WOMEN’S BASKETBALL : Longevity Just a Word to Cooper

In Cynthia Cooper’s recent autobiography, “She Got Game,” there are two scary parts.

Here’s the first: “I see no reason why, if I continue to train hard and eat right and am fortunate to avoid serious injury--I can’t be a better player at 40 than I was at 30. That’s certainly my intention.”

Since she’s only 36, that would mean she could be looking ahead to her fourth Olympics four years from now.

And what of the Houston Comets? Maybe we’re seeing only the early stages of the WNBA’s most successful franchise. And the Sparks--doomed to a decade of second-place West finishes?

Here’s the second scary part: In 1985, Cooper dropped out of USC after her junior year to become a bank teller.

USC’s coach, Linda Sharp, wanted her back, so she dispatched assistant coach Fred Williams--now the coach of the WNBA Utah Starzz--to find her. Trouble was, Cooper’s mother had moved her family and Cooper had cut off all ties to USC.

Finally, Williams obtained an address in South Central Los Angeles, drove there one afternoon, parked outside and waited for someone to come home. At about the time Cooper’s mother, Mary Cobbs, returned and entered the house, Williams was startled to see his car surrounded by thugs wearing trench coats and sun glasses.

“What are you doing here, man?” one asked.

Williams, recently confirming in a phone interview the incident described by Cooper in her book, said he identified himself, explained he was from USC and was looking for Cooper. The gang’s leader checked out his story.

“The guy knocked on the door, Coop’s mom looked out and saw me in the car, and chased them all away, telling them I was a friend,” Williams said.

“The guy who’d talked to me came back and said ‘This is your lucky day, bro.’ Then he unbuttoned his coat just enough for me to see the pistol on his belt.”

Cooper came back for her senior year. Her game then, Williams said, was similar in style to her game today, the one she deployed to near-perfection in 40 minutes against the Sparks on Monday. She had 23 points, 12 assists and no turnovers in the 72-62 victory.

But two key elements in her game today weren’t on line when she played at USC, Williams said.

“She was our sixth player, a slasher and a driver then,” he said.

“She’d come off the bench and get a drive and a free throw. Or she’d make a big defensive play, sometimes both.

“She didn’t have the three-point shot then, that came later. She always had the fadeaway shot off her drive, she picked that up in L.A. playground ball, playing against tall guys.

“The drive where she gets that extra-long, sliding step to finish, she developed that in Europe.”

And even then, Williams said, a special confidence.

“She had a very rough life growing up as a kid, and when you survive that like she did, you can survive anything. You’re on your way.

“I always felt she had that confidence to be a great player and it’s great to see her blossom like she has . . . except when she plays against my team.”

STAPLES CENTER OR FORUM?

As the Sparks arrive home today from the playoffs, the team has no lease for next season at either Staples Center or the Great Western Forum. Jerry Buss, sources say, hasn’t decided whether to remain the operator of the team or transfer stewardship to Philip Anschutz, the builder of Staples and a 25% owner of the Lakers.

Buss is reluctant to play a split season next summer at the Forum and Staples. Staples will be unavailable for 3 1/2 weeks because of the Democratic Convention. Buss, it’s said, would prefer to play the whole 2000 season at the Forum.

A COOPER MOVE?

Spark assistant coach and former Laker Michael Cooper has been mentioned as a possible head coach for the WNBA’s expansion Miami franchise. Pat Riley will have a say in who gets the job. Cooper, whose NBA salary peaked at $610,000, made $20,000 this summer as Orlando Woolridge’s assistant. Of the Miami rumor, Cooper said: “They haven’t contacted me and I haven’t contacted them.”

Like many others, Houston Coach Van Chancellor wonders if the 2000 U.S. women’s Olympic team will have anything left for the Sydney Olympics. The All-WNBA team leaves for Australia a year from now, days after the WNBA season ends. “My players are close to exhaustion when our season ends,” said Chancellor, who already has Cooper on the team, and Sheryl Swoopes may be added. “We don’t fly charter like the NBA. . . . You’re talking about playing a lot of games, a lot of long flights and a lot of back-to-backs.” . . . Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt, on her recruiting of Lisa Leslie a decade ago: “Sure, I wanted her. But I just couldn’t talk her into a Knoxville visit. I think she believed everyone went around barefoot and cows wandered around the campus.”