Mica Drop

A new coaching candidate emerges, and I dive back into the Mailbag for round two.

Good morning! Let’s get into a busy news day before we get some more reader questions.

News & Notes

🏀 Twitter was certainly abuzz after yesterday’s morning announcement that the Knicks were interviewing Minnesota Timberwolves’ assistant Micah Nori for their head coaching position. Per Ian Begley later in the day, Nori has completed his interview.

Nori is 51 and has never been a head coach in the league, but has been an NBA assistant for 16 years, the last four of which have come in Minnesota. Before that, he spent three years in Detroit, with previous stops in Denver (coaching a young Nikola Jokic), Sacramento (coaching Boogie Cousins) and Toronto. With a plethora of experience coaching talented big men, including current Knick Karl-Anthony Towns, it’s little surprise that Nori got an interview.

As far as what else he brings to the table, he’s got a wicked sense of humor, is beloved by players, and already has experience - sort of - being the man in charge. When a leg injury prevented Chris Finch from being able to man his usual post as head coach during the 2024 postseason, Nori led the team in his place.

Here’s some of what Wolves scribe Jon Krawczynski had to say in an article from those 2024 playoffs:

“[Nori] has earned a reputation among his fellow Wolves coaches and the players for an encyclopedic grasp of opponent tendencies and the savvy way he uses humor to disarm while delivering straightforward feedback for players to process….

"Micah’s a genius," Wolves star Anthony Edwards said…

“In Minnesota, Nori, 50, serves as Finch’s right-hand man, sitting right next to him on the bench and placed in charge of “special situations,” as Finch likes to term it. Handling rotations to navigate foul trouble, late-game defense and other strategic matters.”

That all sounds encouraging, but Nori is still someone who has never officially coached in the NBA, and would be taking on an incredibly pressure packed situation. Whether his sense of humor or prior relationship with KAT can help overcome those challenges is something the front office will have to consider, but for anyone hoping the Knicks would consider an assistant coach with significant upside, this might be your guy.

🏀 On the Jason Kidd front, per Ian Begley:

This, to me, would be the best explanation of why the process is taking as long as it is.

🏀 The Celtics officially went into coast-cutting mode with Monday’s late night trade of Jrue Holiday to the Trail Blazers in exchange for Anfernee Simons, and then followed it by sending Kristaps Porzingis to the Hawks in a three-team deal that netted Brooklyn Terance Mann and the No. 22 pick tonight and sent Georges Niang to Boston. The two deals not only get the Celtics under the second apron next season, but Simons’ and Niang’s expiring contracts give them more long term flexibility as well.

In terms of impact on the Eastern Conference, Simons is a very different type of player from Holiday and it’ll be interesting to see whether he can help the Celtics stay in the mix atop the East. My immediate reaction after this trade was that maybe Boston got better.

There is no such argument to make after replacing Kristaps with Georges Niang. Granted, KP has played an average of 56 games a season over the course of his career, but still…he’s a game changer when he’s healthy. It feels like Boston is a Jaylen Brown trade away from lottery land.

As for Atlanta, are the Hawks now the frontrunners for the fourth seed after Cleveland, New York and Orlando? If they can bring back Caris LeVert and find a creative way to use their $25 million trade exception, Atlanta is a real threat to win 50 games and have a top-five offense.

🏀 If anyone was looking for a Mikal Bridges stalking horse next summer, we may have just gotten one. Washington unloaded Jordan Poole and Saddiq Bey to New Orleans in exchange for CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk, whose contracts expire after this season. The move gives the Wizards around $110 million in cap space for the 2026 offseason, with the potential to move Corey Kispert’s $14 million contract for real value sometime in the next calendar year.

On paper, the Wizards have an interesting team in a weak contract, what with McCollum, Khris Middleton, Marcus Smart and their bevy of young players. Is there a chance their top-eight protected pick will be in play for the Knicks? I’m not holding my breath, but never say never.

Mailbag Leftovers

I got too many good questions on Monday to fit into one mailbag, so let’s end today with some of the leftovers, starting with this one from Lee about how the Knicks improve a current weak spot:

To me, the Knicks biggest need is more playmaking/ball-handling. I think gun to Leon’s head, he hoped Bridges would have played that role. What do you think is the Knicks’ best route to acquire someone (aka, would it require a trade of Mitch, Hart, Bridges, or a combo), and who are some guys around the league that you think would fill the void? To me, Caris LeVert is the perfect type of guy, although it seems Atlanta wants to hang onto him.

When I first read this question I was in complete agreement that this is their biggest need. If the Knicks are going to win with an all-time offense and a good enough defense, then it feels like they have to be able to generate better shots than they got this year.

But then I started looking up some numbers. Assists are probably the most imperfect stat in the NBA, and they often don’t reflect how well or poorly a player passed it in a given game, but I was still curious how many times a Knick had a game with at least six assists this season. Here are the result:

• Jalen Brunson: 46 games with at least six assists

• Josh Hart: 41

• Mikal Bridges: 16

• Deuce McBride: 9

• Cameron Payne: 9

• Karl-Anthony Towns: 9

• Tyler Kolek: 4

• OG Anunoby: 3

• Delon Wright: 1

That’s nine players with a total of 138 games of at least six assists. Compare that to Indiana, whose offense is the envy of every team in the league right now. They had 128 such games by eight players, but with a much more top heavy distribution:

• Tyrese Haliburton: 64

• Andrew Nembhard: 25

• T.J. McConnell: 24

• Pascal Siakam: 11

• Four players with one game apiece

Again, this doesn’t mean everything, but it feels like it should mean something. The Knicks clearly have guys that can pass…so why did their offense fall off a cliff after January 1? The way teams defended them certainly contributed, but it feels like there’s more to it than that.