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\n While the Minnesota Timberwolves chase an NBA playoff spot, the team has another reason to celebrate. Assistant coach Micah Nori’s son Dante is making headlines playing for Italy in the World Baseball Classic, creating an exciting crossover between basketball and baseball for the organization.\n <\/p>\n
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The Minnesota Timberwolves face a critical matchup on Tuesday evening, but it won\u2019t be the only game capturing their attention.<\/p>\n
While the team prepares to battle the Los Angeles Lakers in their ongoing playoff push, they\u2019ll also be keeping tabs on a completely different sport happening in Houston. Instead of basketball action, they\u2019ll be watching for home runs and strikeouts as one of their own takes center stage in the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n
The unique situation stems from assistant coach Micah Nori\u2019s son, Dante Nori, who has emerged as a standout performer for Team Italy in the international tournament. Italy faces off against the United States on Tuesday evening, with the game beginning just hours before Minnesota tips off against Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be watching the Timberwolves,\u201d Micah Nori said. \u201cBut at 6 o\u2019clock Pacific time, I will be focused on the Italians and the Americans in the WBC, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Minnesota remains laser-focused on securing the best possible playoff positioning in the competitive Western Conference, head coach Chris Finch, co-owner Alex Rodriguez \u2014 who brings considerable baseball expertise to the organization \u2014 and other team members have rallied around supporting their colleague\u2019s family achievement.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family is obviously locked in on it, but so is our organization,\u201d Micah Nori said. \u201cIt sounds crazy, but so many guys are locked in. Our head coach is a big fan, and I can\u2019t tell you how many people send videos or pictures of them watching Dante\u2019s game. It means a lot. It is a welcome distraction, if you will, one that has you just get away from the grind a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through Italy\u2019s first two tournament contests, Dante Nori has compiled an impressive 5-for-7 batting performance, highlighted by a two-home run showcase in Italy\u2019s victory over Brazil on Saturday.<\/p>\n
According to his father, Dante\u2019s baseball destiny became apparent remarkably early. By age 4, Micah recognized his son\u2019s athletic future lay on the diamond rather than the hardwood, often redirecting young Dante from his toy basketball hoop to pick up a baseball bat instead.<\/p>\n
Dante offers a slightly different timeline, explaining his sport selection became clear during middle school when he realized his height would plateau around 5-foot-9.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very easy choice,\u201d Dante Nori said. \u201cJust keep the cleats on and play baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Representing Italy on the international stage holds deep significance for the Nori family, and the baseball connection runs much deeper than casual interest.<\/p>\n
Baseball excellence spans generations in the Nori household. Grandfather Fred Nori spent three seasons playing college baseball at Indiana before pursuing professional opportunities. Micah Nori also competed for the Hoosiers, posting a team-leading .365 batting average during his senior campaign. Though Butch Carter eventually recruited him into basketball as an advance scout for the Toronto Raptors, Micah later returned to Indiana as a coach before rejoining NBA circles permanently.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing around all these great NBA players your whole life, it helps you out listening to them, seeing their work ethic, seeing what they had to do to get there,\u201d Dante Nori said. \u201cAnd then the standpoint of getting to rep that name \u2014 Italia \u2014 across your chest, you\u2019re playing for your ancestors, you\u2019re playing for your family, especially my grandpa Fred. Him getting to watch is really special. All of that, it\u2019s just all coming together. It\u2019s sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nori family appreciates the unique advantage of having Rodriguez \u2014 a 14-time All-Star, three-time MVP, World Series champion, and 696-career home run hitter \u2014 as part of their extended basketball family.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez\u2019s baseball pedigree provides invaluable mentorship opportunities, creating an ideal blend of professional sports guidance across both basketball and baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlex has been great the few times that Dante and he have crossed paths when Dante was in Minnesota, even when he was in high school,\u201d Micah Nori said. \u201cAlex is always taking time to give Dante some advice. And I think that\u2019s been huge. Just the fact that Dante has been fortunate enough to grow up in professional locker rooms, he realizes that they\u2019re just people but he sees the work ethic. And that\u2019s why I think he gets to the WBC and just focuses on playing his game. He\u2019s not distracted or overwhelmed by it all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Minnesota Timberwolves chase an NBA playoff spot, the team has another reason to celebrate. Assistant coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[80926,80927,7,80920,80928,80922,80923,80921,80924,307,152,3954,6,308,80925],"class_list":{"0":"post-655472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-102-3","9":"tag-102-3fm","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-fine-day","12":"tag-fine-day-102-3","13":"tag-fine-day-fm","14":"tag-fine-day-media","15":"tag-fine-day-radio","16":"tag-have-a-fine-day","17":"tag-minnesota","18":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","19":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-timberwolves","22":"tag-weller-radio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}