Henk Norel (born 17 September 1987) is a Dutch retired

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He currently is a performance coach for the Heroes Den Bosch of the Dutch Basketball League (DBL). He was drafted with the 47th overall pick in the

2009 NBA draft The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball p ...

by the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

. He also appeared in 79 international games representing the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Early life

During his younger years Norel played for SV Argon, a team based in

Mijdrecht Mijdrecht is a town in the Netherlands with about 16,000 residents. It is located in the municipality of De Ronde Venen, about west of the main A2 motorway, between Utrecht and Amsterdam. The main street is the Dorpstraat, where most shops an ...

. In the 2004–05 season he played for a junior team of Demon Astronauts, a professional club from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Professional career

Norel entered the

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

team in 2005, but played on loan for CB Prat and Lucentum Alicante the following seasons. In the

Norel was drafted by the

with the 47th overall pick, which made him the 7th Dutch player who was drafted. Starting from the 2009–10 season Norel became a rotation player for Joventut in the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

. In the 2012 offseason Norel signed a three-year deal with CAI Zaragoza, another team from the ACB. In his first season his numbers rose, as he averaged 13.3 points per game and was 5th in PIR rating in the league. After Norel suffered a knee injury in May 2013, he took a long time to recover. His first appearance back on the court was in January 2014. On 26 June 2017, Norel left Zaragoza after five seasons. On 4 August 2017, Norel signed with RETAbet.es GBC. In his first month with GBC, Norel received the ACB Player of the Month Award for October. He was named to the All-Liga ACB First Team after the 2017–18 season. On 26 July 2018, Norel signed with Cafés Candelas Breogán of the

. On 6 December 2019, Norel signed a contract until 2021 with Heroes Den Bosch of the Dutch Basketball League (DBL). It marked the first time Norel signed with a team from his home country. In his debut season in the DBL, Norel averaged 7 points and 4.7 rebounds over seven games. On 3 August 2020, Norel announced his retirement citing lingering knee injuries as reason, but on January 9, 2021, the Heroes Den Bosch announced the return of Norel. On 18 February, Norel retired again after appearing in two games. He joined the club's staff as performance trainer.

National team career

Norel represented the Netherlands national basketball team in international competitions. With the Netherlands, he played at

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

. On 17 May 2018, Norel announced his retirement from the Dutch national team, as he indicated he needed rest to focus on his club career. Over an 11-year span, Norel played 79 games with the Netherlands.HENK NOREL BEËINDIGT INTERLANDCARRIÈRE
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References

External links

Euroleague.net ProfileDraftexpress.com ProfileSpanish League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norel, Henk 1987 births Living people Basket Zaragoza players CB Breogán players CB Lucentum Alicante players CB Prat players Centers (basketball) Dutch expatriate basketball people in Spain Dutch men's basketball players Dutch Basketball League players Heroes Den Bosch players Gipuzkoa Basket players Joventut Badalona players Liga ACB players Minnesota Timberwolves draft picks Sportspeople from Gorinchem Power forwards