Spurs By The Numbers- Darwin Cook dons #12 for half a season

When I joined Pounding The Rock, I pitched a project that would cover every player who ever wore a Spurs jersey. Not equally, by any means, but each jersey would be identified numerically by the players who wore it.

There is a significance to the numbers of jerseys as it pertains to the five NBA Championships that have been won by the San Antonio Spurs.

There is only one jersey number associated with all five San Antonio Spurs NBA Championships- #21. Tim Duncan. He is coincidentally also the only player to be involved in all five titles.

There are five numbers associated with four Spurs titles. #9 (Tony Parker) and #20 Manu Ginobili, as well as #2, #4, and #11 by multiple players.

The next set of jersey numbers are those associated with three of the Spurs NBA titles.

Those numbers are 3, 5, 8, 12, 17, and 33. Today we continue our look at #12.

#12

Darwin Cook

As part of his plan, Darwin Cook was drafted 70th overall in the fourth round by the Detroit Pistons in the 1980 NBA Draft, but his rights were relinquished less than a month later. He signed on with New Jersey where he played the lion’s share of his career. A defensive menace, Cook finished in the NBA top 10 in steals three times (fifth in 1982-83, eighth in 1983-84 and 10th in 1985-86).

In 1988, Cook played overseas where he won his first Italian League Championship.

Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images

On November 11, 1988, the San Antonio Spurs signed Cook as a free agent. He played in 36 games for just two-and-a-half months before being traded along with Dave Greenwood to the Denver Nuggets for Calvin Natt and Jay Vincent.

After that season, he returned to Scavolini Pesaro and picked up his second Italian League Championship in 1990.

Since retiring from basketball, Darwin Cook has served as head coach to the University of Antelope Valley’s Pioneers men’s basketball team.

Next Up: The four games of Jeff Lebo

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