The Athletic’s Jason Quick came out with an interesting piece Thursday, on Portland Trail Blazers head coach Micah Nori. The article is built around an impactful short story told by Nori’s son, Dante. Dante Nori was a first round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies, and is currently playing on their Double A Reading farm team. He shares insight on what drives his dad as a coach.
“He is always going to make sure you are doing your absolute best,” Dante Nori said. “The way he hounded me, got on me … you see
it, it’s the way he coaches people. It’s not nit-picking, it makes sense. He has always held me accountable and that’s what I love about him.”
There’s also a great anecdote about Sidy Cissoko going under a screen (prompting an immediate timeout by Nori), last night in Portland’s 132-119 victory over the Phoenix Suns to improve to 5-1 on the season. The players are adopting Nori’s philosophy to be disciplined enough to demand their best effort from themselves every time out. It’s clearly been showing as Portland has manhandled every team they’ve faced so far, sans the Memphis Grizzlies. Their two wins against Phoenix were both blowouts. The other three road wins came by playing back and forth games. which resulted in Portland being the team to eventually take control, put their foot on the opponents’ neck, then not let up. That trait is a hallmark of a good team playing for something.
On why Nori is setting such a high bar with this group: “I see what they can be.” And Rip City likes what it sees.
