Omar Cook

Omar Cook

Cook playing with Lietuvos rytas in May 2014.
No. 10 – Budućnost Podgorica
Position Point guard
League Montenegrin League
Adriatic League
Eurocup
Personal information
Born (1982-01-28) January 28, 1982
Brooklyn, New York
Nationality American / Montenegrin
Listed height 6 ft 1.25 in (1.86 m)
Listed weight 190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school Christ The King
(Queens, New York)
College St. John's (2000–2001)
NBA draft 2001 / Round: 2 / Pick: 31st overall
Selected by the Orlando Magic
Playing career 2001–present
Career history
2001–2004 Fayetteville Patriots
2004 Portland Trail Blazers
2004–2005 Fayetteville Patriots
2005 Toronto Raptors
2005–2006 Dexia Mons-Hainaut
2006–2007 Samara
2007 Strasbourg IG
2007–2008 Crvena zvezda
2008–2010 Unicaja Málaga
2010–2011 Valencia
2011–2012 Olimpia Milano
2012–2013 Caja Laboral
2013–2014 Lietuvos rytas
2014–present Budućnost Podgorica
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Omar-Sharif Cook (born January 28, 1982) is an American-born, naturalized Montenegrin[1] professional basketball player who plays for Budućnost Podgorica of the ABA League. He was also member of the Montenegro national basketball team. He is often referred to as a prime example of college basketball players who declared for the NBA Draft too early. Although, he has said that he has no regrets about his decision in an article profiling his career.[2] He is 1.86 m (6 ft 1 ¼ in) tall.

Amateur career

Cook played high school basketball at Christ The King Regional High School, and then played college basketball at St. John's University. Cook ranked second in the nation and first in the Big East in assists during the one year he spent at St. John's. He also broke Mark Jackson's record for the most assists in a game for a St. John's player with 17, against Stony Brook University.

Professional career

Cook was drafted by the Orlando Magic of the NBA as the third pick in the second round (31st overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft. He was immediately traded to the Denver Nuggets, but failed to make the team, reportedly because of his inability to shoot the ball effectively. From 2001–2004, Cook made some pre-season appearances for teams in the league, also managing 22 regular season games played (17 with the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2003–04 season and five with the Toronto Raptors in the 2004–05 season). In July 2005, he was drafted by the AAPBL, but the league folded less than two weeks after the draft.

He also briefly led the NBA D-League in steals and assists in the 2004–05 season, while playing with the Fayetteville Patriots. During the 2005–06 season, Cook played in the Belgian league with Dexia Mons-Hainaut. The following year he played with two teams, the French Pro A club Strasbourg IG and the Russian Super League club Samara. In the 2007–08 season, he played with the Adriatic League club Crvena zvezda. He had the best season of his career with Crvena zvezda, where he was one of the team leaders.[3]

On June 26, 2008, he joined the Spanish ACB league's Unicaja Málaga, signing with the club for two seasons.[4] In 2010, he signed a two-year deal with Spanish basketball club Power Electronics Valencia.[5]

In 2011, he signed a two-year deal with Italian team Armani Jeans Milano.[6] In December 2012, after Milano was eliminated from the Euroleague, Cook signed with Caja Laboral until the end of the season.[7]

On August 6, 2013, Cook signed with Lietuvos rytas of Lithuania for the 2013–14 season.[8]

On September 30, 2014, Cook signed a two-month deal with Budućnost Podgorica of Montenegro.[9] On November 14, 2014, he extended his contract with Budućnost for the rest of the season.[10] On August 15, 2015, he re-signed with Budućnost for one more season.[11]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The Euroleague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season, he also played in domestic competition.

Led the league

Euroleague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2008–09 Unicaja Málaga 16 11 23.5 .365 .391 .750 1.9 5.1 1.3 .0 5.6 7.8
2009–10 Unicaja Málaga 16 15 27.9 .408 .385 .794 1.8 5.9 1.2 .1 9.7 10.9
2010–11 Valencia 21 21 30.0 .386 .361 .791 2.4 5.5 1.8 .0 8.0 10.9
2011–12 Olimpia Milano 16 16 30.0 .354 .368 .700 2.4 5.7 1.0 .0 7.3 11.0
2012–13 Caja Laboral 28 18 23.3 .394 .393 .563 1.3 4.0 1.3 .0 4.6 6.4
2013–14 Lietuvos Rytas 8 7 29.7 .263 .297 .727 1.6 5.9 1.3 .0 6.1 6.5
Career 105 88 27.1 .372 .372 .738 1.9 5.3 1.3 .0 6.8 9.0

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Portland 17 0 8.2 .259 .000 .000 .4 1.4 .6 .0 .8
2004–05 Toronto 5 0 14.8 .417 .000 .500 1.4 4.4 1.2 .2 4.6
Career 22 0 9.7 .333 .000 .500 .6 2.1 .7 .0 1.7

Montenegrin national team

In May 2008, Cook received Montenegrin citizenship, thus applying to represent Montenegro's national basketball team.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ Has the Montenegrin passport.
  2. ↑ With NCAA Tournament in sight, St. John's JaKarr Sampson thinking long-term
  3. ↑ Career moves at HoopsHype.com.
  4. ↑ Cook joins Málaga for two seasons. (Spanish)
  5. ↑ Power Electronics inks playmaker Cook .
  6. ↑ Olimpia Milano agreed to terms with Omar Cook
  7. ↑ El Caja Laboral ficha a Omar Cook hasta el final de temporada (Spanish)
  8. ↑ "Lietuvos Rytas adds floor general Cook". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  9. ↑ "Buducnost brings in assist master Cook". Eurocupbasketball.com. September 30, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Omar Cook extends with Buducnost for the season". Sportando.com. November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Omar Cook extends with Buducnost". Sportando.com. August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  12. ↑ Cook to play under Vujosevic.
  13. ↑ Cook officially a Montenegrin.

External links

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