The contrasting starts between Micah Nori's Portland Trail Blazers and Tiago Splitter's Chicago Bulls continue to widen.
Perhaps no day encapsulated this better than Monday. Nori's Blazers pulled off an impressive 118-110 road win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Meanwhile, Splitter's Bulls were blown out 126-107 by LeBron James and the new-look Philadelphia 76ers.
The Blazers now sit third in the Western Conference with a 5-1 record. The Bulls? 1-6, tied with a few teams for the worst record in the entire association.
Nori has this offense firing on all cylinders, as their 118.8 offensive rating is fourth best in the league. The defense isn't far behind either, with a 108.8 rating still inside the top ten.
Micah Nori elevates Blazers' offense beyond last year's under Tiago Splitter
Portland was a team of extremes last season under Splitter. Elite in some areas such as offensive rebounding, but equally struggled with turnovers and three-point shooting. They've found more balance under Nori, even finding ways to win lately despite the injury to Ja Morant.
There are multiple reasons for that early on, whether it's GM Joe Cronin's offseason moves, internal improvement, or Lillard's return all aligning with Nori's takeover. This was trending in the right direction before he accepted the position, which, as he points out, is a rare opportunity for a first-year head coach to take over a playoff-caliber roster.
But the Blazers believed Nori was the right man for the job over Splitter, and we're seeing why that decision is raising the ceiling of this roster to start the season. Above all those reasons, it largely comes down to the fact that Nori is the right fit in Portland.
Splitter deserves a ton of credit for what he accomplished last season, not only keeping this team afloat after Chauncey Billups' shocking departure but also leading them to the first postseason of its rebuild. But now we're seeing the next evolution of what this Blazers roster, and especially offense, can become under Nori.
There's better ball movement, fewer stagnant players, more team-oriented basketball. Some of that may have been addition by subtraction; swapping a one-dimensional Jerami Grant and Kris Murray for an elite playmaker like Morant certainly helps, as does Lillard's return. But Nori's offense does a great job of playing to the strengths of having all these playmakers in the backcourt. They cleaned up defensive rebounding this season, which makes transition opportunities easier, where essentially anyone on the court is a strong decision-maker for Portland.
Tiago Splitter needs to adapt to the roster he was handed in Chicago
We're also seeing more creativity from Nori with things like ATOs, a frustrating area of weakness for Splitter last season. They were both technically first year NBA head coaches, but Nori's 28 years of experience, 17 at the assistant coaching level, is already proving to be a key difference when it comes to knowing how to navigate this Blazers roster.
Splitter unlocked Deni Avdija's point-forward role and his first All-Star season. Now, we're seeing the next iteration of how that fits now that Avdija has true secondary playmakers to help alleviate some of that offensive burden.
On the other end, Splitter is quickly learning the limitations of playing through Josh Giddey in a similar role to Avdija. The Bulls' offense has struggled with Giddey's playmaking and the lack of reliable floor spacing around him. The game plan and playstyle don't fit the roster, as Chicago is attempting the fifth-most threes in the league (42.6 per game) yet connecting on just 27.9 percent -- dead last by a wide margin.
Sounds painfully familiar to last year's offense under Splitter.
Between the two, Nori is proving better at adapting his coaching and the team's playstyle to the roster's strengths and weaknesses. Those flaws in Splitter's approach have unfortunately been exacerbated by taking on such a young Bulls roster.
Meanwhile, Nori’s arrival has further amplified the Blazers’ strengths. Over the offseason, he outlined the plan to improve what was a relatively successful season under Splitter. A season that many wondered why the Blazers didn't even retain Splitter after he seemingly aced his unexpected audition.
But as we're seeing early on with the opposite trajectories between Splitter in Chicago and Nori in Portland, the Blazers were right to move on, as he wasn't the ideal fit. With Nori, they have a higher ceiling because he knows what it takes to play to this roster's strengths, and hopefully it leads to a deeper playoff run this time around.
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