VITALS: 6-10, 240, senior, Illinois OVERVIEW: Cook played four years of college basketball at Illinois and was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year as a senior. Cook led the conference in scoring with 20.0 points per game and led Illinois with 7.6 rebounds per contest. Cook was a third team All-American selection and recorded 18 20-point efforts for the Fighting Illini. In his sophomore and junior seasons, Cook was part of teams that went to the "Sweet 16" along with current New York Knick Frank Williams. Cook started all but one game of his college career after his freshman season. Cook is an outstanding foul shooter, clicking at 82 percent last season. Cook played on USA Basketball's team that won a gold medal at the World Championship for Young Men. Cook's father, Norman, played for Kansas and the Boston Celtics. LIKELY DRAFT POSITION: Picks 9-20. Cook was invited by the NBA to New York for the draft. Only projected lottery picks receive invitations, so the news bodes well for Cook. Previously, it was thought he could last until the late teens. While that still may happen, it is likely that somebody likes Cook more than they have indicated. Seattle (12, 14) could be that team, as it has a huge vacancy at power forward. COMPARATIVE UPSIDE: Danny Manning COMPARATIVE DOWNSIDE: Jared Jeffries ROLE PROJECTION: Future starter. POSITIVES: You name it, Cook does it. Post, shoot, drive, rebound - Cook can do everything you look for in a modern-age power forward. As a senior at Illinois, he finally tapped into the enormous potential everyone had been raving about since the day he set foot on campus. SHORTCOMINGS: Cook is a skill player but not a physical specimen. Despite great height, Cook is not at all powerful. He is an average athlete who will have trouble consistently taking defenders off the dribble at the NBA level. There is also some concern about Cook being soft and unassertive. WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: "He improved a lot this year, most importantly with his confidence and assertiveness. I think team have to look at him closely, because Cook has a lot of the same skills that the highly touted international players are thought to possess, but with these international players, if you haven't done your research on them, you could wind up being wrong." NBA assistant director of scouting Ryan Blake
