Head Coach Michael Cooper Reflects on Lisa Leslies Career

Coach Cooper answers our questions about Lisa’s impact on women’s basketball, what he’s learned from her and more.

What’s your earliest memory of Lisa?
Coop: My earliest memory of Smooth is at my basketball camp in 1986 or 1988, I believe. She was one of the helpers and she was an assistant coach at my Pasadena camp. I remember getting on her because she wasn’t coaching her team right and we started off kind of rocky and for the rest of the week she gave me the evil eye. On Friday we had a slam dunk contest and she almost beat me. I had to bring out my bag of tricks with the two-handed stuff because as long as I kept it one-handed, she was hanging right with me.

How important has she been to women’s basketball?
Coop: She’s been very important because of the fact that she’s like the ambassador while she’s still playing. It’s kind of like Dr. J, she’s been involved with the game for so long and she’s been involved with the WNBA since day one. Just to keep that going and be able to retire with the WNBA still here, she inspires women to believe that they can still be nice young ladies, they can moms and they can be serious professional athletes on the floor.

What will you remember most about coaching her?
Coop: I’ll remember her desire and will to constantly get better the most. That’s one thing I’ve always respected about great players both male and female. Watching Magic and Kareem and James Worthy go through what they did to become the legendary players that they became, it’s the same with her. Every year she’s been willing to work and get better. She is never content with just being great in this moment; she wants to get better all the time.

Is there anything you learned from her?
Coop: I’ve learned a lot of patience. I’ve never been a very patient man but working with her and women in general has changed that. She has a very calming spirit about her and every time I try to get her to do something or we’re in a tight game, she’ll look at me and say, ‘Coop, just calm down, it’s going to be ok.’

What do you think she’ll end up doing after basketball?
Coop: I think she will be able to do whatever she wants. I think she’ll be a great coach when she finally settles down and puts her mind to it. I don’t think she’ll ever be able to get away from basketball. I think she could be a broadcaster, she could be a TV analyst. I think she can do anything; if it’s getting into modeling seriously, she can do that because she is very eloquent. The sky is the limit.

How would you summarize her career in one word?
Coop: Awesome.