Basketball has taken Norris Cole around the world, but this is a full-circle moment for him. After beginning his NBA playing career with the Miami Heat (Shopping Cart IconShop Heat Fan Gear) in 2011, Cole is beginning his NBA coaching career with the Heat 15 years later. The Heat hired Cole to serve as an assistant coach for its G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, this season. But with the Skyforce still a few weeks from opening training camp, Cole worked Heat training camp practices last week in Boca Raton and will remain around the Heat for the preseason. “I love it,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Cole joining the organization’s coaching tree. “He and I have been talking for probably at least three years. Every offseason, he’s reached out to me asking. Initially, it was just about coaching and what that looks like. He expressed some interest in it. He just wanted to know more about it. Those were conversations that I just kept in my pocket. And then each offseason, it’s a follow-up check-in. Do you still want to play?”
