Mateo’s Hoop Diary: Defensive specialist Michael Cooper joins his teammates in the Hall of Fame

Former Lakers guard Michael Cooper is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player. He joins his teammates Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes and Bob McAdoo.

In the NBA’s most physical era, he was a top shelf perimeter defender- in zone plus man coverage- and an integral part to five championship teams.

His entry signifies that defense and sacrifice still matter.

When Cooper got the call from Jerry Colangelo, he was next to his wife Yvonne and thought an April Fools joke was being cracked on him, he revealed on the Showtime with Coop Podcast. He was stoically waiting for the punchline, and Yvonne said, “Babe, you got in.”

Next, former teammate, friend and Hall of Famer James Worthy called to congratulate. Then it was his other close pal and former squadmate, Magic Johnson.

Cooper was an eight-time Defensive Team member and the 1987 Defensive Player of the Year. Former Lakers coach and current Miami Heat president Pat Riley was once quoted after LA’s first-round strangling of the Nuggets, saying about Cooper, “He’s one of the most versatile players ever to play in the league. A perfect player. His role is to supply. Supply what? Everything, I’d say.”

That could mean guarding Denver’s Alex English, Boston’s Larry Bird, Chicago’s Michael Jordan or Milwaukee’s Bob Lanier.

And no, he didn’t take it easy on Magic Johnson when the point guard was coming back from a knee injury in 1981 or when training his children.

He was an early 3-and-D prototype who moved well off the ball and was an open-court threat because of his top-notch athleticism. Additionally, if the backline protection wasn’t paying attention, Cooper would burst past a back screen and punch in a lob. Or he’d dash around a floppy set or beat defenders back door for layups. Or he’d capitalize in the mid-range when his defender doubled Abdul-Jabbar.

Cooper and his brother Mickey were raised by his grandmother, Ardessie Butler. He later attended Pasadena City College and the University of New Mexico over four years. He flew under the radar, but he caught Jerry West’s attention with his relentless defense.  And in 1978, he was the Los Angeles Lakers’ third-round pick. He was a super sub and spot-starter for 11 seasons.

He didn’t think he’d last. In fact, Cooper thought he was going to be cut from the team when Riley told him to take a few days off to rest his ankle in 1982. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Cooper’s innate superpower was his hunger to keep working. It was also fueled by his paranoia of one day getting discarded. If he had a bad night, he would check out old films of his dominating efforts to soothe the nerves.

While his teammates provided the buckets, Cooper slowed down the other team’s top outside option with quick hands plus feet and some acidic trash talk.

Cooper played in over 500 consecutive games, had six seasons never missing a match, is eighth all-time in minutes for the Lakers in the regular season, fifth in assists and steals and 12th in converted 3-pointers.

For the Purple and Gold in the Playoffs, he is 10th in minutes, seventh in blocks, fifth in steals, fourth in assists and third in made threes and competed in eight NBA Finals.

After the NBA, he played one season in Italy for the Virtus Roma club. He averaged 15.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists and earned All-Star MVP honors of LEGA Basket Serie A.

Furthermore, he was one of the Lakers’ strongest players in the Game 7 loss of the 1984 Finals in Boston. While the Celtics celebrated, he stayed up with his wife of the time, Wanda, breaking down the tape of the series.

Then Cooper helped the Lakers get revenge the following season, defeating the Celtics for the first time in Los Angeles’ rivalry. He and Byron Scott led the Lakers in made 3-pointers (7).

At one point during the ride that postseason, Riley gave a speech in the locker room about stopping to smell the roses. Those words have stuck with Cooper.

One of his top moments was closing with the team in perhaps the moment that best encapsulates Showtime—the eight-point comeback in the last few minutes of Game 4 of the 1987 Finals.

At that point, the Lakers led the series 2-1. Cooper was pivotal, winning a jump-ball versus Danny Ainge, nailing a catch-and-shoot transition triple and setting the cross screen on the baseline that got Abdul-Jabbar open for a lob that took the lead with 29 seconds left.

Another noteworthy instance was the key stop on Isiah Thomas in Game 6 of the 1988 Finals. Thomas was busting up coverages and he was powering through a bad ankle. With under 30 seconds, Cooper forced him to a tough, contested and unsuccessful baseline jumper with the Lakers down a point.

And in Game 5 against the Utah Jazz in round two in 1988, he canned the 18-foot shot to ice the match.

In his 10th season, team broadcaster Chick Hearn interviewed him, asking what he would do if he had played his last game. Cooper said he would spend a lot of time with his family and work with children.

His numbers won’t sell most people, but Cooper is a case of you either had to be there or do your homework. Larry Bird once said, “The best defensive player that ever guarded me was Michael Cooper. I’ll take that to my grave with me.”

After balling, Cooper coached with the Lakers as an assistant to Randy Pfund, Bill Bertka, Del Harris and Johnson. Next he was an assistant for the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and later promoted to head coach, winning back-to-back championships.

He also was an assistant and interim coach for the Denver Nuggets, and head coach of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, University of Southern California Women’s basketball team, Atlanta Dream, Chadwick School and Culver City High School.

Presently, Cooper is an assistant on Jim Saia’s staff for the Cal State LA Golden Eagles.

In an interview for a story about Riley’s career published in late 2023, Cooper told Five Reasons Sports Network that he adopted 80% of the former Laker coaches’ style.

He still keeps his old playbook from Laker days, too. His favorite play was fist-up– give it to Abdul-Jabbar for the skyhook. He said, “When we put our fist up in the air, that was the play that we didn’t have to disguise, the play that people knew was coming.”