Micah Nori's first test as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers is to decide who to start this season.
Jason Quick of The Athletic recently reported that Nori is questioning the analytics or two-way impact that comes from a potential starting backcourt of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant.
"Nori said that starting Morant and Lillard doesn't make sense," Quick writes. "Both are undersized, and both have never excelled on the defensive end. The more analytically sound option would be to start Holiday — a bigger guard who is an exceptional defender — and have either Morant or Lillard come off the bench."
It's the same reason essentially everyone was questioning the Morant trade in the first place -- he doesn't fit this roster!
Ja Morant is a much better fit in Portland's second unit
Should Nori make the decision to bench Morant, at least his fit in the second unit is relatively cleaner.
There, he can be more of the ball-dominant guard, initiating the offense and creating shots for what is otherwise a largely defensive-minded second unit.
The Blazers addressed that to an extent last season under interim head coach Tiago Splitter, as Jerami Grant and Shaedon Sharpe generated the majority of the offense with that second unit. However, those are both score-first players, meaning Morant could help unlock the offense of the other players in that unit.
What should make that decision even more obvious for Nori is looking at the Blazers' potential starting lineup with Morant compared to without.
While he would help their playmaking as a team that significantly struggled in the turnover department, it isn't worth the sacrifice in the defense and floor spacing aspects. Lillard may have similar defensive limitations due to his positional size, but heimpressively remains one of the most reliable shooters in the league as a 36-year-old guard coming off what used to be a career-ending Achilles tear at that age.
The Blazers need Lillard's shooting much more than they need Morant's ability to get downhill, especially since they already have that skillset in point-forward Deni Avdija. It's encouraging to already read reports that Nori is challenging the notion that this flawed but star-studded backcourt pairing of Lillard and Morant will work.
The human aspect is another thing that Nori has to factor in, as being a head coach in the NBA goes well beyond the X and O's or maximizing possessions. Fortunately, any concerns surrounding Morant's character largely appear to have been blown out of proportion up until this point.
At Media Day, the Blazers' new polarizing guard even said he would be open to a bench role as long as it ultimately means this team is winning basketball games. That's the exact type of selfless answer from Morant that suggests this buy-low trade will ultimately work out in the Blazers' best interest.
The concern was always if Morant's overlapping game would come at the detriment of what their young core has been building last season's playoff team. Fortunately, it sounds like not only Nori is already well aware of the post-trade concerns, but Morant is also willing to listen to his new first-year head coach and buy into whatever role is required to win.
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