There was a time it seemed Omar Cook was destined for a long career in the NBA.
But after one year at St. John’s, the former Christ the King star fell to the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft and ended up playing just 22 games in the league before embarking on a long career overseas that just came to a close two years ago in Spain, when he tearfully announced his retirement during a postgame interview.
Now, the 41-year-old is finally back in the NBA, this time, as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers and head coach JB Bickerstaff.
The move comes after Cook spent last season as an assistant with Cleveland’s G League team, the Charge.
And his ultimate goal is to become a head coach in the NBA.
“That’s where I want to be,’’ Cook said at Barclays Center before the Cavaliers opened their regular season versus the Nets on Wednesday. “This is the start of the path.”
It’s a different journey than Cook anticipated when he emerged as one of the top point guards in the country at Christ the King and broke Mark Jackson’s record at St. John’s for most assists in a game in a win over Stony Brook.
But after being considered by some to be a lottery pick, Cook didn’t get selected until the third pick of the second round (31st overall) by the Orlando Magic, who traded him to the Denver Nuggets.
The shooting problems that plagued Cook in high school and college didn’t go away and he was out of the league by 2005.
“Obviously, my career didn’t go as planned,’’ Cook said. “From being so hyped coming out of high school and college, I thought it would go much better, but I was able to play 21 years and still be part of the game.”
The NBA’s developmental league was in its infancy at the time, so Cook left and found success overseas, playing everywhere from Belgium to Russia to Serbia and plenty of places in between.
“I’d say the last four or five years [of playing], I was the oldest player on the team and a lot of young guys would see my routine and ask me a lot of questions,’’ Cook said. “I was always the guy who got to practice early and stayed late. Young guys gravitated towards me and that made me say ‘OK, I can do this.’ ”
Now, nearly two decades after last playing in the NBA, he’s returned in a different role.
“It feels good to be back in the league and to just still be around the game,’’ Cook said. “I’m trying to contribute from things I’ve learned over the years: here, in the G-League and overseas.”
Most of the young players on the Cavaliers’ roster were barely born when Cook was making a name for himself in Queens.
“The [coaching] staff tells them and they Google me,’’ Cook said with a laugh.
He sees his current job, which is in player development, as helping the players that might be bouncing back and forth from the NBA roster to the G-League.
“Those guys fighting to stay here, my experience can help,’’ Cook said. “Even with veteran guys, they know I’ve been here, so it’s easier coming from me.”
And he still thinks back to what might have been.
“Maybe if I stayed another year [in college], it would have helped,’’ Cook said. “Or got drafted to the right organization. And if I got drafted today, I could get experience playing in the G-League. Back then, you were either in the league or out. But everything happens for a reason. I’m here now and I’m excited to see where it goes.”