Chillin' with the Lakers
Rookie forward from Illinois on injured list with broken pinkie
PJStar.com, 02/06/2004
by: Mike Nadel
Hollywood definitely has not spoiled Brian Cook.
Yes, the former Illinois star now wears the garish purple and gold of the NBA's "Showtime" team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Yes, the rookie forward lives in ritzy Marina del Rey, where rappers, actors and athletes reside in million-dollar estates. And yes, Cook shares a locker room with Shaq, Kobe, Mailman and the Glove.
But Brian is still Brian.
He's still the big, goofy kid from Lincoln, the kid with the expressive, brown eyes and the baby face that simply refuses to sprout a mustache (no matter how hard he tries).
He's still the same laid-back guy who talks low and slow, the same guy who loves fishin' and chillin' and hangin' out with Melissa, his high-school sweetheart.
"Fiance," he corrected.
Sorry, Brian. Congratulations. So when's the big day?
"Uh . . . haven't set a date yet," he said. "Ain't rushin' into anything."
No surprise there. Even when he was running downcourt for the Fighting Illini and the Lincoln High Railsplitters all those years - covering ground with long, loping, gazelle-like strides - Brian never really seemed to be rushin' anything.
So why should it be different in La-La Land?
"I'm not into that Hollywood stuff," Cook said earlier this week in Indianapolis, where the Lakers were visiting the Indiana Pacers. "I live the same life I lived when I was in college, man. There's some real good fishin' out there."
Oh. Los Angeles is just a big Lincoln then, right?
"Uh-huh, in my world, it is," he said. "Man, I just chill, to tell you the truth."
These days, Brian's doing a little too much chillin'.
After missing the start of the season with a fractured right ring finger, Cook was just getting a taste of the action when he had to go back on the injured list Jan. 24 due to a broken pinkie on his left hand.
The second damaged digit came at a most inopportune time for Cook and the Lakers. Coach Phil Jackson doesn't like playing rookies, but injuries to Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Rick Fox had forced Jackson's hand - and Cook responded.
On Jan. 6, Brian scored 16 points against Minnesota. The next night, he had eight rebounds and four blocked shots against Denver. A few days later, he led the Lakers with 13 points in a victory over Cleveland. And in his first career start, Jan. 21, he burned Memphis for his first career double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds).
Then the pinkie went pop.
"A shame," Lakers assistant coach Frank Hamblen said. "Here's a kid who can score, and we need that. Here's a kid with some size, and we definitely need that."
The injury has frustrated Cook, but he is determined to turn it into a positive. The morning of the Pacers game, he was working on left-handed jump hooks; he even hit a couple over Shaq, who playfully shoved Brian out of the lane.
"I was starting to get in a groove, learning what NBA life is all about, playing every night. Now I've taken a step back," said Cook, who hopes to return in two weeks. "But I gotta work hard and stay in shape, work on the court and stay confident. You gotta be confident in your skills or they're just gonna tear you apart."
He hadn't been injured since a broken leg cost him half of his sophomore season of high school. (He still regularly talks to Lincoln coach Neil Alexander. On Feb. 13, the school will retire his jersey in a pre-game ceremony.)
Although Cook was disappointed he wasn't taken until the 24th pick of last June's draft, going to the Lakers will prove to be a blessing in the long run.
He gets to learn from Malone and Horace Grant, two of the best power forwards ever. He gets to witness the work ethic of Malone and Gary Payton. He gets to observe how Bryant deals with adversity. He gets to learn from a championship coaching staff that includes Jackson and Tex Winter, whose famed triangle offense is tailor-made for a 6-foot-10 athlete who can shoot and pass.
"At some point, he'll move out and shoot the 3-pointer, play that counter position with a guy like Shaquille and keep the defense honest," Jackson said. "He can be a Robert Horry-type player."
Grant said Cook needs to get stronger, but "he has the shot and he has the heart."
"They always say the first impression tells you a lot," Grant said. "Well, at one of the early practices, Karl knocked him down and Brian got right back up. I mean, he was being shoved around by arguably the best power forward ever, but Brian went right back after him. That showed me a lot."
Brian Cook going toe-to-toe with Mailman Malone? Where did the time go?
It seems like yesterday that an exhausted, dehydrated kid collapsed - practically into my arms - as I interviewed him after Lincoln's 1999 state-tourney quarterfinal loss, the final game of his all-America prep career.
During his first three seasons at Illinois, Brian would be the Big Ten's best player one night but then drift aimlessly for several games, frustrating coaches, teammates and fans alike.
Finally, as a senior, he dominated the league by playing with passion, power and panache. He also emerged as the leader of a young, successful squad. This season, several of the guys he left behind talk often about much they miss their "big brother."
"I miss them, too," Cook said. "It was really kind of cool, to have people look up to me like that. That was my family, man, but life goes on. Now I come into 'The League' and I'm down at the bottom of the bunch."
I have a feeling he will not be at the bottom for long.
Because my job is less complicated if I remain detached, I rarely root for the athletes I cover. But I'll be honest: I've always liked this one.
He's good people, humble, willing to learn, eager to improve. He's a sensitive, gentle giant, yes, but he has more fire in his belly than most people know.
He is who he is - the big, goofy kid from Lincoln - and he doesn't pretend to be anyone else. He is REAL, a rarity in pro sports, a true rarity in Hollywood.
Root for Brian Cook? It's impossible not to.
- Mike Nadel is Chicago sports columnist for Copley News Service. E-mail him at mikenadel@aol.com
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Brian Cook home to claim his jerseys
The Courier, 02/14/04
Brian Cook has achieved many honors through his years on the basketball court, but the one he got Friday night no one else can stake a claim to.
He had his jersey retired at Lincoln Community High School.
Cook was honored in a ceremony between the sophomore and varsity games and given the jerseys he wore during his high school career by his coach, Neil Alexander.
While many great players have worn the Railer colors through the years, he is the only male basketball player to have his number retired.
"It means a lot," he said in a press conference before the ceremony. "I'm happy to be home; this will always be my home. I forgot what the weather was like. It's a little warmer where I'm staying now. I'm happy to be home, to be around my family and my friends I grew up with. "
In his four years at LCHS, he scored 1,276 points and grabbed 660 rebounds. In his 1998-99 senior season, he averaged 21.7 points and 10.1 rebounds a game, was named to the McDonald's All-American team and was Mr. Basketball for the state of Illinois.
Cook's NBA schedule was free this All-Star weekend. There was a chance he could be selected for Friday night's Rookie Challenge, but a broken right pinkie put him on the injured list on Jan. 22 and prevented him from playing.
It was his second hand injury this season; he missed the first 25 games of the season with a fractured ring finger on his left hand.
"It's been very frustrating, especially the second one," Cook said. "I had just gotten back from the first one. I was playing pretty well I thought for my first year, being able to adjust and things like that. It was very frustrating, but everything happens for a reason and it will just make me stronger."
The first-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers joined a star-studded cast this season. Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Shaquille O'Neal and Gary Payton, all future Hall of Famers, wear the Lakers' purple and gold with Cook.
"It's sunk in. I work with them every day and see them every day," he said. "When I first got there I was in a little bit of awe. These were guys I had watched growing up. Karl Malone, Shaq, these are guys I've watched my whole childhood. To be on the same team with them and see how hard of a work ethic they have, I can take that and put that into my game."
Cook will visit a doctor Monday, and expects to be cleared to return to practice and be taken off the injured list. Barring any setbacks, he should be available to play on Mar. 13 when the Lakers make their only trip of the season to Chicago against the Bulls.
Despite the injuries Los Angeles has had to several of its players, they have a 31-19 record at the break and sit in fifth place in the Western Conference. After preseason expectations of a championship, some national reporters have written off the Lakers.
Cook tells a different story.
"Yeah we're still the team to beat," he said. "We have one of the best line-ups of all time, we just haven't been able to play together."
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He hasn't gone Hollywood
Journal star, 08/03/04
By: Greg Stewart
PEORIA - No tattoos. No jewelry. No posse full of inked-up, iced-out homeys just tryin' to keep it real.
Except for the pearl-colored Cadillac Escalade with custom rims parked in front of the RiverPlex on Monday, there is very little visible evidence Brian Cook spent a year as an NBA rookie in the most glitz-and-glamour filled market in all of professional sports.
"L.A. is just crazy," said Cook, the Lincoln native who just completed his rookie season with the Los Angeles Lakers after he was named 2003 Big Ten Player of the Year at the University of Illinois. "You're playing in front of superstars, movie stars. It's hard not to look around just to see who's at the game because everybody wants to make their appearance."
Dressed in a plain black baseball cap, a T-shirt, denim shorts and a pair of adidas gym shoes, Cook made his appearance Monday at the Mitchell "J.J." Anderson All-Star Basketball Camp. About 100 kids sat attentively on the floor as Cook spoke briefly about his career, then fielded questions.
"How tall are you?"
"What's your shoe size?"
"How much money do you make?"
"Have you ever dunked?"
The 1999 Illinois Mr. Basketball is 6-foot-10, wears a size 15 shoe, earned $722,700 last season and admitted to the curious campers: "I can't jump that well but I can dunk."
He also is as humble and soft-spoken today as he was when leading coach Neil Alexander's Lincoln Railsplitters to the '99 Class AA Elite Eight. Drafted 24th overall by the Lakers in the 2003 NBA draft, some questioned how Cook - who described himself to the campers as a "momma's boy" - would fare under the bright lights in Tinseltown.
"It was quite different," Cook said. "There's a lot of stuff going on and it would be real easy to get caught up in it. But I just worried about myself and what I had to do. They expect you to be a professional."
Cook appeared in 35 games last season, starting two. He averaged 4.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game.
"I got a lot more time under (coach Phil Jackson) than I thought I would," Cook said. "I heard he wouldn't play rookies at all. Obviously, we got a lot of guys hurt, so I got to play more than I expected.
"(Jackson) is a scholar of the game. He's everything I thought he was going to be and I'm glad I got one year under him."
The Lakers, of course, advanced to their fourth NBA Finals in five years, but lost this one in five games to the Detroit Pistons.
"No, I didn't get a ring," Cook replied to one of the many inquisitors. "But not too many players make it to the NBA Finals at any point in their career. That was a real thrill."
Jackson resigned as coach shortly after the season. Lakers owner Jerry Buss hired former Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich to take over the franchise when he was turned down by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Shortly after, Shaquille O'Neal, the face of the franchise the past eight seasons, was traded to Miami for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant.
Kobe Bryant, a free agent who some say drove Jackson and O'Neal out, was re-signed to a seven-year deal worth a reported $136.4 million.
"It's been blown out of proportion, " Cook said of the O'Neal-Bryant feud perpetrated in the media. "Shaq and Kobe, they got along.
"Everybody has their differences, but it wasn't like there was all-out warfare in the locker room or anything. Those guys got along, they joked around, they liked each other. We all liked each other."
In addition to the players from Miami, the Lakers have added Vlade Divac, the 7-foot-1 Serbian center traded to Charlotte from Los Angeles for the rights to Bryant in 1996. While Cook says the team will definitely miss O'Neal, he says reports of the team's demise are greatly exaggerated.
"We have a great nucleus coming back, and the guys coming in all know how to play," Cook said. "We expect no less than where we got last year."
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Lakers Celebrate New School Year with a Lakers Reading Room Dedication
Lakers.com, 9/23/04
James Worthy, Brian Cook, and the Laker girls joined together on September 23, 2004 to help the children of Monterey Park celebrate the start of a new school year. The Lakers organization dedicated a Lakers Reading Room at the Boys and Girls Club of West San Gabriel Valley, which was the setting for the Laker representatives and children to share time together during a Reading Time Out.
The afternoon began with Worthy, Cook, and the Laker girls surprising a group of 300 children waiting at Ynez Elementary School. From there, they all marched together in a Read to Achieve Parade to the Boys and Girls Club for a pep rally in the gymnasium. The Club’s Executive Director Dan Haren introduced the Laker guests and Monterey Park’s newly elected mayor, Mike Eng, all of whom addressed the excited crowd, encouraging the students to read in order to gain knowledge, to expand their minds, and to open new doors for themselves.
Following the pep rally, 16 pre-selected Boys and Girls Club members were given Read to Achieve T-shirts and invited to join the Lakers for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Lakers Reading Room. Afterwards, guests entered the Reading Room where the Laker guests read aloud a book called Dirt Boy by Erik Jon Slangerup to the children. Each child who participated in the day’s events received a Lakers backpack filled with notebooks, pens, markers, and other school supplies generously donated by Staples. Pepsi generously provided juice and water for the event. Club members also received admission vouchers to the L.A. Zoo courtesy of East West Bank.
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Bryant Buddy-Building
Orange County Register, 10/16/04
By: Kevin Ding
SAN DIEGO – Kobe Bryant rose from the right baseline, made his trademark buzzer-beating jump shot and gave his gold team the lead with eight-tenths of a second left on the clock Friday in the final scrimmage of Lakers training camp.
After a timeout, though, the purple team's inbound pass was deflected, bounced and went to second-year forward Brian Cook - who let go a 20-footer to trump Bryant. As Cook was mobbed, Bryant just stood there, trying to frown but instead laughing.
Bryant did point out the implausibility of the deflection, bounce and shot all happening in less than a second, but he smiled and let the moment go to Cook.
"It was before the buzzer," Cook said, albeit acknowledging the same implausibility.
It was a sweet way for the Lakers to break camp - team bonding overriding the notion of this merely being Bryant's team. The team had gone into camp similarly, with Bryant jokingly complaining after a team community-relations fishing trip ended with Cook catching the biggest fish - after not landing one all day.
On Friday, Cook compared the situation to the one a year ago and said: "I have to say everybody's a lot closer."
On Thursday night, the team had gone out together for a steak dinner.
"Vlade's treat," Bryant said of Vlade Divac, the team's elder statesman.
There have been a lot of warm off-court moments, Bryant said, including him playing video games with teammates.
"It's like a family," Bryant said.
Long reputed to isolate himself from teammates, Bryant appears comfortable with a younger cast around him and said he sees reason for building team unity away from the gym.
"You're able to learn a lot about one another just by talking when you go out and do stuff together," Bryant said. "Then you get to know the person off the court."
The Lakers leave San Diego encouraged but with obvious uncertainty ahead.
New Lakers coach Rudy Tomjanovich had to scale back his practice plan on the very first day of camp because he realized he was trying to do too much. Now two weeks later, Tomjanovich still has set up only a few of those 40 plays he expects to use, but he wasn't disappointed.
"I couldn't be more pleased as far as effort and attitude and cooperation," he said. "It hasn't been great health - that has been disappointing - but that's the NBA."
Divac (back) and Devean George (ankle) aren't close to healthy, but the other ailments so far are minor. Slava Medvedenko has a bruised right heel, and like Luke Walton (ankle) and Kareem Rush (foot), isn't expected to play Sunday against Golden State in Bakersfield. Medvedenko missed almost a month last season because of a bruised left heel suffered the last week of the exhibition season.
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Illinois announces all-century team
Associated Press, 10/17/04
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Former basketball stars Johnny Kerr, Eddie Johnson, Bruce Douglas and Brian Cook are among the 20 players chosen for the University of Illinois' All-Century Team, which was announced Saturday as the school begins its 100th season of men's basketball.
The team was selected by the university's Basketball Centennial Committee after online voting by Illini fans. Banners displaying the players' names will hang in Assembly Hall and they'll be recognized at halftime of the Illini game against Minnesota on Jan. 29.
"It's a great honor, just to be considered to be one of the top players in a great program," Douglas said as he signed autographs before Illinois' football game against Michigan. "I'm just thankful to have had the opportunity to play here."
Douglas played for the Illini between 1983 and 1986. His 765 assists are still an Illinois record.
Kerr scored 1,299 points in his Illini career from 1952-54 before going on to play and coach in the NBA. He currently is an analyst on Chicago Bulls broadcasts.
Johnson, who played from 1978-81, is fifth on the Illini all-time scoring list with 1,692 points. At 23, Cook is the youngest player on the team. He plays with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Others on the team include Dwight "Dike" Eddelman, who also starred on the Illini football and track teams from 1947-49, Kenny Battle, who played on the 1989 team that went to the Final Four, and Frank Williams, who ranks 12th on the Illini scoring list with 1,440 points and is currently on the Chicago Bulls' roster.
The 2004-05 Illini opened preseason practice Saturday, scrimmaging for about 10,000 fans after the football game. Sophomore Rich McBride won a 3-point shootout and senior Luther Head won the slam-dunk contest.
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More minutes on the menu for Cook
Orange County Register, 10/28/04
By Janis Carr
Lakers forward Brian Cook can't remember the last time he played in seven consecutive games.
"It's been a while, last January or something," he said Wednesday after practice.
Cook, a second-year player from Illinois, missed 47 games his rookie season because of various injuries, most notably a broken finger on his right hand. He sat out the team's first 25 games because of a fractured ring finger on his left hand.
Then, despite his best efforts to stay healthy during the offseason, Cook's summer league was cut short because of a combination of back and leg injuries.
"The last couple of injuries (fingers) were a reflection of college," Cook said. "I had dislocated my fingers six or seven times in college and never had them looked at. Now that I'm a professional, it's very important to take care of my body."
Cook also sees this season - with all the changes to the team - as a chance to log significant minutes.
He has appeared in all seven of the Lakers' preseason games, averaging 23.8 minutes, and is the team's second-leading scorer with 12 points a game.
"I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude," he said. "I'm trying to be positive about everything, to wake up every day and just try to be the best I can be.
"Last year, I had some bad breaks. Some guys when they get dirt on them, they lay down. But I'm the type of person who shoos the dirt off. I'm coming back to work and working harder."
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Cook Fires Lakers Past Bucks
Associated Press, 11/30/04
MILWAUKEE, Nov. 30 (Ticker) -- Brian Cook's 3-point shooting put the Los Angeles Lakers ahead. Kobe Bryant's defense preserved the win.
Cook made 5-of-6 3-pointers en route to a career-high 25 points and Bryant blocked a dunk by Michael Redd late in the game as the Lakers posted a 95-90 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Los Angeles has beaten Milwaukee in eight consecutive meetings since Nov. 27, 2001.
Cook came off the bench and drained 10-of-14 shots overall, including a 3-pointer with 1:35 remaining to give the Lakers an 89-86 lead.
"It's coming along," Cook said. "I'm a shooter. I always have been. I always think the next one's going in. I've been shooting the ball all season long, but I'm a team guy. I don't care about scoring. I just want to help the team win, play defense and those things."
The Lakers kept their lead thanks to Bryant, who blocked what looked to be an uncontested dunk by Redd with 23 seconds remaining, keeping the score 92-88. Last week in Los Angeles, Bryant limited Redd to six points.
"I knew he had a layup (and if I fouled him), he'd only get two from the line and it'd be a two-point game," Bryant said. "I just sized him up and decided to make a play on it.
"I take pride in my defense. One of my goals is to get Defensive Player of the Year."
Lakers coach Rudy Tomjanovich was impressed with Bryant's block.
"About a month ago, Kobe made a play on a fast break that was one of the best plays I had ever seen," he said. "Today, the guy topped it. That was the best play I've seen. He took a lot of pride in playing Michael Redd."
A second-year forward, Cook erupted with three 3-pointers in the second quarter, including one with 5:11 remaining that capped a 19-7 run and gave the Lakers a 45-31 advantage.
"He (Cook) could shoot last year, too," Bryant said. "He just didn't have the range. He's worked hard and he's come out firing. He's a tremendous shooter."
Bryant missed his last eight shots and finished with 20 points and a season-high 11 assists.
"He was real conscious of hitting open people, very unselfish," Tomjanovich said. "He's a winner. He did what he had to do to get us a win."
"The biggest difference was Brian Cook just shot the ball really well tonight," Milwaukee coach Terry Porter said. "He got into a groove early on and then we started rotating to him, had to go to a zone, had to go kind of small. He was really the biggest difference."
The Bucks rallied behind Desmond Mason, who scored 14 of his 32 points in the third quarter. It was his most points since being acquired from Seattle in February 2003.
"From an individual standpoint, I was trying to stay aggressive on both ends of the floor," Mason said. "I was trying to make sure I got my hands on lots of balls on the defensive end, and on the offensive end, coach was giving me the opportunity to play in some one-on-one situations."
Milwaukee's Maurice Williams had a career-high 21 points and 11 assists for his second consecutive double-double and fourth overall.
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