The Portland Trail Blazers have hired Mike Williams as an assistant coach, the first staff appointment under new head coach Micah Nori. Williams previously spent three seasons with the Utah Jazz and earlier led the Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards’ G
The Portland Trail Blazers moved quickly to build out new head coach Micah Nori’s staff, hiring Mike Williams as an assistant coach. It’s the first appointment to Nori’s coaching group.
Williams comes to Portland after three seasons as an assistant coach with the Utah Jazz under head coach Will Hardy. Before that run in Utah, he was the head coach of the Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards’ G League affiliate, from 2021 to 2023.
His coaching path has stayed tied to Washington, too. Williams served as a player development assistant coach with the Wizards from 2018 to 2021 under head coach Scott Brooks.
Long before his NBA roles, Williams also invested in his education. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in multi-platform journalism in 2017 and a master’s degree in business and management in 2018.
In an article that appeared last summer on the website for the university’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Williams described how his Jazz work blended preparation with on-court planning. His responsibilities included structuring individual workout plans for players and contributing to game strategy.
He now frames his role in the NBA differently. saying he has become an offensive strategy specialist—“creating plays. schemes and concepts that fit our personnel.” He described the work as sometimes taking the long way to get to something useful. saying he will “go down a rabbit hole—on a tangent—to explore an obscure concept that may give the team a new edge on offense.”.
Williams also compared the process to building a complete deliverable for the people who decide, saying, “you make it a project—fleshing it out and presenting it to the head coach.”
With Williams in place as Nori’s first new assistant, Portland now has its first concrete piece of the team’s next coaching identity—grounded in player development experience, shaped by a three-year stint in Utah, and centered on offense.
Portland Trail Blazers Micah Nori Mike Williams assistant coach Utah Jazz Will Hardy Capital City Go-Go Washington Wizards Scott Brooks offensive strategy specialist
So he’s basically the offense guy? Hope that means actual scoring lol.
Wait Mike Williams like… the same one from baseball? If not, why does this sound made up. Blazers really hiring another “specialist” though, that’s what got them here.
Am I reading that right that he was with the Jazz for 3 seasons under Will Hardy, but also head coached the Go-Go? That’s confusing. Also “rabbit hole” on obscure offense concepts sounds like he’s overthinking everything. Portland’s gonna need defense first, not vibes.
I don’t care about his degree in journalism or whatever, just win games. It says he structures workout plans and builds plays/schemes and then presents to the head coach… ok, so like a normal assistant? Micah Nori better actually let them run the offense, because last year was a whole mess. Also “Capital City Go-Go” sounds like a travel baseball team name.