That Micah Nori now has a prominent role on the Minnesota Timberwolves bench for the remainder of their 2024 NBA Playoffs run is a bit of an unlikely story.
After a collision with Timberwolves guard Michael Conley last week led to head coach Chris Finch suffering a ruptured tendon, Nori has taken over many of the duties typically handled by the head coach — roaming the sideline, instructing the team, running huddles and making adjustments on the fly.
But how Nori ever ended up as a lead assistant on an NBA staff is even more improbable.
For the longest time, a career in baseball seemed much more likely.
Hailing from Middletown, Ohio, the same place IU legend Kyle Schwarber grew up, Nori played baseball for Indiana from 1994 to 1997.
And he was good.
During his stint at Indiana, Nori was an integral part of the 1996 team that won the Big Ten tournament. IU advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional, where Nori batted .340 in three games.
A mainstay in the middle infield, Nori closed his IU career with a .305 batting average, 20 home runs, 127 RBI, 116 runs, 35 doubles and 18 stolen bases. When he left the program his name was scattered throughout the IU record book, sitting among the top 20 in home runs, RBI, doubles, hits (180), slugging percentage (.483) and extra base hits (60).
In his final campaign, Nori led the team with a .365 batting average, 66 hits, 12 home runs, 59 RBI, two triples, 115 total bases and a .635 slugging percentage. He also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors and received the Jake Gimbel Award for outstanding mental attitude.
And that stellar college career followed in his father’s footsteps. Fred Nori suited up for the Hoosiers from 1963-65 and produced a .284 batting average with five home runs and 55 RBI before playing in the New York Mets organization.
After he graduated from IU, Nori followed Tracy Smith to Miami (Ohio), first as a graduate assistant in 1998 and then as a hitting coach in 1999. Smith was the pitching coach at IU for a portion of the time when Nori played for the Hoosiers.
But that’s when Nori’s career arc pivoted wildly.
And it was yet another former Hoosier from Middletown, Ohio who put Nori on a path that led him to now calling the shots in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Former IU basketball player Butch Carter — a teammate at Indiana of Mike Woodson — was a family friend of Nori. He played high school football in Middletown for Nori’s father. And in 1999 Carter was the head coach of the Toronto Raptors. Carter called Nori and offered him a job as a coach’s assistant with the Raptors.
Nori eventually worked his way up to an advanced scout with Toronto, but in yet another wild twist, he left the NBA in 2005 to be the hitting coach for the Hoosiers under then head coach Smith. And just to keep the weirdness flowing, Smith also coached for a couple years in Middletown, Ohio.
Nori returned to the Raptors in 2009 as a full-fledged assistant coach, a title he’s held since, with stints in Toronto, Sacramento, Denver, Detroit and now Minnesota.
And on Saturday evening, with Finch sitting in row two, Nori played in instrumental role guiding the Timberwolves to a 1-0 series lead over the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
Not bad for a baseball guy.
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