Inheriting a deep roster led by Damian Lillard and Deni Avdija, Micah Nori bypasses the typical rebuilding phase to focus on mastering rotations for a playoff-ready squad.
Being a first-year head coach in the NBA isn’t easy for anybody. But the headwinds a new coach faces can be stronger or more manageable depending on the roster they’re walking into.
In Micah Nori’s case with the Portland Trail Blazers, this is a tremendous opportunity. He’s walking into a situation that should give him every chance to succeed.
For Nori, the challenge isn’t going to be finding players he can trust to be on the floor, produce and help the team win. Those players already exist, and they’re plentiful. Instead, his job will be figuring out how to deploy them properly and finding the right rotations to get the most out of everyone.
That’s the dream scenario for any coach.
Nori won’t have to stretch out a thin roster or build schemes around inadequate pieces. The Blazers won 42 games last season, earned the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference and got valuable postseason experience against the San Antonio Spurs. Since then, the roster has only gotten deeper.
For starters, Nori has significantly more proven talent than most first-time head coaches inherit.
Damian Lillard is familiar not only with the franchise, but with everything that comes with playing in the NBA. He’s played in big moments throughout his career and is a natural leader who can help Nori guide the ship early. Deni Avdija developed into an All-Star last season and proved he can shoulder a significant offensive load for a playoff team. Jrue Holiday gives Portland another championship-tested veteran and respected voice in the locker room.
Then there’s Ja Morant, who remains one of the most talented guards in the league. While the past several seasons haven’t gone exactly as planned for Morant, Portland gives him a legitimate opportunity to revitalize his career and become an important piece of a winning team.
Beyond the veterans, Nori also has an impressive collection of younger talent.
Donovan Clingan, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara are all still developing, but they’ve already shown they can contribute to winning basketball. Portland also has depth behind that group, giving Nori legitimate options at virtually every position.
The backcourt is loaded. The center rotation is young but talented. The wing group offers size, athleticism and defensive versatility. There really isn’t an obvious position group where Nori will be forced to compensate for a major lack of talent.
That’s especially important when installing a new system. Nori shouldn’t have to abandon concepts he believes in simply because the roster isn’t capable of executing them. He has enough ball-handling, shooting, size, defense and athleticism to experiment with different styles and rotations throughout the season.
Some nights that could mean leaning heavily on veteran guards. Other matchups could call for more size and defense. There will likely even be nights when quality NBA players don’t see as many minutes simply because there are so many legitimate options available.
Those are good problems to have.
Between the established talent, veteran leadership, young upside and depth throughout the roster, Nori has nearly every resource a first-year head coach could ask for. Now it’s simply about figuring out how to put all of those pieces together.
