НБА-гийн дасгалжуулагчид Портлэнд Трэйл Блэйзерс баг Мика Норитой байгуулсан ердөө нэг жилийн баталгаатай гэрээг эрс шүүмжилж байна.
Портлэнд Трэйл Блэйзерс баг 52 настай Мика Нориг ахлах дасгалжуулагчаар томилохдоо гурван жилийн хугацаатай, гэхдээ ердөө нэг жилийг нь баталгаажуулсан гэрээ байгуулжээ. Үлдсэн хоёр жилийг багийн сонголтоор хэрэгжүүлэхээр тусгасан нь мэргэжлийн түвшинд хүлээн зөвшөөрөгдөөгүй, дасгалжуулагчийн нэр хүндийг унагасан үйлдэл хэмээн лигийн хүрээнийхэн үзэж байна. Детройт Пистонс багийн ахлах дасгалжуулагч Ж.Б.Бикерстафф энэ нь дасгалжуулагчдын хөдөлмөрийг үнэгүйдүүлж, урьд өмнө байгаагүй сөрөг жишиг тогтоож буй аюултай алхам гэдгийг онцолсон юм.
Мика Норигийн цалин лигийн хэмжээнд хамгийн доод түвшинд байгаа бөгөөд гэрээнд багийн амжилттай холбоотой урамшууллын заалтууд багтсан байна. Индиана Пэйсэрс багийн туслах дасгалжуулагч Ллойд Пирс болон Милуоки Бакс багийн туслах Давин Хэм нар дасгалжуулагчийн алба нь маш их хариуцлага, дарамт шахалттай ажил тул гэрээний нөхцөл нь тухайн албан тушаалын хүндийг илэрхийлэх ёстой гэж үзэж байна. Нэгэнт багт итгэл хүлээлгэж, дэмжлэг үзүүлэхгүй бол дасгалжуулагч тоглогчид болон багийн дотоод уур амьсгалыг хянах чадвар нь буурдаг гэдгийг мэргэжилтнүүд санууллаа.
Дасгалжуулагчид энэ асуудлыг Мика Нориг хувь хүнийх нь хувьд хүндэтгэж байгаа хэдий ч Портлэнд Трэйл Блэйзерс багийн эзэн Том Дундоны энэ мэт өвөрмөц, хэмнэлтийн бодлого нь дасгалжуулагчдын мэргэжлийн нэр хүндэд халдаж байна хэмээн үзэж байна. Тэд энэ гэрээ нь зөвхөн Мика Норигийн тухай асуудал бус, харин дасгалжуулагчдын ажлын байрны баталгааг үгүй хийх сөрөг үр дагавартайг онцолж, цаашид ийм нөхцөл байдлыг хүлээн зөвшөөрөхгүй гэдгээ илэрхийлжээ.
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In the wake of Micah Nori’s hiring by the Portland Trail Blazers this week, his coaching contemporaries are experiencing two very different, equally intense emotions.
For starters, as three coaches shared with The Athletic on Wednesday, they’re feeling joy for the man himself, as the 52-year-old Nori is a widely respected and beloved coach who has paid his dues as an NBA assistant with five teams since 2009, and has long deserved a shot at the top job. But then, upon pondering a deal structure that runs counter to industry standards, those same coaches felt anger toward the Trail Blazers organization and its new owner, Tom Dundon, for green-lighting a decision that many in the industry see as dangerously disrespectful.
As The Athletic first reported on Tuesday, Nori’s three-year deal includes just one guaranteed season of employment followed by back-to-back team options and, in essence, makes him a “lame duck” coach upon arrival. And as the three coaches who spoke with The Athletic a day later made clear, that sort of unconventional structure undermines a coach like Nori’s chances at succeeding and should have no place in today’s NBA.
“He shouldn’t have to be in that position to make a decision like that because of all the work that coaches before us have put in,” J.B. Bickerstaff, the Detroit Pistons head coach who is the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, told The Athletic on Wednesday. “(You’re) trying to set a precedent that devalues the job of what coaches have done to help grow the NBA and these teams into billion-dollar businesses. (That’s) a serious concern for us as coaches.”
The finances are merely one part of this discussion, as league sources say Nori’s pay is at the bottom end of the league’s range. Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie is known to be the lowest-paid coach at approximately $2 million, while Golden State’s Steve Kerr is the highest paid at $17.5 million. What’s more, league sources say the deal includes incentives tied to team performance.
Anyone who has paid attention to Dundon’s early tenure in Portland could have seen that part coming, as the stories of his thriftiness were in the spotlight within months of his taking over the team in April. Still, Dundon’s unorthodox business style was seemingly validated when the NHL team he owns, the Carolina Hurricanes, won the Stanley Cup earlier this month for the second time in franchise history.
NBA coaches deride Micah Nori’s “lame duck” deal that they strongly believe has no place in the league. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
The part of Nori’s contract that upsets many coaches is that it puts a coach in a vulnerable position on his first day on the job. It is, in essence, the “lame duck” deal that coaches strongly believe has no place in the league.
“Insert any (coach’s) name, and I think the frustration of the terms of the deal for our profession is what’s infuriating a lot of coaches,” said Lloyd Pierce, the former Atlanta Hawks head coach who has been a lead assistant with the Indiana Pacers since 2021 (and in the NBA since 2007).“We can’t afford to have the integrity of our coaching profession be attacked in a way that says we have to prove it, that we have to earn it, that (teams) have to incentivize our contracts when we get these opportunities. In a lot of ways, we have already proven we’ve earned it. And the reason we should feel rewarded for upward mobility opportunities is because of the work we have previously done.”
As former Lakers head coach and current Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham sees it, the responsibility and scrutiny that come with a head-coaching role demand that deals like these not exist.
“As a head coach, sometimes you’re the one that has to face the music,” Ham said. “You are at the forefront. You’re the face of that franchise. And so your (deal) should represent that as well. It’s a volatile business, so a lot of times that position is short-lived, and you just know it’s a matter of time before you’re fired, and we embrace that. We know what comes with the territory. But, you know, it’s just unfortunate to see that, and we’re gonna fight tooth and nail to make sure that we don’t go backwards.
“We can’t be left out because, again, the weight of the world is on your shoulders sometimes when you are in that seat. And so the contract structure, the finances, they should represent the seriousness of that position.”
Pierce pointed to the recently-crowned New York Knicks as an example of why contractual support is so crucial, as first-year coach Mike Brown signed a five-year, $40 million deal last summer and endured rough patches in the regular season before winning it all.
“We saw (the Knicks) come out of the (NBA Cup) tournament (in December) and have a rough stretch after winning the cup, and all of the criticism about the adjustments or decisions he made,” Pierce said. “But ultimately, he had ultimate support from (management) and everyone involved in New York. So they went through their adversity, and they came out and had a hell of a run. No coach wants to feel like they can’t finish the job, and it’s hard to finish the job if you’re walking into it knowing that you’re not truly being supported.”
Coaches say a deal like Nori’s goes against the spirit of the partnership between coaches and the league at large. Coaches are routinely asked to take part in efforts to grow the game at large that go well beyond the responsibilities of their own team. Pierce, in fact, enjoyed nearly a week this summer with Nori and his wife at a Basketball Without Borders event in Rwanda.
“The growth of the sport has created opportunities financially, economically, security — in terms of years — for a lot of people,” Pierce said. “Coaches (are) one of those groups. And so we’ve done a lot of work, and we’re thankful for the coaches who have led that fight, who have proven the value of the coaching industry in the NBA. So the structure of the deal is less about who took the deal and more about those that paved the way for our (current generation of coaches).”
Then there’s the locker-room dynamic.
A significant number of players already make more than their coaches, with superstars paid upwards of $60 million annually, and the average salary, according to Basketball-Reference.com, was $10.4 million for last season. That alone can have an impact on the power structure. As any coach in the final year of his contract knows all too well, the impact of your voice tends to wane as the end of the contract nears.
“Support matters,” Bickerstaff said. “The type of leadership that you work under as a coach matters. If you have a disagreement with a player, or you want them to play a specific role, and you’re battling the idea that the people above you don’t necessarily have your back, that makes your job extremely difficult. One of our jobs as coaches is the ability to hold people and players and staff, as leadership, accountable. And if you don’t have that support from above, it makes it difficult.”
As all three coaches reiterated, this isn’t about Nori. It’s about the precedent that was just set in Portland.
“He’s not even worried about the money, which is a beautiful thing,” Ham said of Nori. “That just shows you how pure his approach is. He just wants to go in there and get to prove to the world that he’s ready to take on that challenge.
“I’m extremely, extremely proud and happy for (him). He’s been putting in a lot of work for a lot of years, and he deserves his opportunity. … Taking the job is, for me, a no-brainer, but having said that, the biggest thing we can’t do is go backwards.”
