"I don't think anybody expected him to shoot the ball as well as he's been shooting it," Bryant said. "He's almost like a specialist now. It's not like he's on a hot streak; that just the way he shoots."

"I was here last year and this trip was fantastic," Cook said of the annual Lakers fishing trip. "I love kids and anything I can do to make kids lives better is my great pleasure."

"He could shoot last year, too,' Bryant said of Cook. "He just didn't have the rein to shoot it. He's worked on his game tremendously, though. He's worked on his jump shot a lot. And this year, he just came back firing."
"I think that'll come just with time, getting stronger and getting more experience,' Cook said. "I'm an open-minded guy, so I try to learn as much as I can every day."
"I love having explosive players off the bench," Tomjanovich responded to whether he would put Cook in the starting lineup. "It changes the game plan. And I think he fits with some of the guys who come off the bench. We need to have some scoring punch so I can take Kobe out.'

"He has wanted to be in this situation and he has prepared himself for it," said Laker Brian Cook of Kobe Bryant. "He's working with us more than he used to, just being more involved with all he guys. Hanging out with the guys more.
"He's been a great leader. Now we're start to mesh."

"I haven't hit the big shots like Robert has," Cook said. "He's obviously been in the Finals and hit the big-game shots. There's never going to be another Robert Horry. I'm just trying to make my own footpath."

"This is the first time in four years that I've been on a team that's had so much talent from one to 15 and having the areas that I play well-covered as far as Vlade, Chris, Slava [Medvedenko], Brian [Cook]," said Grant.
"We have a lot of versatility when it comes to scoring, whether it is Chris Mihm in the inside, Mr. Cook coming off the bench giving us his jump shot, Caron, of course Kobe, and myself," he said.

"It opens up the floor for us," Tomjanovich said. "I consider us sort of a driving, slashing type team. When you have a guy like [Cook] to keep people honest on the outside, it really helps."

"With everybody we had last year, there was only one ball to go around," Cook said. "Everybody had their egos. Everybody gets along this year. We know that we have to work every day to get better."
Asked about Bryant, Cook said: "I think he's more involved with the players, talking to them, even hanging out with them a little bit. You can tell he wants to be the leader of this team."

"We knew they wanted to come in and beat us," said Brian Cook, whose 12-point night was a big part of a significant contribution by the Lakers bench. "We've always got a target on our back, because this is mostly a Laker town."

"We're ready to play for real," Brian Cook said. "We're finally getting some guys back, and everything is coming along, so we're excited to get the season started."

"We've got a lot of new faces that can play," Cook said. "I think this is the best position to be in. People aren't going to expect (as much)."

"The older guys are gone, so we're going to have to make it with what we have," second-year Lakers forward Brian Cook said. "I think it's going to be more mellow. Everybody's a lot closer this year. We won't have as many distractions this year."

Cook's summer- league season is over due to a combination of back and leg injuries. Cook, who hopes to be healthy by training camp, said Thursday that he could see the possibility of having to log big minutes this season. "I hope the changes are good for me,' he said. "I just want to contribute and give 100 percent and play the game I love."

"I hope he knows that he has teammates that want to play with him and love to be on the floor with him,' second-year center Brian Cook said. Note from Misti: Cook is not a center, he's a power forward though he has spent time in middle. This reporter was a bit confused.

"I've learned a whole lot since I've been out here and it's a lot different from where I came from. But I've mainly learned that it's just part of the business." Brian Cook on the trade of Shaq to Miami.

"Being around all the superstars that we've had [last season], their egos and stuff like that will better prepare me," he said. "They are all great players who have established themselves…. I'm sure that I will learn a whole lot from them too."

"It was great to get a chance to play that minute [in Game 2]," Cook said. "I didn't do much, but at least we won."

Q: What has it been like going through the playoffs?
Cook: It’s been great. It’s been a learning year for me – learning how to win, learning how to compete at the highest level. I’m learning from the best with Karl (Malone) and Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal). I think over the year, that’s what I’ve learned.

Q: When you thought about playing in the NBA, did you ever dream it would be like this?
Cook: Not my first year. I was talking to Karl the other day. He said he’s waited 19 years to get a championship. My first year here, having the opportunity to be in the Finals, it’s just a blessing and I thank God for being put in the position I’m in.

Q: The Lakers bench hasn’t been given a lot of credit, but can you talk about the impact it might have in this series?
Cook: We’re going to all have to show up. All the bench players, we all hang out and we know what we’re capable of and we know how to play with each other. We’re always going out and watching movies and things of that matter. We’re going to have to show up and everybody’s going to have to put in their part because I know deep down everybody wants to win.

Q: San Antonio was a tough defensive team that made the series with you competitive. The Pistons are also tough on defense. How do you prepare for that defense?
Cook: We’ve been talking about moving the ball with the pass more than the dribble because they’re obviously a great pressure team and they get in passing lanes and hurry you along to make mistakes. We’re going to have to use our automatics and pass the ball to open guys in open spots and just move the ball around and play as a team.

Q: It’s expected that the Lakers will win this series. How do you prepare for this series knowing those expectations?
Cook: We know Detroit’s a tough team. We know they’ve got a lot of warriors on their team that’s not going to back down from anybody. We’re just going to have to be ready and play our game and break down their pressure because their pressure has been getting to a lot of people throughout the playoffs.

"I'm just blessed to be in the situation I am and to be learning from those guys," Cook said.
"I look at people like Karl and Gary," Cook said. "They've been in the league for a long time. ... Karl Malone, he's in here like everyday. Lifting weights. Seeing the kind of body he has at like 40."
"We're going through the same thing, so we spend a lot of time together on and off the court," Walton said of his friendship with Cook.

"I know Slava is tough and he wants to be out there with the team," Cook said of Slava's injury. "But if my opportunity comes, I'll be ready."

Horace Grant said he probably should have gone on the injured list instead of Cook. "I apologized to Brian Cook for being selfish and wanting to play a little more," Grant said.

"I'm at the bottom of the totem pole, man," Cook said of his move to the injured list to make room for Karl Malone. "I'm a rookie."
Cook, the Lakers' first-round pick, has been on the injured list three times, the first two because of finger surgeries. On Friday, he sat in the locker room, listening to music, and pledged to keep his head in the season.
"Just take it like it is, keep working hard," Cook said. "I've had worse happen. It ain't the end of the world."

The pregame ceremony honoring former Railer Brian Cook gave the current Lincoln players some extra motivation on the night. "That meant a lot to us," said Bruns, who finished with six points. "We really wanted to perform well for him, show him that the tradition still holds, that we still win. Cook was just a big motivation for us tonight. It was nice having him here."

"It means a lot," he said in a press conference before the ceremony to retire his jersey from Lincoln High. "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. "
"It's been very frustrating, especially the second one," Cook said of his injury. "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."
"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."
"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."

Brian'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.
"Fiancee," 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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"I miss them, too," Cook said of his former college teammates. "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."

"The only positive to come out of all this is that the injuries have given some of our young guys a chance to show what they can do," says Kupchak. "Slava Medvedenko has gotten extra playing time, and has taken advantage of it. And the rookies, Brian Cook and Luke Walton, have shown that they can play in this league."

"I felt it was messed up. It's kind of frustrating." Brian Cook says of joining Kobe, Shaq, Karl, Fox and Sampson as an injured Laker. He broke the pinky of his right hand.

"It doesn't look for good for Brian, and for the team," said coach Phil Jackson, who suggested Cook might have to undergo surgery.

"We just gotta keep our heads up, just compete," said Cook, who played heavy center minutes for the first time since he was at Lincoln High in Illinois. "It is what it is, know what I'm saying? Everybody's a little banged-up…. It's tough to lose. We gotta pay attention to the details. It's tough, really. But, there's a lot of people, me and Luke [Walton] and Jamal and Ime [Udoka], it's a tough road. We gotta try and pick things up as we go along."

Cook's locker is next to Bryant's — and Bryant's typical overflow crowd. Cook said, "Usually I have to shoo [reporters] out of the way." Monday, after his 13-point game against the Cavaliers, they were there to see him.

"We have a lot of tough players in here, they're not going to back down from anybody," Cook said. "We are just going to keep on playing hard because that's all we can do."
"It was obvious that Kobe was hurt," Cook said. "But we still had another half to play. I think that guys reacted well. We came out and played great defense and pulled through."