DALLAS – His team’s won-loss record places it outside the top eight of the Western Conference standings, but after a late arrival, Norris Cole plans to do whatever he can to help change that. In other words, the reserve guard is starting the 2016 calendar year in a very similar situation to last winter, when he arrived in New Orleans via a trade-deadline deal.
Cole, who spent his first three-plus NBA seasons with Miami, came to the Crescent City in February, with the Pelicans on the outside looking in of the West playoff race. Perhaps the most unheralded aspect of NOLA’s successful push to the postseason, his play over the final two months was a key factor in helping his team overtake Oklahoma City for a No.