LENNY COOKEBorn on April 29, 1982 in Atlantic City, New Jersey where he attended middle school. The family later moved to the Bushwick section of Brooklyn New York.Cooke's parents struggled to find employment, and the family lived in poor conditions.However he was fast developing into an extraordinary basketball player, which helped to smooth the jagged reality of the poverty that had engulfed him and his family.Cooke, had grown to be 6 ft 4 by the 8th grade, and entered Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn. He had difficulties in theroom and failed the 9th grade. Transferring to La Salle Academy in Manhattan from 1999 to 2000 he repeated 9th grade. Finally Cooke was eligible to play as a sophomore and was an all-city selection, averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds a game, in his first season of organized basketball at the age of 16!His development went rapidly averagng 25 points and 10 rebounds during his junior year and remarkably was ranked higher than LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony as a high school baller in 2001.His skills expanded further as he averaged 31.5 points for the first eight games of his senior year.However, when he turned 19 in 2001, he was declared academically ineligible to play!Cooke's complicated basketball and life journey are not easy to follow. In the summer of 2000, Cooke earned Underclassmen MVP honors at the Adidas ABCD Camp and was 2nd leading scorer in the Rucker League in Harlem playing among professional players like Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, Zach Randolph and Omar Cook.Cooke next appeared at Mott Adult High School in Flint, Michigan, working on his equivalency diploma, but confined to playing pickup games and tournaments.Still, at the end of the 2001–02 school year, Cooke had multiple options because of his elite basketball skills: North Carolina, Seton Hall, St. John's, Miami and Ohio State. A dozen NBA teams considered him and at least three guaranteed they would take him in the 1st round if he were available. He chose to skip college and declare eligibility for the 2002 NBA draft, ending his chances to play college basketball.Bad luck ensued when all 29 NBA teams passed on Cooke in both rounds of the draft.Cooke's complicated life and basketball career is the subject of the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival documentary film "Lenny Cooke" by the Safdie Brothers.莱尼·库克（LENNY COOKE）1982年4月29日出生于新泽西州大西洋城，并在那里读了初中。随后，全家搬到了纽约布鲁克林的布什维克区。库克的父母努力寻找工作，全家生活条件艰苦。然而，他迅速成长为一名非凡的篮球运动员，这帮助他抚平了笼罩着他和家人的贫困现实带来的创伤。到了八年级，库克的身高已经长到了6英尺4英寸（约1.93米），并进入了布鲁克林的弗兰克林·K·莱恩高中。他在课堂上遇到困难，九年级留级。1999年至2000年，他转学到曼哈顿的拉萨尔学院，再次重读九年级。最终，库克获得了作为高二学生参赛的资格，并在16岁参加首个正规篮球赛季时入选全市最佳阵容，场均得到20分和11个篮板！高三期间，他的发展极为迅速，场均贡献25分和10个篮板。令人惊叹的是，在2001年作为高中球员时，他的排名甚至高于勒布朗·詹姆斯和卡梅隆·安东尼。高四的前八场比赛中，他的技术进一步提升，场均砍下31.5分。然而，当他在2001年年满19岁时，却因学术成绩不合格被取消了比赛资格！库克复杂的篮球与人生旅程并不容易追踪。2000年夏天，库克在阿迪达斯ABCD训练营中荣获低年级组MVP，并在哈莱姆区的洛克联赛中成为第二得分手，与斯蒂芬·马布里、雷·阿伦、扎克·兰多夫和奥马尔·库克等职业球员同场竞技。接下来，库克出现在密歇根州弗林特的莫特成人高中，一边攻读同等学历证书，一边仅限于参加民间选拔赛和锦标赛。尽管如此，在2001-02学年结束时，库克凭借卓越的篮球技术拥有多个选择：北卡罗来纳大学、西顿霍尔大学、圣约翰大学、迈阿密大学和俄亥俄州立大学。十多支NBA球队曾考虑过他，至少有三支球队保证如果他在选秀中可用，将在第一轮选中他。他选择跳过大学，宣布参加2002年NBA选秀，从而放弃了打大学篮球的机会。厄运接踵而至，所有29支NBA球队在选秀的两轮中都放弃了库克。库克复杂的个人生活和篮球生涯，是萨夫迪兄弟拍摄的2013年翠贝卡电影节纪录片《莱尼·库克》的主题。