Quick Facts
Biography
Omar-Sharif Cook (born January 28, 1982) is an American-born, naturalized Montenegrin professional basketball player for Herbalife Gran Canaria of the Liga ACB. He was also member of the Montenegro national basketball team. He is widely known for bypassing the remaining 3 years of his college eligibility and entering the 2001 NBA draft after his freshman season. Prior to entering the draft he was considered a top 10 overall prospect by several NBA scouts.
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.
On June 26, 2008, he joined the Spanish league's Unicaja, signing with the club for two seasons. In 2010, he signed a two-year deal with Spanish basketball club Power Electronics Valencia.
In 2011, he signed a two-year deal with Italian team Armani Jeans Milano. In December 2012, after Milano was eliminated from the Euroleague, Cook signed with Caja Laboral until the end of the season.
On August 6, 2013, Cook signed with Lietuvos rytas of Lithuania for the 2013–14 season.
On September 30, 2014, Cook signed a two-month deal with Budućnost Podgorica of Montenegro. On November 14, 2014, he extended his contract with Budućnost for the rest of the season. On August 15, 2015, he re-signed with Budućnost for one more season.
On August 20, 2016, Cook signed with Spanish club Estudiantes for the 2016–17 season. On July 17, 2019, Cook signed a one-plus-one deal with Herbalife Gran Canaria.
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 | 16 | 11 | 23.5 | .365 | .391 | .750 | 1.9 | 5.1 | 1.3 | .0 | 5.6 | 7.8 |
| 2009–10 | Unicaja Málaga | 16 | 15 | 27.9 | .408 | .385 | .794 | 1.8 | 5.9 | 1.2 | .1 | 9.7 | 10.9 |
| 2010–11 | Valencia | 21 | 21 | 30.0 | .386 | .361 | .791 | 2.4 | 5.5 | 1.8 | .0 | 8.0 | 10.9 |
| 2011–12 | Olimpia Milano | 16 | 16 | 30.0 | .354 | .368 | .700 | 2.4 | 5.7 | 1.0 | .0 | 7.3 | 11.0 |
| 2012–13 | Caja Laboral | 28 | 18 | 23.3 | .394 | .393 | .563 | 1.3 | 4.0 | 1.3 | .0 | 4.6 | 6.4 |
| 2013–14 | Lietuvos Rytas | 8 | 7 | 29.7 | .263 | .297 | .727 | 1.6 | 5.9 | 1.3 | .0 | 6.1 | 6.5 |
| Career | 105 | 88 | 27.1 | .372 | .372 | .738 | 1.9 | 5.3 | 1.3 | .0 | 6.8 | 9.0 | |
NBA
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | Portland | 17 | 0 | 8.2 | .259 | .000 | .000 | .4 | 1.4 | .6 | .0 | .8 |
| 2004–05 | Toronto | 5 | 0 | 14.8 | .417 | .000 | .500 | 1.4 | 4.4 | 1.2 | .2 | 4.6 |
| Career | 22 | 0 | 9.7 | .333 | .000 | .500 | .6 | 2.1 | .7 | .0 | 1.7 | |
Montenegrin national team
In May 2008, Cook received Montenegrin citizenship, thus applying to represent Montenegro's national basketball team.
