Norris Cole Season Review – Odd man out
Continuing the Thunderous Intentions player season reviews TI turns our attention to Norris Cole
If you find yourself asking what happened to Norris Cole you aren’t alone. Here is a player with six seasons in the NBA. More impressive he’s one of a few players who owns a championship ring – two, in fact.
Two-Time Champion:
The big question — was Cole just in the right place at the right time or did he bring value to those Miami Heat Title squads. With LeBron James headed back to his seventh consecutive NBA Finals there is definite legs to the argument the King makes everyone around him better. Therefore, it’s conceivable to suggest Norris Cole falls in that territory. But, the reality is Cole spent most of his time on the floor while the King rested.
In those two seasons in Miami, Cole played close to 20 minutes a game and played 65 and 80 games respectively. Upon arriving in New Orleans, Cole produced the best stats of his career with per game averages of 10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 0.7 threes in 26.6 minutes.
Related: Getting to know Norris Cole
Statistically Speaking:
Unable to find a contract he liked this past offseason as a free agent he headed to China. He played just 9 games for the Shandong Golden Stars in the Chinese Basketball Association. In those games he produced 19.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
Thunder Bound:
Cole arrived in OKC in time for their final 22 regular season games. Immediately, Billy Donovan tried to introduce him to the reserve rotation as the team was still struggling to create offense when Russell Westbrook sat. Whether unfair or not, the experiment lasted all of 4 games. Afterwards Cole only made his way back on the court another 9 times mostly in garbage minutes and the lone game Westbrook sat.
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He produced an uninspiring 3.3 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists. Worse he shot an abysmal 23.1 percent from deep and 30.8 percent from the field.
In the four games he played during the postseason he failed to offer much assistance aside from 5 points and 1 assist provided in game 3.
What’s Next:
Cole is once more an unrestricted free agent this summer. It seems unlikely Sam Presti would bring back Cole even at a substantial cost savings. The biggest issue with the bench unit continues to be who’ll engage them to score. With Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and Alex Abrines all capable of scoring it simply makes no sense not to have a PG capable of creating opportunities for these snipers.
Sam Presti took a shot on Norris Cole with the hopes he could become a reliable play maker. Arguably 17 games wasn’t much time for Cole to make an impression. But, with Semaj Christon still on the roster, a bevy of guards to view in the draft and summer league it just doesn’t make sense to bring Cole back.