Bookmark/Share

Get Lakers Stuff


Get Tickets


Blogs


Media Sites



Michael Cooper



Position: Shooting Guard, Small Forward
Full Name: Michael Jerome Cooper
Nickname: Mike, Coop
Born: April 15, 1956 in Los Angeles, California
Height: 6-5
Weight: 170
High School: Pasadena in Pasadena, California
Junior College: Pasadena Community College
College: University of New Mexico
Drafted: 3rd Round, 16th Pick - LA Lakers, 1978
Jersey#: 21

Played for the Lakers from 1978 to 1990


'Coop' became an integral part of the 'Showtime' Lakers teams of the 1980s with his indomitable will on the defensive end of the court. In his 12-year NBA career, he was named to eight NBA All Defensive Teams, including five First Teams. He won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1987. He, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, was a member of five Lakers championship teams in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988. The rail thin Cooper played shooting guard, small forward, and sometimes point guard, although his assignment was invariably the other team's best shooter at the 2 or 3 position. Larry Bird has always said that Cooper was the best defender he played against. For his career Cooper averaged 8.9 points, 4.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game. A popular player among Lakers fans, home crowds were known to chant, 'Coooooooop' whenever he controlled the ball, and the Lakers sometimes ran an alley-oop play for him that was dubbed the 'Coop-a-loop.'

Following his playing career, he served as Special Assistant to Lakers' general manager Jerry West for three years before joining the Lakers' coaching staff in March 1994 under Magic Johnson and later with Del Harris from 1994-97. He became an assistant coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks in 1999, and helped the team reach the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, with a record of 20-12.

He was named Sparks head coach in November 1999, and the Sparks' record skyrocketed, as they finished 28-4 in their 2000 campaign. Cooper was named the WNBA Coach of the Year for his efforts. The Sparks followed with two consecutive WNBA Championships in 2001 and 2002, but were denied a third straight WNBA title by losing to the Detroit Shock in 2003.

After the Sacramento Monarchs ended the Sparks' run in the first round of the 2004 WNBA Playoffs, Cooper took a job as an assistant coach under Jeff Bzdelik with the Denver Nuggets. 24 games into the season, Bzedlik was fired, and Cooper was named the Nuggets' interim head coach. He remained interim head coach until George Karl was brought in to coach the team about a month later and served as a scout for the Nuggets the remainder of the season.

Most recently, Cooper coached his Thunderbird team to the 2006 championship of the NBA Development League.



Regular Season Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1979 LAL 3 7 3 6 .500 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 6 2.0
1980 LAL 82 1973 303 578 .524 111 143 .776 5 20 .250 229 2.8 221 215 86 142 38 722 8.8
1981 LAL 81 2625 321 654 .491 117 149 .785 4 19 .211 336 4.1 332 249 133 164 78 763 9.4
1982 LAL 76 2197 383 741 .517 139 171 .813 2 17 .118 269 3.5 230 216 120 151 61 907 11.9
1983 LAL 82 2148 266 497 .535 102 130 .785 5 21 .238 274 3.3 315 208 115 128 50 639 7.8
1984 LAL 82 2387 273 549 .497 155 185 .838 38 121 .314 262 3.2 482 267 113 148 67 739 9.0
1985 LAL 82 2189 276 593 .465 115 133 .865 35 123 .285 255 3.1 429 208 93 156 49 702 8.6
1986 LAL 82 2269 274 606 .452 147 170 .865 63 163 .387 244 3.0 466 238 89 151 43 758 9.2
1987 LAL 82 2253 322 736 .438 126 148 .851 89 231 .385 254 3.1 373 199 78 102 43 859 10.5
1988 LAL 61 1793 189 482 .392 97 113 .858 57 178 .320 228 3.7 289 136 66 101 26 532 8.7
1989 LAL 80 1943 213 494 .431 81 93 .871 80 210 .381 191 2.4 314 186 72 94 32 587 7.3
1990 LAL 80 1851 191 493 .387 83 94 .883 50 157 .318 227 2.8 215 206 67 91 36 515 6.4
CAREER 873 23635 3014 6429 .469 1273 1529 .833 428 1260 .340 2769 3.2 3666 2329 1033 1429 523 7729 8.9


Playoff Stats


YEAR TEAM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM 3PA PCT REB RPG AST PF STL TO BLK PTS PPG
1980 LAL 16 464 57 140 .407 31 36 .861 0 2 - 59 3.7 58 54 24 29 11 145 9.1
1981 LAL 3 102 11 20 .550 10 14 .714 0 3 - 10 3.3 7 7 6 7 0 32 10.7
1982 LAL 14 383 70 124 .565 25 34 .735 1 2 .500 61 4.4 62 47 24 29 11 166 11.9
1983 LAL 15 453 53 114 .465 34 41 .829 1 7 .143 59 3.9 44 54 26 23 6 141 9.4
1984 LAL 21 723 88 191 .461 50 62 .806 12 36 .333 82 3.9 119 80 24 29 20 238 11.3
1985 LAL 19 501 71 126 .563 48 52 .923 8 26 .308 76 4.0 93 46 21 36 9 198 10.4
1986 LAL 14 421 54 115 .470 9 11 .818 19 41 .463 46 3.3 68 24 18 21 4 136 9.7
1987 LAL 18 522 77 159 .484 46 54 .852 34 70 .486 59 3.3 90 46 25 37 14 234 13.0
1988 LAL 24 588 54 131 .412 20 27 .741 25 62 .403 58 2.4 66 57 19 21 9 153 6.4
1989 LAL 15 414 37 89 .416 20 24 .833 21 55 .382 40 2.7 71 38 9 17 8 115 7.7
1990 LAL 9 173 10 35 .286 0 0 - 3 12 .250 24 2.7 25 21 7 7 4 23 2.6
CAREER 168 4744 582 1244 .468 293 355 .825 124 316 .392 574 3.4 703 474 203 256 96 1581 9.4