Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori joins Hot Stove!

Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori joins Hot Stove!

Michigan. Dante Noray is a top 100 prospect according to the pipeline. Folks, he is a left handed hitter has made a commitment to Mississippi State. He’s got a bright future ahead of him in our game, but he probably could have chosen other athletic pursuits. His dad had that same choice

Back in the day and we’re not talking to Dante, we’re talking to his dad, Micah who joins us on hot stove on this Monday. Uh He is with the Minnesota Timberwolves in los Angeles. The top ranked Minnesota Timberwolves best record in the Western conference, by the way, with a showdown against the

Clippers who are nipping at their heels. Uh man, we really appreciate the visit here, mike and good morning to you. Good morning to you all. Thank you for having me. We want to hear about the connection that you have to. Baseball. I guess that your son has to

Baseball, but I guess it starts with your dad, right? Baseball is in uh in your DNA, in the Nori family business. Yes. Uh my father, he was fortunate enough to um he played baseball at Indiana University and Then he made it to the AAA farm system with the, with the New York Mets.

And Then he retired to coach back in the day, you know, in 19 seventies, everybody coached everything. So baseball, football and basketball, he coached my brother and I, and in base ball and Then he moved on and, uh, actually helped some college teams. He was at Indiana University with Tracy Smith.

He was at Miami of Ohio with Tracy smith and he was also a state with Tracy smith. And uh so Dante didn’t have much of a choice when he was in. My brother played at Miami Ohio as well. So, no, Dante did not have much of a choice that he was gonna

Have to play some baseball. Micah. How about your background in baseball? And how much did you love it? Uh Growing up, obviously, it’s a , it’s a great game. I, I love basketball. I’ve been in it for the last 26 years in the NBA, but baseball

Is a game that to me, um It’s, it’s just one of those things that’s an individual sport within a team sport. So, you know, it’s you versus the pitcher, it’s pitcher versus hitter. And they’re just, uh unlike basketball where basketball’s moving 100 miles an hour, I think baseball is a little bit

More of a thinking game where you can make more adjustments to according to positioning and the pitches that you’re throwing. So, but at the end of the day my baseball career got cut short, wasn’t good enough to move on. And I realized that I love coaching and got an opportunity

To coach, uh, with Butch Carter as an intern in Toronto. 25 years ago, thought I’d go up there for a year and here I am 25 years later with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Not good enough. I think just one of the scouts missed you 305, 20 home runs, 100 and 27 RBIs.

That’s getting it. Yeah, but unlike most people that took me four years, all these other guys now are playing two and three in college. But uh no, I was um I appreciate that but, uh I think that my dad always gives me a hard time because I couldn’t run at all.

So when Dante can run and my dad tells my brother and I that it skipped a generation because he could run. So, you know, obviously it’s, it’s our fault. You know, I’m curious from a coaching standpoint and because you have so much familiarity with our game in baseball, the

NBA schedule such that you can have back to backs, uh, you could have 34 days off between games on a road trip. What does that do for the schedule of the coaching staff? How do you guys prepare for, say the Clippers tonight in terms of your timeline? That’s a great question.

This one, we were fortunate. We had about two days. Our last game was in Milwaukee. We came home, gave him a day off and Then we were practicing Saturday yesterday, we met at the plane and flew out. So you have a little bit more time to prepare and actually put

Together a practice plan that came to the things that we will see tonight against the Clippers. So that’s how it changes a little bit. And Then a in a minute here, we’re getting ready to go over to shoot around, which will give us another to walk through everything we will see tonight

And hopefully be able to combat what they throw at us as opposed to on a back to back. We fly to the next city, we sleep, we get up, we usually let the guys sleep in, get up and meet around noon and just have a quick film session and walk

Through in a hotel, uh you know , ballroom before that game that night. So when you have these days in between, it helps you prepare. The other thing it helps is in the West, you’re playing teams 3 to 4 times and this is the second time we played the Clippers.

And fortunately, we played them about a month ago. So that’s not too long in NBA term. So we’re familiar with the team and they have, they don’t have any injuries. So we play in the same team. So it’s good. I got a question for you specific to that Then.

So, you know, if you’re approaching a three game series and you’re trying to, you’re coaching against the Angels. Let’s not let mike Trout beat us with men on base. Uh, you’re coaching against the Clippers tonight. Let’s try to not let Paul George and Kawhi Leonard get hot. I mean, uh, duh, like that’s

What everybody would try to do easier said than done. But does that become part of the calculus? Take the best players away from the opponent? 100%? Absolutely. I think every single night you sit there and you look at how it , it sounds crazy, but it’s like

, how do you want to lose? In other words, if you’re going to lose the game, how do you want to get beat? And the worst thing could happen for us tonight as we go over and Kawhi get 35 and Paul J get 35 and harden get 25 points and 15 assists.

So yes, we want to put them in a position where we make others beat us. I remember a long time ago got some good advice in the NBA that everybody’s shots. Not the same. So you can be like, oh, that’s a tough shot. Well, it’s not a tough shot for Kawhi.

Not a tough shot for Paul George. Let’s force others into those positions to have to make shots to beat us. And you’re absolutely right. I think analytics play a big part in the early process. As far as game planning to see which direction guys like to go. Where do they like the ball?

And so you can kind of start your game plan there saying here’s where they’re looking to attack us. If they want to go left all night, let’s force them to the right and make them uncomfortable and try to make them do something else other than what they’re comfortable doing to win basketball games.

Mica, This is a really tough question for a pops for a dad. But can you tell us a little bit about Dante’s game? And does he resemble anyone that we cover in the major leagues today? Yeah, I think that’s a very good question. He’s about 5 10 5 -1190 center fielder.

Uh, left left kid, I think the guys and again, I, he can run, he ran a 615 60 which was the fastest in the country. A perfect game and he has the opportunity to stay in center field, which I think is what scouts are telling him is big.

I think that his game resembles a little bit of the Corbin Carroll, the stuff the way that you can, he can, he can run the bases and impact the game in different ways and he’s more of a line drive, gap to gap type hitter that has a little bit of pop.

So, um, and he has a, he’s got an opportunity to, uh, to go down to Mississippi State and continue there if things don’t work out for him in the draft, you know, wrapping up the Super Bowl. Uh we, we’ve heard stories for years about Patrick Mahomes being around major league

Baseball players in the clubhouse on the field when his dad was pitching in the big leagues. Uh I’m sure Dante has been with you during your coaching career. Are there players, are there situations that were impactful for him when he was a little kid? Yes. I mean, that’s a, that’s a great

Question and it’s almost like a cheat code. And what I mean by that is, I think the biggest thing he’s taken from it is he’s never in all of a situation. So, you know, you go to area codes and there’s 400 scouts there and you’re leading off a

Game and the one thing he’s able to do and when he’s had these meetings with scout and his coaches is you take a deep breath and it’s just you and the pitcher. So he, he’s not in awe. He’s been in NBA locker rooms. He’s been around the Kyle Schwarber and the Joey Votto,

The guys that have played at the highest level. So for him, he can just focus on the game and those butterflies and nervousness are not present and a lot of it because as you see what’s going up on the board there, Steph Curry, who he’s known since he was a young one

As well as you know, meeting Kevin Durant and all of these guys. He just, uh the moments aren’t too big and a lot of that has to do it. He realizes that whether they’re NBA superstars or major league all stars, they’re just normal guys that have worked just as

Hard to get where they are. And that’s where, what he’s trying to emulate. It’s awesome. We wish we wish Dante nothing but success moving forward. We’d love to have him on the show and visit with him about his experiences. The same way we have with you. Give us a prediction tonight who

Goes off. Big Carl, Anthony Towns Night, mike Conley night. Let’s hope all of them go off. But yes, I think with the, I think it’s going to be a good night for Kat. I think that uh the Clippers play small quite a bit. So we have some opportunities to

Play through Kat in the Post and uh and Anthony Edwards will definitely do something tonight whether you’re, you’re gonna say , oh wow, you know, so, uh it should be really good when winter tonight takes over the, the, the lead in the west. So it should be a good basketball.

Good luck, man, big night. So we really appreciate you taking some time with us to visit with us. And uh once again, mike, good luck to uh to you to your son. And thanks for the time, man. Thank you. So much for having me. You guys do a great job. I appreciate it.

Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori discusses his approach to coaching, his son Dante Nori and more on Hot Stove.

Don’t forget to subscribe! https://youtube.com/mlbnetwork

Follow us everywhere:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlbnetwork/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLBNetwork/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mlbnetwork