Cook likes Illinois' winning recipe
Chicago Sports, 03/19/05
by David Haugh
INDIANAPOLIS -- Having arrived in town with the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers at 4 a.m. Friday after a game in Miami, a bleary-eyed Brian Cook received a pick-me-up better than any double espresso could provide as he ventured outside after a few hours of sleep.
The Lakers team hotel did not have to be on Illinois Street for Cook to realize what territory he had walked into when he came down for breakfast.
Orange was on the menu everywhere he looked.
"A bunch of Illinois fans recognized me right away, and I signed some autographs -- the sixth man is everywhere," said Cook, Illinois' third all-time leading scorer currently in his second season with the Lakers.
"It was great seeing all the orange and meeting Illinois people. They're down-home, good-hearted people. That's not to say people in L.A. aren't, but it's more cutthroat and like a business out there."
Duty called Friday night for Cook, and the Lakers' game against the Pacers prevented him from spending much time with his former Illinois teammates. He had explored buying the entire team tickets for the game, but "I'm an alum and I don't want to get them in trouble with the NCAA," he chuckled.
The Illini had to settle for an impromptu pep talk Cook gave a group of players he ran into at the mall Friday morning. Word of Cook's presence spread quickly back to the Illinois hotel and reserve forward Jack Ingram, whom Cook had befriended during Ingram's redshirt season in 2002, dropped everything to go find his old buddy.
"I told [Cook] that in the next couple of weeks we were going to try to get this thing done and win for him to finish what he started," Ingram said of the 2003 Big Ten player of the year.
"He's a part of the reason we're here. He was the man, the best player on the team. But he always practiced the hardest. He set the example that rubbed off on a lot of the older guys on this team now."
Cook started for the Illini the last time they faced a second-round NCAA tournament game in Indianapolis, a 2003 loss to Notre Dame that still stings when recalled two years later.
This time in Indy, however, Cook believes the players who were on the court with him that day--all five Illinois starters--will benefit from that bad experience.
"They've been through it before and know how to approach it better now," Cook said. "They're older. It's their team. They've done all the work and put up with all the hype and handled it. I just wish I could go watch it."
But the Lakers were scheduled to fly home right after Friday night's game against the Pacers, so Cook had to settle for seeing the game on TV in his Marina Del Rey, Calif., apartment.
He keeps up on all things Illini from regular conversations with assistant coach Wayne McClain and maintains a good relationship with former Illinois coaches Bill Self and Lon Kruger, who recruited him.
As for Bruce Weber, Cook likes the Illinois coach and plans on getting to know him better this summer when he completes an internship in sports marketing on campus that will allow him to graduate.
"I need to finish up," Cook said. "It's important to me."
His education in the NBA continues during a season in which the 6-foot-9-inch reserve forward is averaging 6.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 61 games. Interim Lakers coach Frank Hamblen marks the third head coach Cook has played for in less than two seasons, and since Rudy Tomjanovich resigned last month, his minutes have been more inconsistent than he would like.
"I have no control over that," Cook said. "I just go to work."
But it's not all work and no playfulness in the Lakers locker room when Cook starts bragging about his alma mater.
With Arizona on a potential collision course with the Illini in the regional championship game in Rosemont next week, Lakers teammate Luke Walton approached Cook for a friendly wager. The player whose team gets eliminated first must wear the other's college jersey in full view of photographers before the Lakers' next nationally televised game.
"Luke's going to have to put on a Brian Cook, No. 34 jersey," Cook said. "Because we're going all the way."
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Cook adjusting to life in fast lane
H&R Executive Sports Editor, 08/25/05
by: Mark Tupper
In the fast lane of the Los Angeles Lakers, Brian Cook is renting a new home on a golf course, preparing to reunite with coach Phil Jackson and gearing up for what he hopes will be a breakthrough season in the final year of his three-year contract....
Life is good for Brian Cook, the 2003 Big Ten Conference Player of the Year from Illinois. He was all smiles Wednesday, healthy and fit at 245 pounds, thick through the chest and looking forward to the start of his third NBA season.
His first two seasons haven't gone quite the way he dreamed, but they haven't been all bad, either.
As a rookie playing for Jackson, Cook spent most of the season on the bench, but logged quite a few minutes late in the season when Shaquille O'Neal and Karl Malone were injured.
Jackson left and was replaced by Rudy Tomjanovich, who loved Cook's potential as a 6-foot-10, pick-and-pop jump shooter. Tomjanovich started giving Cook playing time and all was going well until that day in February when Tomjanovich announced he was quitting for health reasons. Assistant coach Frank Hamblen took over and Cook's playing time instantly diminished.
Now, with Jackson returning to the helm, Cook hopes for another chance and thinks he just might get it.
"I have one more year on my contract so this is a big year for me," Cook said. "I'm going to work hard and play my hardest and see what happens. They have an option to pick me up for the fourth year and they have to tell me by Oct. 1.
"I hope they do, but if they don't it's not going to be the end of the world because I'll be able to opt out and be a free agent and go somewhere where I'm a good fit."
Cook hopes that fit happens right where he is.
"I'm happy Phil is back," Cook said. "I'm very happy about it. He really doesn't play rookies but I'm not a rookie anymore. I'm very excited about coming back and they're very excited about me in the triangle offense."
Cook said his lack of playing time under Hamblen did not reflect any animosity between him and the man who served as interim coach after Tomjanovich departed. That's good, because Hamblen is still on the Lakers' staff working for Jackson.
"If Rudy T. would have stayed the whole year it would have been better for me and the team, too. It's hard to put in another philosophy and start all over again half-way through the season.
"Frank is not a bad guy. He's a great guy, a great coach. He's just not a head coach. He's an assistant coach and I get along great with him. He didn't want to be the (head) coach. He had to take it."
Cook said he has been fairly frugal with the money earned from his first three-year contract but would love to sign a second deal for a whole lot more.
That money, Cook said, would help him do some of the generous things he dreams of doing for those close to him. "I haven't done all the things I would like to do," he said.
He still has the Cadillac Escalade he bought just before the 2003 NBA draft and has added one more vehicle to his garage - a Chrysler that gets better gas mileage than the Escalade.
"Gas is $3.07 a gallon," Williams said. "Driving the Escalade is ridiculous."
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Cook Gets Extra Year
Los Angeles Times, 10/31/05
by: Mike Bresnahan
The Lakers are expected to exercise their option on forward Brian Cook today, Cook's agent said Sunday, a move that would keep the third-year forward under contract through the 2006-07 season.
Cook, picked 24th by the Lakers in the 2003 draft, has averaged 5.7 points through two seasons and will be one of the first post players off the bench under Coach Phil Jackson. He will make $1.8 million next season.
"It appears they're going to pick up the option," said Mark Bartelstein, Cook's agent. "Brian loves playing in L.A. He likes Phil. He's had a good [preseason] camp. I think that's what they're going to do."
If the Lakers had declined the option, Cook would have become a restricted free agent at the end of this season.
Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak declined to comment.
The Lakers will make another roster decision today, needing to waive a player to get down to the NBA maximum of 15, with injured forward-center Corie Blount becoming a greater possibility over the last few days.
Jackson said last week he would not waive Blount because the 11-year veteran had been sidelined by knee and foot injuries, making a fair assessment of him impossible.
But Blount, who did not play last season, could be the odd man out because Jackson is now leaning toward keeping swingman Laron Profit, acquired from the Washington Wizards in the Kwame Brown trade, and Devin Green, an undrafted rookie guard from Hampton.
In exhibition play, Profit has averaged 4.7 points and Green has averaged 4.1 points. Blount did not play in any of the Lakers' eight games.
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Jackson finally called a timeout, with Sunday living up to its reputation as a day of rest.
The Lakers had practiced 25 of 26 days until Jackson finally said otherwise, the lone exception before Sunday being a travel day from Honolulu when training camp ended Oct. 13.
"I think it's good for us," Kobe Bryant said. "It's good for Laker fans to know that we're out here busting our butts every day. We have a lot to accomplish. We're a team that people are projecting not to make the playoffs."
The 1999 training camp, Jackson's first with the Lakers, had a ring of urgency to it, but in the final four years of his first Laker tenure, there were days off at nearly every preseason corner, designed to save stamina and strength for May and June.
"As we won championships, our seasons obviously became a lot longer and more extended," Bryant said. "I think [Jackson] did that with his teams in Chicago too. His first year there I think he went extremely hard and then kind of lightened it up as the seasons got extended."
Before Sunday, Jackson acknowledged giving more time off to players in past preseasons.
"I usually have a little space in there," he said. "This team needs as much [work] as they can get, really."
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Lakers: Thanksgiving goes to the Cook
Press-Telegram, 11/26/05
by: Ross Siler
Whenever Brian Cook's mother, Joyce, traveled from her Illinois home to Staples Center for a Lakers game in the past, her son always seemed to find himself either on the injured list or out of the rotation. That all changed Thursday night, as Cook's mom was in town for Thanksgiving and the third-year forward made the most of his first start this season. Cook finished with 17 points and seven rebounds against Seattle, playing a career-high 39 minutes.
"It was a very nice game for her to see," Cook said. "She was a basketball player herself, her team got second in the state in high school. She just loves watching the game, she loved playing the game. It's always good to see your son out there."
Whether Cook will get another opportunity like Thursday remains to be seen. Lakers coach Phil Jackson had little choice but to start Cook against the Sonics, who started 6-foot-10 Rashard Lewis at small forward alongside Nick Collison and Johan Petro.
With the Lakers so depleted by injuries, though, Jackson would not commit to starting Cook again Sunday night against New Jersey, which plays a more traditional lineup featuring Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter.
Jackson had only one big man available off the bench in teenage center Andrew Bynum and watched as his frontcourt players picked up a combined 13 fouls in the first half.
"When the (starters were) announced and they went out on the floor," Jackson said, "the reserves that came out to huddle after they were announced was one big man and five guards on the bench.
"When you look at that like a coach you just shudder … you just don't want to get in a position where you run out of power players."
Cook has seen his minutes fluctuate throughout the season, playing as few as two minutes one game and averaging 15.4 minutes. The Lakers exercised Cook's fourth-year option for $1.8 million last month, but the 24-year-old still is figuring out his role.
"Everybody wants more," Cook said. "I'm not a selfish guy but I do love playing the game of basketball. I do love having minutes and playing for a long, extended period of time. It's not my decision. It's the coach's decision."
LAKERS NOTES: Forward Luke Walton pushed himself at practice Friday and reported only minor discomfort in his hip. Walton hopes to make his season debut Sunday. … Brown did some shooting and lunges but is not close to returning from his strained hamstring. … Kobe Bryant is still bothered by a sprained ankle, Jackson said.
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