward Deni Avdija and will benefit from the return of Damian Lillard, who missed all of last season with an injury.

It’s not clear if Nori will get the title of head coach or if he’ll be another “acting head coach,” Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report states in a subscriber-only piece. Chauncey Billups has remained on unpaid administrative leave since his arrest last October on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Billups has entered not guilty pleas, and his trial is set to begin in November.

Highkin also notes that new owner Tom Dundon’s thrifty reputation may have limited the pool of applicants for the head coaching opening. Reports emerged that Dundon was planning to pay his head coach well below the market rate and that he started the head coaching search before the season ended, holding exploratory discussions with approximately 20 college and international coaches while Splitter was trying to lead the team into the postseason.