Images of the work show a superlative player, a physical wonder who, being a son of the lower East Side New York, more focused on dangerous liaisons and the street life to develop their skills, jealously guards its time to call on the doorstep of the NBA. His talent was overwhelming, with averages of 30 points and 15 rebounds in the Academia de La Salle during the season 1999-2000 led him to be proclaimed the best player of the Adidas ABCD Camp.
No one story imagine there, a year later, their dreams begin to crack.
At that tender age, Cooke, a privileged, handsome athlete and a child of one year in tow, already walks through his old neighborhood with a journalist from ESPN to the spoke of his intention to build a movie theater and a gym in the area when a sign with an NBA team. Together with his friends, see the project of 2001 in which Kwame Brown becomes the first player is the number one directly elected from the Institute. At that moment, his eyes light up. It is reflected.
Three of the four first names of that draft had not gone through the University (Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, Pau Gasol being number 3), which originated a great controversy.
"En the time in which Brown was elected in the number one, this game is over. We have broken the barrier, Lord Stern. We can not defend these situations, we cannot permitirlo ", says Sonny Vaccaro, exresponsable of marketing for Nike and founder of campus ABCD.
In 2006 the rules were changed and banned entry into the NBA players directly from the Institute.
"No evaluates them according to whether they are prepared, but for their potential and what they can achieve. You can buy them. It is not much different than slavery. Purchases that looks better and if you succeed, well. If not, you buy otro ", ensures the University coach Mike Jarvis.
Cooke was vague and arrogant, as virtually any teenager with a gift in their hands. In the documentary, the cameras followed until Nike Training Camp, which are late and where it has no qualms about ignoring the signs of its technicians. It does not accept the responsibilities associated with its presence there, as the fact of waking up at 7 in the morning. Despite this, dazzles all the present with its quality.
It was "el elegido". " He had built his fame by rivals such as James and Anthony - two years lower than it - in prestigious summer campus, trying to establish itself at the top of the national rankings. But his dazzling ascent was going to run into an irresistible force: LeBron James.
At the end of the ABCD Camp in 2001, Cooke started with a beautiful series of crossovers before scoring a great suspension against James, but this responded leans to his team on his back, neutralizing any action of his rival and scoring the triple victory against dozens of coaches, scouts and journalists.
There began the sinking of Cooke.
"Fue the moment that symbolized the beginning of LeBron and the fall of Cooke. Lenny he knocked in his own field. Is that it was only a shot, a game, but in some ways, Lenny never be recupero ", says Vaccaro."
The documentary by Josh and Benny Safdie examines the phenomenon of this emerging and charismatic star, which went off prematurely by the circumstances surrounding him, his immaturity, his zero work ethic and over-reliance on his own talent, disregarding the advice of those who asked a greater humility and a greater dedication.
At the age of 19, Cooke had dazzled the country with his powers, but accidentally lost the option to continue playing in high school by having reached the age limit. His parents had moved to Virginia when he was a teenager. The only person that listened to Cooke, the tutor who took care of him, also failed to enter into reason. The young man accepted gifts (a new Mercedes) and money from an agent (350,000 dollars) just before you go to Flint (Michigan), attracted by false promises of professional teams interested in him.
Their environment was fagocitando him slowly, stopped attending classes to reach the University and each time was more convinced that it was prepared to take the step to the NBA directly, by what he decided to attend the 2002 draft after going 18 months without playing organized basketball.
It is exercised on its own and announced its determination to present the University drawing at a press conference held at the restaurant Junior, Brooklyn, attended by a few journalists.
His name is never mentioned in that draft.
When aspirations are blurred, is forced to embark on an adventure by minor-league as the USBL and ABA, CBA, the NBDL, and make stops in China, Denmark, the Philippines and Brazil, among other countries, in search of small contracts. He managed to play the Summer League with the Seattle SuperSonics and Boston Celtics, where he had occasion to measure James, by then in the ranks of Cleveland. However, Cooke did not play a single minute that day. Later, suffered a traffic accident - to was that amputaran you a leg - that ended any hope for his goal and which prostrated him in a wheelchair for a year.
Josh and Benny Safdie, nearly a decade later, found Cooke unemployed, living with his partner and his children in a rural area of Virginia, celebrating his 30th birthday at a party very humble. Cooke, very last weight, drinking beer and singing to his partner, who can not hold back the tears. Her face reflects the sadness of everything they had on the tip of fingers and were never able to achieve. The next day, Cooke gets up and plays with her friends on the Lower East Side. It chains basket after basket and there is his happiness, despite the ghosts from the past that pursued him throughout his life.
"I bigin with nothing and now again I do not have nothing". "