Los Angeles Lakers: Building the all-time underappreciated team
By Jason Elbaum
Shooting Guard: Michael Cooper (Laker from 1978-1990)
The Showtime Lakers were led by the star-studded group of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, who terrorized the league to the tune of five NBA championships during the 1980s. However, Michael Cooper was a key piece of those teams from the time he burst into the rotation during the 1979-1980 season.
Cooper grew up in Los Angeles and attended Pasadena High School before playing his college basketball for the University of New Mexico. He returned home to Los Angeles when the Lakers selected him in the third round of the 1978 NBA Draft.
He was largely known for his defensive prowess, as he averaged more than one steal per game for nine straight seasons. He had intense battles with Boston Celtics superstar Larry Bird who has admitted that Cooper was the best defender he ever faced. He won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award in 1987 and was named to eight NBA All-Defensive teams during his career.
Cooper’s defense allowed the Lakers superstars to get out in transition and embrace the style that made them so dominant throughout that decade. He would go on to coach the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks to two consecutive WNBA championships in 2001 and 2002.