The Rockford Lightning have signed former New York City playground legend Lenny Cooke and former Oklahoma State center Antoine Broxsie for the upcoming CBA season.

Cooke, a 6-foot-6 forward, was the 2003 United States Basketball League Rookie of the Year and was named first team all-league that season after he led the league in scoring with 28.7 points per game and steals with 3.2 per game. He won the league scoring title with a 53-point performance on the final day of the season.

Cooke, who missed most of last season with the ABA’s Long Beach Jam with a broken leg, also is noted for his high school AAU duels with current NBA All-Star LeBron James and was rated by some experts as the second-best high school player behind James during that time.

“Lenny is someone who is going to cause problems in the CBA for a lot of people,” Lightning coach Chris Daleo said. “Lenny is a 6-foot-6 matchup problem. He can handle the ball like a guard and can go down to the block and get a bucket at will. He is long and can defend multiple positions.

“I’ve been trying to bring Lenny to Rockford for many years and now I’m glad to have him on board. We’re expecting many great things from Lenny and I know we won’t be disappointed with him this year.”

ABCD Camp: Battle For No. 1 Is Over,
And LeBron Wins--(July 10, 2001)

While our good friend Clark Francis has consistently ranked Lenny Cooke (6'-6" Sr. F) from Brooklyn, NY as his No. 1 player at ABCD for the past three days, today's matchup with the consensus No. 1 player in high school in the country, LeBron James (6'-7 So. F) from Akron, Ohio, resulted in the unofficial crowning of a new No. 1, and that probably means that if there ever was any doubt about who the current "best" player is, there isn't or at least wasn't today in the head-to-head matchup between the two. With his team trailing by two points, and only second remaining on the clock, James took the inbounds pass down at the far end of the court, sprinted to just across midcourt, and as the buzzer sounded, launched a three-pointer which swished in, giving his team the win and sending the assembled camp, including college coaches, counselors, media and the rest of the spectators into a frenzy.

Cooke managed to get in his own licks a couple of times, but finished with only 9 points. He did manage to show some devastating crossover moves which had everyone gasping for breath, and which had James checking his ankles. Cooke may be small by NBA standards, but he's one of the best ballhandlers we've seen in a while, and he passes and makes excellent decisions and would probably project to be a very nice pro point guard someday. And from what we're hearing, that "someday" just might be closer than a lot of people might expect. Cooke has exhausted his high school eligibility, is 19 years old (maybe older) and will still have one more year of school just to be able to qualify, so he will go to a prep school this fall. Whether he never plays a day in college, he showed today that even in defeat he's still a great player, and his team actually played great "team" ball.

But James was just too much, particularly when combined with Leon Powe and Adam Haluska, and the three of them combined for a total of 66 of the team's 84 points. James had 24 and he was just unstoppable in the second half. In the tradition of the camp, when two players of this stature go head-to-head, the coaches played them both for the entire 32 minutes. Cooke hung with James during the first half, but in the second, it was all James, as he scored in a variety of ways, with slick moves to the basket, and unbelievable body control.

Posted by Nalod:

If Isiah is going to let Penny rot off the books, why not buy him out and sign this kid and let him play into the D-league? Let him play down this year, then ride the pine next. In two years you might have somthing.

Lenny, Omar, two Cook(e)s that can!

Posted by Nalod:

If Isiah is going to let Penny rot off the books, why not buy him out and sign this kid and let him play into the D-league? Let him play down this year, then ride the pine next. In two years you might have somthing.

Lenny, Omar, two Cook(e)s that can!