The Portland Trail Blazers have hired Mike Williams as an assistant coach, marking the first appointment to new head coach Micah Nori’s staff. HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto broke the news.
Williams joins the Blazers after working as an assistant coach with the Utah Jazz under head coach Will Hardy for the past three seasons. Prior to his tenure with the Jazz, Williams served as the head coach of the Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards’ G League affiliate, from 2021-2023. He also served as a player development assistant coach with the Wizards from 2018-2021 under head coach Scott Brooks.
Williams 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 discussed his role with the Jazz, which included structuring individual workout plans for players and contributing to game strategy.
Williams says with the NBA, he has become an offensive strategy specialist—“creating plays, schemes and concepts that fit our personnel.” This includes sometimes “going down a rabbit hole—on a tangent—to explore an obscure concept that may give the team a new edge on offense.” And perhaps like a business-class assignment, he says, “you make it a project—fleshing it out and presenting it to the head coach.”
