Michael Cooper on Defense (Part 1)

[@PeekaPeep]

THIS was the video that finally made me a better basketball player, at least at the YMCA level (lol)! I can't believe someone actually found this and uploaded that segment. Thank you, Coop! Because of what you taught me in that instructional vid I was able to become one of the better defensive players on my Jr. Lakers squad. Man, that was just over 20 years ago. Even made it to the championship round at the Forum, but my coach got dumb and played his go-to guy that was ahead of me on the depth chart until he fouled out. I never got off the bench until that point in the game, but by then it was long out of reach. Team that played us was like the ONLY one in the tournament that played REAL organized basketball, a true 5-man game. My team unfortunately was stuck in selfish playground mode and it showed, lol. Wow, seeing this brought back some good memories for me which is all too rare these days:::sigh:::Someone on the Laker coaching staff should track this video down and show it to the younger players on that team in its entirety. NEVER too old to take a refresher course in Basketball 101! ;-D

[@fideltorres6380]

Cooper a intregal part of showtime Lakers and 5 championship

[@JamesFatima1917]

Always loved Cooper though I’m a Celtics fan. He’s a good man.

[@sicnarf6971]

My boy coop would’ve been a killa safety in the NFL

[@stevedouglas7375]

Larry bird is on record to say that the toughest defensive player he ever played against was Michael Cooper. That says a ton right there. I once met "Coop" and despite that "Chick" used to say he's a small guy --- no, no, he's a big dude!

[@sicnarf6971]

And coop is on record saying Larry bird was the harder to guard than Jordan. His reasoning was that when Jordan didn’t have the ball you could rest a bit more. Bird would always be doing something, whether it’s setting a screen or going around a screen or crashing the boards. Also coop mentioned the height advantage bird had

[@stevedouglas7375]

@@sicnarf6971 I hear you Sic narf. Regardless of who is the best and all this and that, all I know is that Coop should have his jersey retired with the Lakers. His was bad ass period. Played his entire career with the Lakers and was "KEY" to them winning all those championships.

[@darwinudtuhan1762]

As a child I saw Michael Cooper . In action L.A forum Lakers he is humble a good man.

[@SV-bx5lr]

cant believe this is the guy dr j did his cradle dunk on...

[@stevedouglas7375]

I love "Coop," but there was absolutely nothing he could do on that particular play. The doctor was already in --- full flight.

[@Sicnesses23]

Kawhi Leonard saw this video

[@yaneiam1534]

Sicnesses23 W

[@ExodusPessoa]

Ha Ha Ha Ha

[@cdub5072]

Cooooooop

[@TheRiz151]

I'm not first. We're all first

[@gabrieldean9559]

They worked our asses off at coop camp. Pure defense