Former PHS Basketball Standout Michael Cooper Inducted Into NBA Hall of Fame

Pasadena High School alumnus and Lakers legend Michael Cooper was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

“My opening statement is ‘I have arrived,'” Cooper said.

Cooper won five NBA titles with the Lakers and was named Defensive Player of the Year in 1987, and he was not a starter, something Magic Johnson said “He never heard of” happening to another player.

Cooper, 67, played at Pasadena High School and Pasadena City College before attending the University of New Mexico from 1976-78. He was drafted by the Lakers in the third round of the NBA draft in 1978 and played his entire 12-year NBA career with the team.

Cooper was known for his tenacious defense and was usually called upon to defend the opponent’s toughest scorer. His battles with Boston Celtics’ star Larry Bird during the storied Lakers-Celtics rivalry, which included three meetings in the NBA Finals, left an impression on NBA legend and former Boston Celtic Larry Bird, who famously said Cooper was the toughest defender he played against.

Bird was famous for his trash talking and sometimes even told opposing players where he planned to shoot from.

“Larry (Bird) did not talk to me because I wasn’t fazed by that; he knew that that wasn’t going to do anything to me,” Cooper said. “But this one time down, he’s underneath the basket, and he’s coming down walking, he goes ‘I’m getting ready to wear your a– out.’

“So I got in my best defensive stance, and I got down, I was digging in. (Bird) came down and came off of Robert Parish and came up, right up to the elbow. And as he comes up, I’m fighting through that screen, and Dennis Johnson throws (Bird) the ball, and just as he gets it, Larry turns, and he goes up to shoot. I’m right there on him, and I’m saying to myself, ‘I’m (going to) smack this sh–‘, and Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) steps out, (so) both of us have our hands up.”

Cooper raised his hands, mimicking the scene.

“I don’t know how Larry was able to find Robert Parish,” Cooper said sullenly. “But he hit him with a pass, and Parish grabbed it. He goes in for a dunk.

“Larry turns to me, looks over his shoulder, and said, ‘I told you.’”

After his playing days ended, Cooper became head coach of the Sparks in November 1999 and led the team to consecutive WNBA titles in 2001 and 2002.

He was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2000.