Has anybody ever heard of Lenny Cooke? They say he was better than Lebron.

[TheReal Kendall]

I just seen the trailer to his documentary. I've never heard of this guy but people are saying he was better than Lebron and Durant. Is this true?

[Joey3000]

No way to measure/rank a teanager who never got a chance to hit his prime. If didnt lack confidence thats for sure. But he would just be another scorer. LBJ dominates in so many other ways.

[Rake2204]

Yeah, his name pops up from time to time. I remember SLAM magazine pushing him a lot back then. Here's a link to a thread on Cooke from a few days ago: http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296549

[#number6ix#]

I saw a video about Lenny a while ago and they was talking about how he was guarding lebron in a abcd camp game and lebron ended up making the gamewinner over him after that it was a wrap

[chosen_wun]

Well at one point in time Carmelo was near the same level as LeBron...the thing is leBron obviously had more potential than has peers back at that age.

[TheReal Kendall]

No way to measure/rank a teanager who never got a chance to hit his prime. If didnt lack confidence thats for sure. But he would just be another scorer. LBJ dominates in so many other ways.

I just wiki him and they say he never got drafted. I wonder why? When I youtube him there's a lot of comments saying how great he was. He is a couple years older than me but I don't remember hearing about him when I was in high school. I wasn't saying he was better than them cause I've never heard of him til today.

[TheReal Kendall]

I saw a video about Lenny a while ago and they was talking about how he was guarding lebron in a abcd camp game and lebron ended up making the gamewinner over him after that it was a wrap

So because Lebron hit a game winner on him he didn't make the NBA? He went into the 02 draft but didn't get drafted. I want to know why cause I keep hearing that he was one of the best high school players to ever play.

[Rake2204]

So because Lebron hit a game winner on him he didn't make the NBA? He went into the 02 draft but didn't get drafted. I want to know why cause I keep hearing that he was one of the best high school players to ever play.I posted this in the other thread I linked earlier here, but this is an excerpt from a solid article on Cooke from 2012:


Vaccaro recalled a conversation with Cooke — a lecture, really — in which he warned him about making a good impression in Chicago, not doing anything to fuel the already burning speculation.

“I told him, ‘Every N.B.A. scout is here, and they’re watching you,’ ” Vaccaro said. “I said, ‘If you’re going to do something stupid, don’t do it this week, or do it in your room.’ And what happens? It’s 1 o’clock in the morning, people are hanging around in the lobby of the Hyatt, and here comes Lenny with his entourage, all the partiers, all the jewelry. I said: ‘What the hell are you doing? We talked about this.’ ”

Cooke by that time was driving a new Mercedes and with Bortner had distanced himself from his personal documentarian — though not before Shopkorn recorded his choreographed declaration for the N.B.A. draft at Junior’s restaurant in downtown Brooklyn. Tears rolled down Cooke’s cheeks as he held his young son, Anahijae, and told reporters that he was ready to run with the world’s best.

June 26, 2002. Cooke waited anxiously at a Manhattan hotel, expecting his name to be called in the lower part of the first round or early in the second. Yao Ming was the first pick that night, going to Houston. Stoudemire, one of Cooke’s main rivals in his grade, went ninth to Phoenix, also out of high school. The night dragged on. Players Cooke had never heard of — some from countries he had never heard of — were selected, 58 in all.

“I waited, I waited, I waited,” he said. “Like on Christmas Day, you think you’re getting this toy, and then Christmas comes, it’s not under the tree. It breaks you down emotionally. I broke down, realized I got bad advice. But you wonder, why not? Why didn’t my name get called?”

No longer a commodity, no longer surrounded by those seeking to cash in on an prospective fortune, Cooke was soon looking for new representation and a place to play. He tried the new N.B.A. developmental vehicle, known as the D-League, but carried a star’s sense of entitlement. Or maybe it was a case of not enough desire. In one of Shopkorn’s many recorded scenes, Cooke responded to a request for a 6:30 a.m. training session at a camp with incredulity, wondering why the start time couldn’t be changed to 8.Obviously it wasn't that situation alone, but apparently it was a microcosm of how he was operating back then.

[SilkkTheShocker]

Cooke had a lot of hype back in the day. But his game was always just one on one/And 1 type stuff. Great athlete, but the guy just wasn't smart, nor a good decision maker. On and off the court.

[Fudge]

I kinda don't wanna read through the thread right now because I'm lazy as ****, and the answer to this question I'm about to ask might be here somewhere but why did he go undrafted?

[Calabis]

He was not better than lebron or melo...he was on their level in high school. But he started living like a celebrity and quit working on what earned him that celebrity

[SilkkTheShocker]

I kinda don't wanna read through the thread right now because I'm lazy as ****, and the answer to this question I'm about to ask might be here somewhere but why did he go undrafted?

He was hanging with a lot of questionable people. And he had a long history of immaturity and not always being coaching. This is the same guy that called Kobe out when he visited on of the basketball camps.

[Fudge]

He was hanging with a lot of questionable people. And he had a long history of immaturity and not always being coaching. This is the same guy that called Kobe out when he visited on of the basketball camps.
Pretty much a player with unbelievable talent but a weak work ethic. Why is his story catching so much media attention now?

[SilkkTheShocker]

Pretty much a player with unbelievable talent but a weak work ethic. Why is his story catching so much media attention now?

Yep. His work ethic was absolute shit. And he is getting media attention now probably because his peers are all rich/widely famous and he is a fat ****. Seriously, the guy is obese now.

http://www.awardscircuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/lennycooke_image.jpg

[SilkkTheShocker]

He was not better than lebron or melo...he was on their level in high school. But he started living like a celebrity and quit working on what earned him that celebrity

This.

Im far from a Melo fan, but he led Syracuse to a championship. And LeBron was up there with Kareem when it came to dominating high school careers. Cooke was always all flash.

[LAZERUSS]

Not to derail this thread, but there have been others that, for whatever reasons, never made it to the NBA.

How many here remember the name of Raymond Lewis? And he was playing college ball as recently as the early 70's...

http://www.raymondlewis.com/


Won three consecutive California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) basketball titles in 1969,1970 and 1971. Lewis led the Verbum Dei Eagles to an 84-4 winning record.
Named CIF Player of the year in '70 and '71. Lewis only the second person to receive that honor in CIF history.

Bombed a group of LA Lakers for 52 points in a summer league game while still in high school.

Received 250 college basketball scholarship offers before settling on Cal State Los Angeles.

Scored 73 points against UC Santa Barbara as a college freshman, hitting 30 of 40 FG's and 13 FT's.
(75% Field Goal Percentage)

Scored a combined 123 points in two Cal State L.A. weekend preliminary games, 50/73 making 52 of 84 shots (62% FGP) and 19 free throws.
(Games were played before the insertion of the 3-point shot!)

As a CSLA Freshman in 1972, Lewis Averaged 38.9 points per game and hit nearly 60 percent of his shots. (an incredible feat for a guard who rarely shot inside of 20 feet.)

1973, as a sophomore Lewis scored 53 points in an upset win (107-104) against number three- ranked 22-1 Long Beach State, in an electrifying double overtime thriller.

Lewis' top scoring games at Cal State L.A. during his frosh and sophomore season. 73, 53, 51, 50, 46, 43, 40

Averaged 32.9 points per game during his sophomore year at CSLA and was the NCAA's second leading scorer.

The youngest Player ever drafted and signed by the NBA during his era. The 18th overall pick in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1973.

Reportedly scored 60 points in the first half against the NBA's number 1 draft choice Doug Collins. In Sixers NBA camp.

Sports Illustrated ran a 10-page feature on Lewis in its Oct. 16, 1978 edition.
Played 30 top street ballers on the same day and won all 30 games.

Averaged 54 points a game in the 1981 highly-regarded summer league games which featured many NBA players.

Scored 56 points in 1983 against NBA's defensive star Michael Cooper in summer pro league game in only three quarters of play.

Scored 81 points in a 1983 pro-am league game which featured NBA Players.

2004, jersey Number 23 retired and Lewis is honored as the greatest player in Verbum Dei History.

2010, Lewis still holds at least 12 basketball records at Cal State L.A.
Constantly beat NBA players in one-on-one games.

Best basketball player ever to come out of Southern California.
BAR NONE!

[Spaulding]

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhivNV8Sk17mUcqPQB

[ZenMaster]

[QUOTE=Rake2204]I posted this in the other thread I linked earlier here, but this is an excerpt from a solid article on Cooke from 2012:

[QUOTE]Vaccaro recalled a conversation with Cooke

[TheReal Kendall]

Ok. I see now.

[Kingwillball]

Nope he was not better than Lebron.. HE was a very good HS player though. HE was basically a poor mans Lebron.

[kNicKz]

Shea cotton was basically lebron in HS

[K.Koscik]

It's what happens when you have bad work ethic and don't take responsibility.

You don't need anything else but that excerpt from the article to see why he didn't make it. It starts off with Vaccaro giving him good advice, yet when he was at the heart of failure on draft night he "realized it was somebody elses fault".

I've coached players like this, part of me thinks it's on the parents telling kids "it's not their fault" when they make mistakes at a young age.

This pretty much sums it up. He was never going to be better than Lebron or Durant because those guys have their head on their shoulders, which people tend to incredibly underrate in professional sports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5OookwOoY

[went_worth]

I remember him played here in the Philippines and he was really good. But yeah, Philippines is nothing compared to NBA. :oldlol:

If I remember it right he got injured here then I don't know what happened after that.