Micah Nori’s Short-Term Blazers Deal Draws Criticism From NBA Coaches
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The National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA) and several NBA coaches are voicing concern over the contract Micah Nori signed to become head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
League sources told ESPN that Nori, 52, agreed to a one-year guaranteed deal with team options for the next two seasons. The agreement reportedly includes a below-market base salary and incentives tied to team performance.
“I feel like he was put in a situation that he shouldn’t be put in with having to make a choice of this nature because of the structure of what the contract is,” said NBCA president and Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “It’s unfortunate that you have a dream, and from our perspective, it’s like someone’s taking advantage of your dream and devaluing what we feel like coaches have earned over the years.”
Nori spent 28 seasons as an NBA assistant with stops in Toronto, Sacramento, Denver and Detroit before joining Minnesota as lead assistant five years ago. Portland owner Tom Dundon and general manager Joe Cronin hired him following an extensive search. He had also interviewed for recent vacancies in Chicago and Dallas.
MacMahon reported that other coaches criticized the contract’s structure but declined to comment publicly. A Trail Blazers spokesperson and Nori’s agent, Bret Just—who also represents Bickerstaff—both declined to comment.
Coaches rarely enter a season on an expiring contract, let alone start with a new team under such conditions. Bickerstaff warned that operating on a year-to-year basis can undermine a coach’s authority and complicate staff building. “It changes the math on where a coach stands,” he said. “It’s almost, which is disappointing, a mindset of the substitute teacher being there with no guarantee or support.”
Bickerstaff added that numerous head and assistant coaches are “extremely concerned” about the precedent the deal might set. “It’s years and years of work that coaches have put in to put ourselves in this position and to put future coaches in the position where our value remains and isn’t disregarded,” he said.
Source: Hoops Rumors
