It seems a little unlikely that Mika Nori will play a key role on the Minnesota Timberwolves' bench for the remainder of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
After a collision with Timberwolves guard Michael Conley last week left head coach Chris Finch with a torn tendon, Nori prowled the sidelines, giving instructions to his team, running the huddle, making game adjustments, etc. , took over many of the duties normally reserved for the head coach. Fly.
But how Nori ended up becoming the lead assistant on an NBA staff is even more inconceivable.
For a long time, a career in baseball seemed much more likely.
A native of Middletown, Ohio, where IU legend Kyle Schwarber grew up, Nori played baseball at Indiana from 1994 to 1997.
And he was good at it.
While at Indiana University, Nori was an integral part of the team that won the 1996 Big Ten Tournament. IU advanced to the NCAA Midwest Region, and Nori hit .340 in three games.
Nori, who played as a mainstay in the middle infield, finished his IU career with a batting average of .305, 20 home runs, 127 RBIs, 116 RBIs, 35 doubles, and 18 stolen bases. When he left the program, his name was all over the IU record books, ranking in the top 20 in home runs, RBIs, doubles, hits (180), slugging percentage (.483), and extra-base hits (60). .
In his final season, Nori led the team with a .365 batting average, 66 hits, 12 home runs, 59 RBIs, 2 triples, 115 total bases, and a .635 slugging percentage. He also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors and received the Jake Gimbel Award for his outstanding mental attitude.
And his illustrious college career followed in his father's footsteps. Fred Noli played for the Hoosiers from 1963 to 1965, hitting .284 with 5 home runs and 55 RBIs before playing for the New York Mets.
After graduating 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 during Nori's college playing days. Hoosiers.
However, it was at this time that Nori's career took a major turn.
And it was another former Hoosier from Middletown, Ohio, who put Nori on the path to clinching the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Former IU basketball player Butch Carter (Mike Woodson's Indiana University teammate) was a family friend of Nori's. He played high school football at Middletown for his father in Nori. In 1999, Carter became the head coach of the Toronto Raptors. Carter called Noli and offered him a job as a coaching assistant with the Raptors.
Nori eventually rose to become a senior scout in Toronto, but in an even more outrageous twist, he left the NBA in 2005 to become the Hoosiers' hitting coach under then-head coach Smith. And just to keep things in weird vein, Smith also coached for several years in Middletown, Ohio.
Noli returned to the Raptors in 2009 as a full-fledged assistant coach and has held that title ever since, with stints in Toronto, Sacramento, Denver, Detroit and now Minnesota.
And on Saturday night, with Finch sitting on the second line, Noli played a key role in leading the Timberwolves to a 1-0 series lead against the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
Not bad for a baseball kid.
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