Tag: Quinn Cook

LeBron didn’t bring security team, personal chef to Disney World campus

TNT’s Chris Haynes reported last night that LeBron James is trying to show solidarity with his teammates and not have special treatment.

In hopes of showing that he’s not going to have an easier time dealing with it than his teammates, LeBron James is trying to show that he’s right there with them in the quarantine, experiencing everything they are and not the normal King-like experience he would have otherwise.

TNT’s Chris Haynes reported last night on Inside The NBA that in hopes of showing solidarity with his teammates throughout their stay at Disney World, LeBron elected not to bring his personal masseuse, his personal chef and his normal security detail. It sounds like most of his time has been spent hanging out with Anthony Davis and Quinn Cook.

We do know that LeBron hopped on NBA 2K with Cook, as well as Anthony Davis, this past weekend. Obviously, if James would have asked for the league to accommodate him, he probably would have been granted it but seeing as how the teams are living together as well as practicing together, he wanted to make sure he didn’t have it better than anyone else, in hopes of setting the tone of for the duration of their stay. Also given that we are still in the midst of a pandemic, it would have been a little redundant for James to bring extra security when the league already has their own private security watching to hotels to make sure nobody breaks the bubble.

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LeBron James and Anthony Davis join Quinn Cook for 2K stream

The Los Angeles Lakers got some work in on the blacktop of NBA2K and also stayed in their respective hotel rooms.

With the exception of Dwight Howard taking a quick look at the NBA’s outdoor DJ sets, the Los Angeles Lakers have mostly stayed in their rooms over the first few days of being at the Disney World Campus, where they hope to be for the next 3-4 months. And without guests and family for at least half of it, finding ways to interact while still being socially distanced is also key. One of the ways in which the Lakers and other NBA teams are doing it is by playing video games. Last night, LeBron James and Anthony Davis joined their Lakers teammate Quinn Cook on a live stream where they played 3-on-3 on the NBA 2K Blacktop.

LeBron even had one of his signature plays, a chase down block, on the stream. They also got VIP treatment from the folks at 2K, so they didn’t have to wait in a line to play.

Outside of practice, the players have a lot of time to themselves and gaming is a major release for many of them. Even for LeBron, one of the league’s oldest players, getting on the sticks while in quarantine is key to fighting off boredom and isolation.

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Lakers Restart Refresh: Quinn Cook, shooter in case of emergency

Quinn Cook probably won’t get minutes consistently for the Lakers, but he can definitely shoot if they need him to.

With the NBA Restart on the horizon, we are going to take stock of who is on the Los Angeles Lakers, what they did, or didn’t do this season, and what to look for as the Lakers look to march towards their 17th championship banner in the most unprecedented circumstances in NBA history. 

Quinn Cook

If the Lakers have their way, the majority of Quinn Cook’s contributions to their championship run will probably considerably less than what he was asked to do as a member of the Golden State Warriors over the past few years. What Cook is, however, is a shooter in case of an emergency.

One of the biggest reasons that Cook has found a way to stick in the league after a few years in the G League out of college is that he’s a career 41% 3-point shooter over his career. But the Lakers have plenty of guard depth ahead of him, especially considering he’s more of an undersized shooting guard than he is a true point guard. With the recent additions of J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters, as well as rotation stalwart Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and fan-favorite defensive specialist Alex Caruso.

Also, while Cook has been a great shooter in the regular season over his career, his playoff performance has been a little less reliable. Over the course of two playoff runs as a member of the Golden State Warriors, he shot only 27.7%. Even more concerning for his outlook as a playoff performer is that over the course of two postseasons, it hasn’t been a case of teams taking away an effective shot. In fact, his 3-point rate in two postseasons is higher than his career 3-point rate.

NBA history suggests that the Lakers will likely have to rely on everyone for at least one moment in the playoffs. In the middle of a pandemic and with everyone coming off a four-month layoff, he will almost certainly be asked to fill in. But if the Lakers are to have the season they wish to have, they are likely hoping the moments they will ask Cook to deliver are few and far between. Their moves to add other guards indicate as much, but it’s pretty good to have someone with championship experience as your emergency guard.

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Former Warrior Quinn Cook calls Steph Curry ‘best point guard of all-time’

Los Angeles Lakers guard Quinn Cook had high praise for his former backcourt partner.

The lack of live sports mixed with the airing of “The Last Dance” has sparked the ever polarizing “best of all-time debate.” Many conversations end with LeBron James or Michael Jordan at the top of any list. Nevertheless, each slot in-between usually sparks a feverish dispute.

ESPN added fuel to the fire when they recently ranked the top 74 players in NBA history.

Stephen Curry came in at No. 13 on the list just ahead of his former teammate Kevin Durant. Curry ranked as the second-highest point guard on ESPN’s list behind only Magic Johnson.

According to Curry’s former teammate Quinn Cook, Golden State’s two-time Most Valuable Player gets the nod for best point guard — ever.

In a radio interview with Bonta Hill, Matt Steinmetz and Daryle “The Guru” Johnson on San Francisco’s 95.7 The Game, the Los Angeles Lakers guard had high praise for Curry.

Via Bonta, Steiny and Guru on 95.7 The Game:

Then you think about Steph [Curry] — the three-point shot and the little guard. I mean, obviously. He’s a fan favorite. He’s more relatable to the common person, you know. He’s not super super super athletic jumping out the gym, he’s not the tallest, he’s not the most physically built out, but he’s one of the hardest workers and what he’s done you know his entire life, not just in the NBA but what he’s done especially in college. I mean, he’s revolutionized the three-point shot and his game. It’s not just the three-point shot, he’s one of the best ball handlers ever. And he’s one of the greatest finishers ever. Not just shooting threes — he’s in a class of his own with shooting. But in my eyes, he’s the best point guard of all time in my eyes. I mean, that’s the best point guard I ever saw. I love Magic [Johnson] and Isiah [Thomas], I didn’t see Magic and Isiah, and I love Magic, and I love Isiah highlights and what they’ve done, but with my two eyes I mean, there’s nobody I’ve ever seen do it like Steph.

Prior to crowning Curry as the best point of all time, Cook omitted his former Golden State teammate from his all-time starting five. The Duke product listed Jordan, Durant, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal as his pick.

While on 95.7 The Game, Cook clarified his decision to leave Curry out of his all-time starting five.

The funny thing is — Steph is No. 6 on my list. You need a center in your starting five. You got Shaq at the five, and Steph’s the first one off the bench. I like my list.

There’s never an exact science when it comes to ranking basketball players. However, a pair of MVPs, six All-Star appearances, a scoring title and three championships on the resume will always group Curry near the top of any list.

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Former Warriors’ guard Quinn Cook announces his first children’s book

Quinn Cook is revealing his “10 recipes to success” in his new children’s book, “The Cook Book.”

While the NBA season is on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, a bevy of players across the league are finding new ways to fill their free time. Players have been getting creative on social media while playing video games and watching old highlights during the league’s hiatus.

However, former Warriors‘ guard Quinn Cook is taking a unique route while there are no games on the calendar until further notice. On Tuesday, Cook announced his first-ever children’s book. The Lakers’ guard’s text is cleverly titled “The Cook Book.”

Via @QCook323 on Twitter:

According to Cook, the book will reveal his “10 recipes to success.” After winning championships at the college and pro levels, it’s safe to say Cook has some experience in the field of success.

In 2015, Cook hung an NCAA Tournament championship banner in Cameron Indoor as a second-team All-American for the Duke Blue Devils. The G League All-Star later won a Larry O’Brien Trophy coming off the bench for the Warriors in 2018.

In his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Cook is averaging 4.8 points and 1.1 assists in 10.8 minutes per game.

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Quinn Cook: Kevin Durant ‘is in great spirits’ after COVID-19 diagnosis

One of Kevin Durant’s former Golden State Warriors teammates, Quinn Cook, recently provided an update on the Brooklyn Nets superstar.

Multiple teams have had one or more player test positive for the novel coronavirus since Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert because the first pro athlete to do so on March 11.

To this point, the Brooklyn Nets have the most confirmed cases of COVID-19. The team announced on Tuesday four players tested positive. The only player among the group who has been identified is Kevin Durant.

The Nets’ superstar forward expressed he is feeling well, and his former Golden State Warriors teammate turned Los Angeles Laker Quinn Cook recently confirmed Durant doing well in the wake of his diagnosis during the guard’s appearance on NBC Sports Washington’s “Wizards Talk Podcast“:

He’s good. He’s good. His spirits [are] good. … K’s good. K is in great spirits. K’s still being K, man. Just low, mellow, chill, moving at his own pace.

Cook also added Durant wanted to use his own diagnosis to help others realize this is a matter that needs to be taken seriously:

He’s just encouraging social distancing, staying inside and don’t get exposed to it or don’t expose others. For him to step up — ’cause, at first, the Nets didn’t name anybody — for him to step up to the plate and use his platform to spread awareness, is brave. That’s the kind of guy he is. He’s fine, man. He’s doing great.

So far, two players from the Lakers have tested positive for COVID-19. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, some players on the team have not yet been tested, but that may change.

Report: Markieff Morris ‘plans’ to sign deal with Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers got another forward and they plan to give Kyle Kuzma more minutes at the small forward spot, per Shams Charania.

The Los Angeles Lakers look even closer to making a move that will change their bench, as recently waived forward Markieff Morris now has his ‘plans’ set on signing with the Lakers, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. As part of the report, Charania reported on the vision the Lakers have for Morris to play more at power forward and have Kyle Kuzma play more minutes at small forward.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the move plays out and what the other move is that the Lakers make to accommodate Morris. The Lakers currently have a full roster of 15 players and have to cut someone in order to add Morris. The Lakers have several end of the bench players who have hardly played, injured center DeMarcus Cousins and 13-year veteran Rajon Rondo to choose from. But the most likely answer appears to be Troy Daniels or Quinn Cook.

The Lakers have yet to officially announce the move. They play in less than four hours at Staples Center against the Memphis Grizzlies.

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Opinion: Lakers shouldn’t get caught up in arms race with Clippers at risk of team chemistry

Team chemistry has been a point of pride for the Los Angeles Lakers all season long and messing with that is not worth the potential gain.

It’s hard to blame any Lakers fans, or even members of the Los Angeles Lakers team themselves if they’ve gotten a little jealous over the past couple of weeks as they’ve seen the neighboring Los Angeles Clippers load up with even more talent. After trading for Marcus Morris and acquiring Reggie Jackson, the depth for the Clippers has gotten even better. But I have a warning the Lakers should heed over the final few days of the buyout season: don’t mess with this team’s special chemistry for a marginal upgrade.

With all due respect to J.R. Smith, the Swish God, Dion Waiters, or anyone who could get bought out like Moe Harkless, getting rid of one of the players currently on the Lakers roster in order to sign him, would be a gross miscalculation of what those players bring to the table versus what they would lose if they got rid of someone from their current team who has been through it all.

Earlier this season, Danny Green told LeBron Wire that he believed their trip to China, perhaps because of the bizarre circumstances, brought the group together in a way he has never experienced before in his 10-year NBA career. Not even with the 2014 Spurs, who played some of the most beautiful basketball the game has ever seen.

“I’ve been a part of some really good teams where the chemistry on the court was unbelievable but I’ve never been a part of a team where the chemistry has been … I think the China trip really helped us. It’s been unbelievable off the court,” Green told LeBron Wire. “We talk to each other, we talk to each other in our group chat, we hang out off the court, we plan things together. I think the China trip is what really helped us. I’ve never been part of a group that clicked this early, everybody hanging out with everybody, this early in the season. Yeah, that’s what makes it special for me. We’re having a lot of fun off the court together; that’s something I’ll never forget. I think these are memories that guys will keep close to them and hold them because of the group we have and how special it’s been off the court.”

Chemistry is a buzzword in the NBA that a lot of teams throw around, but few teams actually have it and this year’s Lakers are one of those teams. Also, the rub with signing someone like Smith, Harkless, or Waiters, is that they would also have to get rid of one of the players they signed this season that could also help them in the postseason.

Take Troy Daniels, for example. Daniels has never been to the NBA Finals like Smith has but hitting big shots in the playoffs? Daniels has done that and he’s a career 40.7% shooter from the 3-point line in 14 postseason games. As instrumental as Smith’s play was to the Cavs 2016 title and the defense of Moe Harkless was for the Blazers over the past four years, I want the guy LeBron calls “layup” catching passes at the 3-point line come playoff time.

Then there is Jared Dudley, who was instrumental in helping last year’s Brooklyn Nets put a scare into the Philadelphia 76ers and knock them off in Game 1 of their first-round series just last year. Dudley has played in 33 playoff games over his 12-year career and he is a career 43% 3-point shooter in the playoffs. And that’s without even mentioning what Dudley brings to the table in the locker room.

Finally, we have guys like Quinn Cook and DeMarcus Cousins. Cook hasn’t had a great year but he’s had to step in and play big minutes in the playoffs when Steph Curry was injured for the Warriors. Not only that, Cook’s personal connection to the Lakers, due to his late father’s love for the team, would make it unusually cruel to waive him, especially when he can provide experience and utility.  Meanwhile, the Lakers keep playing up the chances that Cousins returns at some point in the postseason despite tearing his ACL back in August. Cousins, too, has been noted as an instrumental part of the Lakers chemistry all season long and he could be a wild card in the playoffs.

So with all due respect to J.R. Smith, Dion Waiters or Moe Harkless, this season is not the right time to bring them in. The Lakers already have guys that have proven they can be effective in high-pressure situations throughout their career. While the guys deep on the bench have rarely shown that, they deserve the chance to do so come playoff time. Because as great of a leader as LeBron James is, this Lakers team shares a special bond that cannot be replicated by adding someone new to it with 29 games left. There will be no more trips to China or hunkering down like they did in the preseason. That ship has sailed. It’s time for the Lakers to roll with who they’ve got.

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Lakers’ Quinn Cook: ‘I’ve been winning all my life so I know what it takes’

Los Angeles Lakers guard Quinn Cook was one of the players in the NBA who was hit the hardest when legend Kobe Bryant suddenly passed away.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Quinn Cook was one of the players in the NBA who was hit the hardest when legend Kobe Bryant suddenly passed away. Cook, 26, has said that his late father Ted Cook was the biggest fan of the Lakers he had ever met. The former NCAA and NBA champion also said that he was personally “obsessed” with the team when he was growing up. He was visibly shaken at a memorial for Bryant outside Staples Center.

The guard is also one of several in the league to change his number to honor the five-time NBA champion.

 

HoopsHype had a chance to catch up with Cook just a few days before the news about Bryant’s passing struck the basketball world.

However, the NBA guard reflected on lessons he learned from Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wootten, known as The Godfather of Basketball, who passed away on January 21, 2020.

You and Danny Green are the only two active NBA players who have won both NBA and NCAA championships. So I’m curious how this locker room has been comparable to the other champions who you’ve played around since you’ve been around so many now.

Quinn Cook: Each team is different. But I think special teams have little things like attention to detail. How together we are on and off the floor is a factor. Obviously, we’re all talented. But how you come together or how you make sacrifices toward a common goal is what separates this team and any championship team I’ve been on – high school, USA, college and obviously the NBA. Just those characteristics stick out.

What are some of the things that you bring to that mentality personally?

QC: Just me. I’ve been winning all my life so I know what it takes. I know how to be a leader, how to be the best teammate I can be. [Laughs] Plus I can play a little bit so that helps, too.

What are some of the things that you’ve picked up being around this team in particular and how have you improved your game?

QC: Everything. Being around these future Hall-of-Famers, being around these guys every single day. I pick their brains all day. I see how they prepare and I see what things I can do that they do to add to my regiment and I’m just always inspired. I try to ask as many questions as possible and just being a sponge. So it’s been great so far.

Now down the stretch, what kind of role could you see yourself playing in Frank Vogel’s offense?

QC: Being a great teammate, man. Really just staying ready. I can shoot, try to make plays…I play a little defense. I try to be the best teammate.

You went to DeMatha High School for three years. They recently lost their longtime coach Morgan Wootten. What was your relationship like with him?

QC: We had a great relationship. That’s the first basketball camp ever I went to. I went to that camp all the way through high school and he recruited me to go to his son’s high school, so we were extremely close. Once I did go to DeMatha, Coach always looked out for me and always gave me advice. Even though he wasn’t there as the coach, he was a legend – not just there but in the whole basketball world. I was just sad to hear about it. I’m extremely close with his son Joe as well as Joe’s wife. I’m praying for them, both of them. We lost a special human being.

What were some of the things that he helped you most with your game? What was his lasting impression on you?

QC: I first learned how to work out going to his camp. Obviously, growing up, my vision of working out was going outside playing on-on-one or two-on-two or three-on-three. But we’d go to his camp and he would give us, the whole camp, packets of workouts to do. And we’d get a grade at the camp. Some kids probably didn’t use the workout, but I did and I’d try to come back. That was my test every summer. I’d go to camp, take what I learned, use that packet all season and I’d come back the next year and see where I got better. So he taught me a lot. I went to his camp for like seven years. There was too much to learn.

In college, you played at Duke. How closely are you following them this season and college in general?

QC: I’m following close. They’re together. They took a lump early and have since won a lot of games, tough games. They lost two more but just won a big one against Miami. But they’re together. They play hard and Duke will always give everyone their best shot. They’ll be ready by March.

Are you still pretty close with your teammates at Duke? You had so many NBA guys. How special was that team?

QC: For sure, for sure. So special. That’s the best feeling. That’s all our goals: going to college and get to the NBA. We made it work. Guys came off the bench when they would start anywhere else. I sacrificed a lot just to win a championship. Win, lose or draw – especially that year – it didn’t matter. We could have lost in the first round but we knew we gave it our all every single day. It was a dream crew on and off the floor. It was genuine, it was genuine. We won the national championship and fast forward and eight of us played in the league. Eight of us played in the NBA. Even now, you’ve got seven in the NBA on seven different teams with me as well as Jahlil Okafor, Semi Ojeleye, Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones, Grayson Allen and Amile Jefferson.

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PHOTOS: These NBA players changed numbers to honor Kobe Bryant

Few if any in sports history both embodied and embraced the mythology surrounding them quite like five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant did.

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Few if any in sports history both embodied and embraced the mythology surrounding them quite like five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant did.

When the superstar basketball player tore his Achilles tendon, he reportedly became obsessed with the story of Achilles from the Trojan War. Bryant, a legendary warrior in his own right and in his daily mentality, was certainly mythological in each and every sense in his accomplishments during his time on this Earth.

Numerology, the belief that numbers have an almost supernatural impact on life, often plays a large role in myth. It is one of the reasons why teams retire certain numbers for their best players; the Lakers chose to retire Bryant’s No. 8 and No. 24 in December 2017.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has said that no one on his team will ever his numbers again.

With the sudden and tragic loss of Bryant earlier this week, some believe that the numbers should get similar treatment to what Jackie Robinson (No. 42) has in the MLB and what Wayne Gretzky (No. 99) has in the NHL with a league-wide mandate.

While no such decree has become official, several players in the NBA have taken matters into their own hands. Below are each of those to have made such a decision, which helps illustrate just how wide-spread his impact on the game was. We will continue to update this post as more news will become available.

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