Cautionary tale of squandered athletic talent
Lessons to be learned from Joakim Noah's movie about a gifted friend who let a lucrative professional career dribble through his fingers
Lenny Cooke, a New York City basketball legend who was ranked the No 1 high school player in America in 2000 ahead of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, accepted a US$350,000 jackpot from a sports agent and had the time of his life.
But life in the fast lane quickly disappeared as he went from top basketball prospect tantalisingly close to NBA millions to a hardcourt outsider struggling to make a living.
His story is chronicled in Lenny Cooke, the debut feature documentary by brothers Josh and Benny Safdie ( The Black Balloon) that opened in the US this month.
The life lessons of the film, a cautionary tale of squandered talent, have resonated for many years with its executive producer Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls.
"Lenny's story was a story I got to see first-hand from the bench," Noah, an NBA All-Star, said. "I was a little bit younger than him. We had just moved to New York from Paris, France, and that [Amateur Athletic Union] team in New York and I learned a lot from him."
Noah, the son of grand slam tennis champion Yannick Noah, said although it was a sad story, he was proud of Cooke, a gifted player who motivated him to demand more from himself.