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/sho...d.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.

[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.