OT- Lenny Cooke in 2012 | Syracusefan.com

OT- Lenny Cooke in 2012

Cooke had the play of the game with the ridiculous amount of cross overs, but Lebron had a better game overall.
 
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/sports/basketball/lenny-cooke-star-to-be-who-never-was.xml

Before LeBron, Cooke was physically the best H.S. player that I've ever seen. Unfortunate and sad that he let it all go to waste with bad decisions and choices. I know Mason and several others from the board would attend the ABCD camp back in the early the 2000's. Does anybody recall that game between Bron and Cooke?

I was at that game, it was pretty incredible to watch. It pretty much destroyed Cooke. Lenny came out and was on fire, outscoring LeBron 9-2 for the first quarter. Lenny had one ridiculous double cross-over and pull up jumper in LeBron's face. Then LeBron got serious and outscored Lenny 21-0 for the rest of the game, and hit a 40 ft three at the buzzer for the win.
 
I live in Old Tappan, NJ. Lenny is kind of a mythical creature around here, as Old Tappan High School doesn't get many players even near Cooke's level, ever.

Also, I was at the ABCD Camp that year. I was only 12 years old at the time so I don't really remember the game, but I did get to meet our one and only DeShaun Williams while there...
 
I have to admit I love any of these "Where are they now" type articles about former high school/college stars. I can't tell you how many times a year I'm watching some team play and start wondering about a certain player from the past (like a Darius Washington who I looked up a week or so ago) and end up doing a search for them. It seems like a decent percentage are playing overseas.

Thanks for the link Francis.
 
I remember Lenny Cooke. Very sad story. Big time bad advice he was given.
 
I was at that game, it was pretty incredible to watch. It pretty much destroyed Cooke. Lenny came out and was on fire, outscoring LeBron 9-2 for the first quarter. Lenny had one ridiculous double cross-over and pull up jumper in LeBron's face. Then LeBron got serious and outscored Lenny 21-0 for the rest of the game, and hit a 40 ft three at the buzzer for the win.
Wow, thanks for the recap Mason. I remember after that game took place, Cooke's buzz as the next big thing from NYC started to die down and King James was born.
 
I have to admit I love any of these "Where are they now" type articles about former high school/college stars. I can't tell you how many times a year I'm watching some team play and start wondering about a certain player from the past (like a Darius Washington who I looked up a week or so ago) and end up doing a search for them. It seems like a decent percentage are playing overseas.

Thanks for the link Francis.
Ghost, Darius Washington actually popped up in my head last week in one of those "whatever happened to him" moments lol. Where is he playing at these day, if at all? I remember he had a Father who was Torrel Harris like, and for whatever reason thought it was smart for his son to enter the draft after his Sophomore year. He was projected to be a 2nd rounder at best.
 
Ghost, Darius Washington actually popped up in my head last week in one of those "whatever happened to him" moments lol. Where is he playing at these day, if at all? I remember he had a Father who was Torrel Harris like, and for whatever reason thought it was smart for his son to enter the draft after his Sophomore year. He was projected to be a 2nd rounder at best.

He's playing in Turkey or something, he actually changed his citizenship so he could be on some random country's national team. Someone else I looked up recently had done the same thing (changed citizenship - I wonder if that's normal for these guys that play their whole careers overseas).

I still remember those free throws - painful.
 
Teams in other countries usually have a quota of non national players. Changing your citizenship can really help to secure a career.
 
Ghost, Darius Washington actually popped up in my head last week in one of those "whatever happened to him" moments lol. Where is he playing at these day, if at all? I remember he had a Father who was Torrel Harris like, and for whatever reason thought it was smart for his son to enter the draft after his Sophomore year. He was projected to be a 2nd rounder at best.

oh man, I totally forgot about Darius Washington. I met his dad at ABCD one year when Darius was a freshman, and ended up talking with him for quite some time. We ended up talking each year thereafter... and I remember being struck by how out of touch his dad was. Darius was ranked in the top 5 of his class when he was really young, but he never really grew, and didn't get much stronger, so fell into the middle of the top 100 by the time he entered college IIRC. His dad never really realized that and still had a "my son is a top 5 player" attitude even after his slide down the rankings.
 
Thanks for the link, Francis.
I'd missed the story.
Looks like this Shopkorn may have a great documentary.

At least Lenny Cooke won't wind up like Les Cason.
Before Bill Willoughby (Moses Malone's contemporary) and WAY before Lenny...Cason was the greatest
high school basketball layer ever in NJ.

He was he kid who made Dick Vitale's career...
Vitale coached him in high school and then followed him to Rutgers.
But we found Cason in Washington Square Park (back when it was junkie haven).
The police said he was a small-time marijuana dealer living in a flophouse.
He died of AIDS a few years later.

Kids who feel privileged but can't make it often wind up on the scrap heap.
 
I live in Old Tappan, NJ. Lenny is kind of a mythical creature around here, as Old Tappan High School doesn't get many players even near Cooke's level, ever.

Also, I was at the ABCD Camp that year. I was only 12 years old at the time so I don't really remember the game, but I did get to meet our one and only DeShaun Williams while there...

I live in rockland and saw him a couple times live also, sad what happened
 
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/sports/basketball/lenny-cooke-star-to-be-who-never-was.xml

Before LeBron, Cooke was physically the best H.S. player that I've ever seen. Unfortunate and sad that he let it all go to waste with bad decisions and choices. I know Mason and several others from the board would attend the ABCD camp back in the early 2000's. Does anybody recall that game between Bron and Cooke?
I was there too. That article completely undersells the Lebron hype for that camp. He was already a big name within recruiting circles. These games at the camps can be random and they are much shorter than actual games. But everyone in the gym had their eye on that game and I think it was intentionally set up for the evening session.

I really miss the ABCD camp. That was pure fun. Lots of talent. Lots of coaches. Lots of shananigans.
 
oh man, I totally forgot about Darius Washington. I met his dad at ABCD one year when Darius was a freshman, and ended up talking with him for quite some time. We ended up talking each year thereafter... and I remember being struck by how out of touch his dad was. Darius was ranked in the top 5 of his class when he was really young, but he never really grew, and didn't get much stronger, so fell into the middle of the top 100 by the time he entered college IIRC. His dad never really realized that and still had a "my son is a top 5 player" attitude even after his slide down the rankings.
The dude from Memphis who missed those FT's?
 
speaking of Dick Vitale and another Cook. I remember a lad by the name of Omar Cook, I have never seen Dick so disappointed in a player making a bad decision as he was when Omar went pro early.
 
speaking of Dick Vitale and another Cook. I remember a lad by the name of Omar Cook, I have never seen Dick so disappointed in a player making a bad decision as he was when Omar went pro early.
Couldnt shoot it in the ocean and that was his problem after he got drafted.
 
Quite a story. Hope the documentary will be out soon.
 
I was there too. That article completely undersells the Lebron hype for that camp. He was already a big name within recruiting circles. These games at the camps can be random and they are much shorter than actual games. But everyone in the gym had their eye on that game and I think it was intentionally set up for the evening session.

I really miss the ABCD camp. That was pure fun. Lots of talent. Lots of coaches. Lots of shananigans.

I miss it as well. Nothing as unique as seeing Carlos Boozer and Coach K in the men's room as a 12 year old!

Also, you're right. It does undersell Lebron's hype a lot. I went that year for 3 reasons: Carmelo, Lebron, and Lenny.
 
Wow, thanks for the recap Mason. I remember after that game took place, Cooke's buzz as the next big thing from NYC started to die down and King James was born.

I will say this - going into that camp I loved Lenny Cooke. But that game against LeBron sort of destroyed him. He basically played out the rest of the week running on fumes... I honestly think he would have been a hell of a college player if he had actually cared to get his grades in order (and avoided 'indulging' off the court - lots of rumors there).

Cooke and Carmelo had played 2 days prior to the matchup with LeBron. Carmelo outscored Cooke like 17 to 14 but Cooke's team won by 20 and Lenny had a ton of boards and assists in that game as well. At the time I thought Carmelo and Lenny were basically equivalent talents, but Carmelo kept improving and Lenny's life was a freakin' soap opera.

Lenny was sort of like a 3 inch taller version of Paul Harris - just a relentless rebounder, great defender, and a pretty good passer and ballhandler as well. Not a great outside shooter but at that stage he didn't need to be because so few people could stop him from getting to the rim. With good coaching and structure, who knows how he would have turned out?

As far as LeBron goes, I had seen him 6 months earlier in Columbus OH when I went out to see Billy Edelin play for Oak Hill against St. Mary's St. Vincent (also an incredible game that Oak Hill won on a last second drive by Edelin). So I already knew James was the real deal and that he was going to blow up that camp. The day before the Cooke/LeBron game, Lebron made what I still consider to be the single greatest basketball play I've ever seen in person... Trevor Ariza got a steal and what appeared to be a breakaway dunk - he had like a 20 foot headstart on everyone on the court - he rose up for a tomahawk, taking off about 3 or 4 feet inside the free throw line... LeBron somehow tracked him down, cut in front of him, jumped in the air and PALMED the ball right out of Ariza's hand. No contact or anything, just rose up on a guy about to throw down a tomahawk and took the ball out of his hand like candy from a baby. The gym literally went silent. An incredible play and I still remember the eerie feeling in the place, like no one could believe what they had just seen. I wish I could describe the play well enough to do it justice. Honestly, it was like seeing a magic trick.

Another great story from that Cooke/LeBron game was that I sat next to a scout from the Supersonics. The guy told me LeBron would be the #1 draft pick if he came out THAT YEAR (just finished his SO year of high school), and further told me that Cleveland was going to get the number one pick 2 years down the road when he did come out.

Mason
 
Has Lebron exceeded expectations or has he not lived up to them? Keep in mind, when he was drafted he was a can't miss freak that would revolutionize the game. I think he has been a great player with expectations that were too high for anyone to live up to.
 
I was there too. That article completely undersells the Lebron hype for that camp. He was already a big name within recruiting circles. These games at the camps can be random and they are much shorter than actual games. But everyone in the gym had their eye on that game and I think it was intentionally set up for the evening session.

I really miss the ABCD camp. That was pure fun. Lots of talent. Lots of coaches. Lots of shananigans.

A lot of great posts in this thread - thanks all.

I was going to post something like this, but I wasn't sure of the timeline. I thought LeBron may have already been blowing up by then, because I seem to remember a Sports Illustrated article (maybe cover) when he was like 16 stating that he was the next big thing in basketball. Not sure if that came out as a result of the Lenny Cooke game, well after it, or preceded it.
 
Has Lebron exceeded expectations or has he not lived up to them? Keep in mind, when he was drafted he was a can't miss freak that would revolutionize the game. I think he has been a great player with expectations that were too high for anyone to live up to.


He has lived up to the hype, until the end of the 4th quarter in the finals... (had to get that one in)

In all seriousness, he IS a freak of nature, and he HAS revolutionized the game.


A lot of great posts in this thread - thanks all.

I was going to post something like this, but I wasn't sure of the timeline. I thought LeBron may have already been blowing up by then, because I seem to remember a Sports Illustrated article (maybe cover) when he was like 16 stating that he was the next big thing in basketball. Not sure if that came out as a result of the Lenny Cooke game, well after it, or preceded it.

Has Lebron exceeded expectations or has he not lived up to them? Keep in mind, when he was drafted he was a can't miss freak that would revolutionize the game. I think he has been a great player with expectations that were too high for anyone to live up to.

The SI cover was after the ABCD camp that year.
 
The dude from Memphis who missed those FT's?

Yup, that's the kid.

In regard to the LeBron question, I think he has met expectations at this point. He takes a lot of slack for not winning a title, and deferring in end of game situations, but he's still young enough, and dominant enough, where it's unfair to say he hasn't met expectations.

All that being said, I really have never enjoyed watching him play to the extent I have some other greats of recent history. I'll always take the "smooth" player over someone like LeBron. Kobe, Jordan - I just find their style a lot more fun to watch because it's so fluid or graceful - whatever adjective you want to throw out there. LeBron is just a freak.
 

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