It was fun," Cook said, smiling. (referring to the Lakers OT win against Miami)
"We did a great job on defense, keeping Dwyane Wade off the paint," Cook said. "We had three or four bodies in there."
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson thought his team could have — and probably should have — won in regulation time, and Cook agreed.
"We made some stupid mistakes down at the end," he said. "We didn't get some key stops."

"I gave him an exhortation, a 'hurry up' type of thing, and he dropped his warmup in my lap, and I just said, 'Take him right back out of the game,' " Jackson said. "We talked about it after the game. He apologized. That's not in character for Brian to do that, but he's frustrated. He hasn't been playing in the regular rotation. There's some things about that that's not unnatural."

"We settled it," said Cook, who signed a three-year, $10.5-million contract extension during the exhibition season. "I told him I didn't mean to do it and he said that he wants to do what's best for me, and that's use me at the times he wants to use me. I've dealt with it all year, I've dealt with it for three years. It's nothing new to me and I look forward to dealing with it for three more years."

Said Jackson: "Players have to understand the discipline and trust the coach that he's doing the best for the team and the players."

"Things happen," said Shaw, in his third season as a Lakers assistant. "I just tried to nullify the situation."

“Sometimes you try to get a hold of a guy that you traded and they don’t want to take your call—you have to talk to the representative. You want closure so you try to get to the player, but you never do.”

“I reached Maurice on first ring and we had a nice talk. He was very thankful of the opportunity.”

“I left a message for Brian Cook and Brian called me back within ten minutes. We have a very good rapport. He was more melancholy about the situation because he came in with Luke and kind of grew up a little bit with some of the younger players on this team. But at the end of the conversation we both talked about the fact that he probably wasn’t going to get the time that he wanted to get here. He is going to a team that is now 10-2.”

“Orlando wanted two veteran players. That was important to them–they’re so young. They felt that they needed to add a couple of veteran players.”

“Brian (Cook) helps bolster our frontcourt,” said General Manager Otis Smith. “He is a power forward who shoots the ball extremely well, while also bringing added toughness to our roster. Maurice (Evans) is a tremendous athlete, a solid defender and capable of playing multiple positions. Both Brian and Maurice fit in very well with what we are trying to accomplish.”

"I think it's a great situation. They run a lot of pick-and-rolls, and I'm a 'pick-and-pop' player. Rashard [Lewis] was telling me how much fun it is to play in this offense."

"I was surprised because I was getting my mind ready to play Indiana. Right before we got on the bus, Phil called me up there to see him," Cook said.

"He said, 'Got good news and bad news.' I said, 'Well, just give me the bad news.' He said, 'You've been traded. Which is good news.' Phil said that the way it was working out, I wasn't going to see that much time in the [Lakers'] rotation. He wasn't saying I wasn't good enough . . . but the politics of it and other stuff."

"I have mixed emotions. I have great friends on that team. I was more sad than anything, " Cook said. "It's going to be a change. Hey, I'm going to another great-weather state. I'm just ready to go. Once I get settled, it will be OK."