The changing backcourt in Portland comes at an interesting time with Micah Nori taking over as the team's head coach. Perhaps all the backcourt options are a good thing, as it gives Nori a variety of paths to define what he wants the Blazers' identity to look like.
Chauncey Billups established the initial defensive identity. Tiago Splitter was thrown into the fire, but handled the unexpected audition well by getting this team to the playoffs with a fast style of play brought over from Paris.
You can typically get a sense of what a head coach will be like from the coaching tree they fell under as assistants. Considering Nori has been an assistant since 2009, that's going to be a blend of stops with the Raptors, Kings, Nuggets, Pistons, and most recently the Timberwolves with Chris Finch.
Blazers will win the possession battle under Micah Nori
Perhaps a better glimpse into that future was provided at Nori's introductory press conference, with a vision for how he expects this Blazers team to play and what they're going to do to win. Winning the possession battle was a key point of emphasis, starting with not leading the league in turnovers. Another thing frequently pointed out was the poor late-game execution, which easily could've cost Portland the playoffs last season.
Nori's the perfect fit with a creative "Ted Lasso" personality that will be able to figure out how to optimize what Joe Cronin left as one of the messiest rosters in the entire league. Perhaps it's good that there's no blueprint to follow, as it's going to require out-of-the-box thinking to maximize the talents of this lopsided and conflicting roster.
Hopefully this Nori era is the best of each version Portland had under Billups and Splitter. Defensive playmakers like Donovan Clingan and Toumani Camara maintain this defensive identity while added playmakers like Ja Morant and Damian Lillard clean up turnovers and late-game execution.
Micah Nori is betting on himself in Portland
At least Nori finally landed a head coaching role after all those stops as an assistant. But he's going to have to rely on a combination of that previous experience plus his reputable creativity to make sure this team returns to the postseason. If not, this could turn this into nothing more than a brief one-year audition, as Portland has team options for Nori's second and third seasons.
Nori mentioned this is a rare opportunity for a first-year coach to be joining that type of winning situation. Then again, this isn't your normal situation with Tom Dundon, who was interviewing to replace Tiago Splitter when this team was back in the postseason taking on the San Antonio Spurs.
We'll see if Nori is truly Dundon's guy or the best available stopgap for what turned out to be a messy interview process. Splitter even accepted the position with the Chicago Bulls while he was still a finalist for the Blazers' position.
Nori is appreciative of the opportunity because for so long teams would turn him away from head coaching vacancies because he never had that experience. Well, he finally got over that hurdle with Portland taking a chance on him.
At the same time, this is also Nori taking a chance on himself and that he can figure out what this Blazers roster has become. If he can effectively implement a new identity, one that plays into the strengths of this point guard and center-heavy roster, Nori could prove to be the match Dundon was looking for.
Hopefully this goes well for all parties involved, and Portland landed a long-term upgrade over Splitter in Nori. The bar was set pretty high after Splitter had this inexperienced, injury-riddled team finish above .500 and sneak into the playoffs as the seven seed. It was essentially everything you could've asked out of Splitter, including getting an All-Star season out of Deni Avdija and a second-year leap from Donovan Clingan.
One could make a strong case that there was no need to break up that momentum, risking unreasonably high expectations for Nori heading into this situation. At least he finally has that head coaching experience to put on his resume, though it remains to be seen if he'll be needing it for other interviews around the league anytime soon.
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