New Orleans Pelicans: Welcome Norris Cole

By Owen Sanborn | Feb 21, 2015

Dec 29, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat guard Norris Cole (30) dribbles the ball against Orlando Magic during the second half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

I was having a normal day. I did some homework, went to grab some lunch, watched ESPN somehow relate Chinese New Year into a five-minute segment and then, around 2:55 PM, I decided to scroll down my Twitter feed.

I had gotten numerous Bleacher Report and NBA Gametime notifications that essentially were repeating each other throughout the day about small deals that had transpired earlier. Arron Afflalo was going to Portland. Oklahoma City was looking to obtain the services of Brook Lopez for the 23,458th time in two months.

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Yawn.

AND THEN EVERYTHING WENT (I’m censoring myself here) FREAKING CRAZY.

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski (otherwise known as “Woj”) started sending out a flurry of tweets about trades that were close to completion. Then ESPN’s band of NBA reporters were chiming in and the NBA trade deadline had suddenly turned into one of the craziest 10 minutes I have ever encountered as a fan of sports.

GMs were operating their teams like they had just chugged a bottle of Captain and grabbed the sticks to play NBA 2k15.

You want who? For what? Attach a first-round pick or two to him and we will take anything back!

*Takes another swig.

Disclaimer: This should not in any way be assumed to be an actual dramatization of how Sam Hinkie went about his business Thursday afternoon no matter how realistic it may seem.

As the storm began to clear, it became apparent that the New Orleans Pelicans had joined in on the trade action by dealing away one of their wings. No, Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon were not involved. Instead, offseason acquisition John Salmons was heading to South Beach in exchange for pesky point guard Norris Cole.

Cole is pretty unspectacular as a player thus far in his short career, but he has shown flashes of being a contributor off of the bench for a playoff team. He can harass opposing point guards a la Patrick Beverely and will occasionally get hot from beyond the arc.

The Heat were expecting Cole to play a more pivotal role at the start of the season, but his inconsistent shooting and playmaking had made the organization grow sour with him. Cole is a streaky shooter, hovering around 34 percent from behind the three point line for his career before nose diving to 27 percent this season.

That much of a dip in percentage could have to do with the quality of his shots diminishing while living in a post-LeBron world.

Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have alternated time on the shelf due to injury this season, thus cramping the floor space for Miami and putting more of a scoring burden on Cole among others. Placing him on the Pelicans may take some of the ball handling burden away from him and give him more open looks — which is needed because he cannot create his own shot consistently.

Adding Cole is not a drastic move that will move the needle up a few notches for the Pelicans. However, it did address a need (I think everyone had had just about enough of the 10-day contract carousel of point guards) and may be a good fit for a player that has something to prove.

Welcome to New Orleans Norris Cole, make sure to never make eye contact with King Cake Baby. Ever.

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