Omar Cook

Omar-Sharif Cook (Serbian: Omar-Šarif Kuk / Омар-Шариф Кук; born January 28, 1982) is an American-born, naturalized Montenegrin[1] professional basketball player for San Pablo Burgos of the Liga ACB. He was also a member of the Montenegro national basketball team. Prior to entering the draft he was considered a top 10 overall prospect by several NBA scouts.

Omar Cook
Cook playing with Lietuvos rytas in May 2014.
No. 20 – San Pablo Burgos
PositionPoint guard
LeagueLiga ACB
Personal information
Born (1982-01-28) January 28, 1982
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityAmerican / Montenegrin
Listed height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High schoolChrist The King
(Queens, New York)
CollegeSt. John's (2000–2001)
NBA draft2001 / Round: 2 / Pick: 32nd overall
Selected by the Orlando Magic
Playing career2001–present
Career history
2001–2004Fayetteville Patriots
2004Portland Trail Blazers
2004–2005Fayetteville Patriots
2005Toronto Raptors
2005–2006Mons-Hainaut
2006–2007Samara
2007Strasbourg
2007–2008Crvena zvezda
2008–2010Unicaja
2010–2011Valencia
2011–2012Olimpia Milano
2012–2013Baskonia
2013–2014Rytas
2014–2016Budućnost
2016–2019Estudiantes
2019–2020Gran Canaria
2020–presentSan Pablo Burgos
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

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 to 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 SIG Strasbourg 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.[2]

On June 26, 2008, he joined the Spanish league's Unicaja, signing with the club for two seasons.[3] In 2010, he signed a two-year deal with Spanish basketball club Power Electronics Valencia.[4]

In 2011, he signed a two-year deal with Italian team Armani Jeans Milano.[5] In December 2012, after Milano was eliminated from the Euroleague, Cook signed with Caja Laboral until the end of the season.[6]

On August 6, 2013, Cook signed with Lietuvos rytas of Lithuania for the 2013–14 season.[7]

On September 30, 2014, Cook signed a two-month deal with Budućnost Podgorica of Montenegro.[8] On November 14, 2014, he extended his contract with Budućnost for the rest of the season.[9] On August 15, 2015, he re-signed with Budućnost for one more season.[10]

On August 20, 2016, Cook signed with Spanish club Estudiantes for the 2016–17 season.[11] On July 17, 2019, Cook signed a one-plus-one deal with Herbalife Gran Canaria.[12]

On July 24, 2020, he has signed with San Pablo Burgos of the Liga ACB.[13]

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, and regional competition if applicable.

Led the league

Euroleague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2008–09 Unicaja Málaga 161123.5.365.391.7501.95.11.3.05.67.8
2009–10 Unicaja Málaga 161527.9.408.385.7941.85.91.2.19.710.9
2010–11 Valencia 212130.0.386.361.7912.45.51.8.08.010.9
2011–12 Olimpia Milano 161630.0.354.368.7002.45.71.0.07.311.0
2012–13 Caja Laboral 281823.3.394.393.5631.34.01.3.04.66.4
2013–14 Lietuvos Rytas 8729.7.263.297.7271.65.91.3.06.16.5
Career 1058827.1.372.372.7381.95.31.3.06.89.0

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2003–04 Portland 1708.2.259.000.000.41.4.6.0.8
2004–05 Toronto 5014.8.417.000.5001.44.41.2.24.6
Career 2209.7.333.000.500.62.1.7.01.7

Montenegrin national team

In May 2008, Cook received Montenegrin citizenship, thus applying to represent Montenegro's national basketball team.[14][15]

References
  1. Has the Montenegrin passport.
  2. Career moves at HoopsHype.com.
  3. Cook joins Málaga for two seasons. Archived 2008-07-22 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  4. Power Electronics inks playmaker Cook .
  5. Olimpia Milano agreed to terms with Omar Cook
  6. El Caja Laboral ficha a Omar Cook hasta el final de temporada (in Spanish)
  7. "Lietuvos Rytas adds floor general Cook". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  8. "Buducnost brings in assist master Cook". Eurocupbasketball.com. September 30, 2014. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  9. "Omar Cook extends with Buducnost for the season". Sportando.com. November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  10. "Omar Cook extends with Buducnost". Sportando.com. August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  11. "Omar Cook completa la dirección de juego de Movistar Estudiantes". clubestudiantes.com (in Spanish). August 20, 2016. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  12. "Omar Cook signs with Herbalife Gran Canaria". Sportando. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  13. "Omar Cook signs with San Pablo Burgos". Sportando. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  14. "Cook to play under Vujosevic". Archived from the original on 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  15. Cook officially a Montenegrin. Archived 2009-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
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