The Blazers set up new head coach Micah Nori for failure

One of the last NBA head coaching vacancies has finally been filled now that Portland has hired Micah Nori to be their new boss. Nori, a longtime assistant with Minnesota, has been regarded as one of the rising stars in the profession for years, so the move by Tom Dundon and company appeared logical enough on its face.

There had been some criticism of Dundon's decision to let Tiago Splitter, who got the Trail Blazers to the playoffs despite inheriting a mess after Chauncey Billups' arrest in an FBI gambling probe, walk to Chicago to try and lead Bulls into the future, but Nori is a good replacement as a coach who can mentor the team's younger players.

The fly in the ointment here appears to be the terms of Nori's contract with Portland. While most coaches get at least a multi-year commitment to lead an NBA team, Nori's deal with Portland is ... different.

Nori's contract is technically for three seasons, but just one of them is guaranteed. The other two can be triggered by team options, meaning Nori is essentially coaching for his job on a yearly basis.

How Micah Nori's contract sets him up to fail

No one should be surprised that Dundon, who is in his first full year as Portland's owner, has found another way to nickel and dime his operation. Dundon drew criticism during the postseason for failing to fly his two-way players out to postseason games, not giving away T-shirts to fans who attended home playoff games and reportedly making support staff check out of hotels early to avoid paying for a second night.

While those moves had little impact on Portland's on-court success, this contract for Nori can hamstring his chances of building a strong culture. The way that Nori's deal is structured fits Dundon's theme of cheapness, essentially asking his coach to prove his worth every year and not guaranteeing more money than necessary in the event the fit isn't right.

The problem with that mentality, however, is that it's quite difficult for a new coach to build authority in a locker room if his players know he might be one-and-done. That authority factor is critical on a young team trying to learn how to win, so not having the security of three guaranteed years makes it more difficult for Nori to do his job.

The other recent example of a team handing its on-field leader a one-year contract comes in Major League Baseball, where the Los Angeles Angels gave Kurt Suzuki a straight one-year deal to be their next manager. That decision is going about as well as you would expect for the Angels, who are 32-48 and the owners of the worst record in the American League.

Dundon likely looks to his success in the NHL, where the Carolina Hurricanes just won the Stanley Cup, as proof of concept that being lean can lead to perennial success. The NBA and NHL are not the same thing, however, as much as Dundon thinks all professional sports leagues are the same.

The NHL has a tight salary cap structure and more of a team buy-in mentality among players, making it easier to run an operation with tight costs. The NBA is a player-driven league, and it's going to be hard to convince players to sign up in Portland when they see how Dundon is cutting corners in terms of the day-to-day operation — let alone the lack of job security for the head coach.

Perhaps this model will work out because Nori is such a good coach he can level up Portland's roster even without true job security. The odds are stacked against it, however, as Dundon is trying to completely zig against the league's standard operating procedure without any proof of concept in a pro basketball capacity.

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