MIAMI (AP)—A season ago, it was all different for the Miami Heat.

The team needed a police escort to their annual media day in 2010, with
security lurking around just about every hallway inside the facility. Reporters
from four continents showed up. Press conferences to start the year were held in
a cavernous auditorium at the University of Miami.

On Monday, it was business as usual for the Heat. There’s less of a circus
atmosphere around the team, and for that, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris
Bosh are thankful.

Still, expectations remain sky-high. Bosh noted on Monday that “there’s
nothing left for us to do” but get back to the NBA finals and win them this
time.

Miami Heat rookie Norris Cole(notes) wants to be one of the team’s rotation players, and the 23 year old guard is already putting in some work. Norris arrived at the Heat’s practice facility earlier in the week, and he’s eager to get his NBA career started.

“Mentally you just have to be prepared for the worst,” Cole told reporters after his first practice with the team. “There’s going to be a lot of things thrown at me, but with me being in college for four years, I think I have a quick learning curve. I’m mature enough to be able to handle criticism. As long as we work hard and earn the respect of the veterans, I think everything will be fine. This team was already good without me being here. With me having a quick learning curve, [the] only thing I can do is make us better”

The Heat selected Cole in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft, and he certainly has the skills needed to succeed in the NBA. Cole put up some impressive numbers in his final year with the Cleveland State Vikings, averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.

Cole’s ability to drain the long ball—34.2 percent from three point range in the 2010/11 season—also played a role in the Heat’s decision to draft him.

It’s no secret LeBron James(notes) and Dwyane Wade(notes) will be double-teamed a lot during the 2011/12 season, and Cole will certainly get his share of open looks. He seems to be perfect fit for the Heat, and I won’t be surprised to see him get significant playing time as the 2011/12 season progresses.

Cole’s personality also seems to fit with the rest of the Heat’s players, and he has the attitude a championship caliber team would want in their young rookie. Cole comes off as a hardworking young player, and that usually pays dividends on the court.

With superstars like LeBron and Wade to show the way, it’s up to Norris to decide how good he wants to be in the NBA.

David is a Miami Heat fan that has followed the team for 15 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter and check out his blog.

Sources:

Tom Haberstroh, “Norris Cole arrives to Heat workouts”

Player and game information from ESPN.com

More from the Yahoo! Contributor Network:

Wade expects other NBA teams to copy Miami Heat

LeBron James keeping busy with summer league play

Dwyane Wade happy with Heat’s 2010-11 performance

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Ilgauskas announces retirement from NBA

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Just because the Miami Heat can’t hold official team practices these days, doesn’t mean the squad’s biggest stars can’t work out together. The Sun-Sentinel looks into week-long workouts between LeBron, DWade, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem: “Tuesday, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem completed a week of workouts at Nike’s Beaverton, Ore., campus. The four are expected to also participate at each of the four stops on the upcoming ‘Homecoming Tour’ of NBA lockout charity games that begins with an event hosted by James Dec. 1 at the University of Akron. The workouts came in the wake of James spending time in London, where he granted an interview with The Guardian that included his views on where he and the Miami Heat are headed after coming up two victories shy of a championship in last season’s NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. ‘I’ve got years left in my career to build, I guess, my individual legacy, if that’s what they want to call it,’ James, 26, said in the interview. ‘But, right now, it’s all about building my team’s legacy. How can we continue to get better and to approach the game in the right way during a championship playoff. One year in, we gave ourselves a chance and we’re looking forward to the next one. For me, I just want to give myself the best opportunity to win games.’”

MIAMI - 

The Miami Heat’s seven-time All Star Dwyane Wade has travelled the world during the NBA lockout but says he cannot wait to return to the court and get the lingering ‘itch’ of his team’s defeat in last season’s finals out of his system.

Wade got back from a business trip to Australia on Thursday after spending time in Milan and Paris and touring China — all of which he found rewarding.

However, nothing would please him more than a trip back to the court at the Heat’s American Airlines Arena, especially with last year’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the championship finals still burning.

“No one knows if you are going to be successful, that is part of being an athlete, getting so high and going so down and trying to get back up, that is part of it,” Wade told Reuters.

“That burning desire to get back and to try and compete, that itch that’s inside of us, is still there.

“On the outside of the flesh, yes (it eases), but on the inside it never goes away. You have to move on, you have to continue to do different things.”

“But on the inside it burns you, at least until you get the opportunity to do it again,” said Wade, who was speaking at the launch of his new ‘Hublot King Power Dwyane Wade’ watch.

That opportunity — for the big three of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh — to get back on court and start their second bid for an NBA title, has been delayed by the protracted labour dispute between the players’ union and the league’s owners.

“It’s frustrating,” Wade said. “Every player wants to get back on the court and play, for whatever reasons they have.

“I am sure that every player on the Miami Heat can’t wait to get back and try to get back to the place where we were last year, have success and hopefully get back to the finals where we can better ourselves — that is our goal and I am sure every player has been thinking that all summer.

“We got this close and couldn’t pull it out and that makes you hungry, it makes you want to get back out there again.”

The lockout has already led to all of November’s regular season games being wiped out and there is the risk of further cancellations.

Wade sees one positive in the prolonged negotiations between the two sides — at least they are still talking.

“I can’t say I’m optimistic, I can’t say I’m down on it, I am kind of even-keel with it,” the 29-year-old said. “Sometimes it goes up and it seems we might have a deal and then it blows up and it seems far away.

“When they are talking till one in the morning or whatever it is and then meeting the next day, that’s always a positive. At least we are getting face to face and trying to hash out a deal and hopefully the fans see that and appreciate that.”

As well as having even longer to stew over the way last season ended, Wade has had to work out away from the team set-up just like other NBA players.

While the 2006 championship winner has no trouble motivating himself, he says nothing beats the feeling of working with team mates.

“I prefer being around them,” Wade added. “We can all work out on our own but nothing is like playing with the talent that there is in the NBA, nothing is like playing in an NBA game.

“I don’t care how much you train before the season starts, you aren’t going to be NBA ready.

“That has been one of the unfortunate things that we have had to deal with throughout this whole lockout, not being around the team, not being able to train with the people that we are used to and trying to figure it out on your own.”