The 30 NBA benches, in full: the Portland Trail Blazers already have Tiago Splitter’s replacement

After several weeks of canvassing and interviewing candidates, it is now official. The Portland Trail Blazers already have who will be the new replacement for Chauncey Billups for the coming seasons, thus closing the 30 benches in the NBA.

Although the Dallas Mavericks acted discreetly and closed the surprising arrival of Dusty May to the bench from the University of Michigan, the last remaining team to hire a new coach was the Trail Blazers, who saw how Tiago Splitter, who acted as interim coach of the team after the Billups scandal broke, left for the Chicago Bulls a week ago.

A few hours before the NBA Draft, the Oregon franchise already has its man: Micah Nori, until now Chris Finch’s main assistant at the Minnesota Timberwolves. The new Blazers coach was one of the best-regarded assistants in the league and has been part of different selection processes in other NBA teams, including the Chicago Bulls, where he was one of the finalists in addition to Splitter.

Finally, Nori will receive his great opportunity to serve as head coach in Portland after convincing the team’s top leaders, thus beating Tyler Lashbrook, Joe Mazzulla’s assistant at the Boston Celtics.

Micah Nori has served as Finch’s assistant at the Wolves for the last five seasons, and is one of those responsible for Minnesota’s great defensive work over the last few years. In addition, he also has previous experience as an assistant on the benches of the Toronto Raptors, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons.