Joventut Badalona center Tyler Cook is the latest blogger on the BKT EuroCup website. Born in St Louis, USA, Cook grew up playing with NBA star Jayson Tatum at Chaminade College Preparatory School, went on to play for the University of Iowa, and spent four seasons between the NBA and the G League before he decided to cross the ocean.
Tyler Cook, Joventut: 'It's been an awesome experience'
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Cook had a brief stint with South East Melbourne Phoenix of Australia before joining Joventut. Tyler has his own video blog, which he updates often, telling fans about his life on and off the court. Thus, he was the perfect choice to tell us what's happening at Joventut from time to time. Expect Tyler to tell us about his team's EuroCup run all the way until the end of the season.
Hello, EuroCup fans. I'm Tyler Cook of Joventut Badalona. This is my first season in Europe. My career has been really good until now. I have had the opportunity to play in a lot of different places. I started my career as a two-way player in the NBA. I spent three years in the NBA, one full year in the G League. And then, to start this year, I played in Australia for a month, just on a short-term contract. And then I came here about a month later. So I have been around, I have been to a lot of different places, played for a lot of different teams. It's been cool being able to see not only the country where I'm from, but kind of to see the world, too. I have had a really, eventful and enjoyable career so far.
I also played with Jayson Tatum for probably about five years, from 8th grade through 12th grade in high school. We graduated when we were 18-19 years old, so I have known him forever, since I was 14 years old. He is a good friend of mine. So we have missed each other since I have been here in terms of watching games. But we always kind of keep tabs on each other and see how we are doing.
When I was young, I broke a couple of fingers on my right hand playing football and basketball and stuff. So I had a couple of injuries and I decided to learn how to do everything with my left hand, just because my right hand was in a cast for a good amount of time. By the time I got healthy, I had gotten comfortable with my left hand. And ever since I was probably about maybe 12 years old, I have kind of been able to do everything with both hands. In terms of basketball, I was able to, I guess, catch people off guard. People didn't understand or expect me to go to my left hand even though I'm right-handed, so it just kind of worked out. And I have stuck with it ever since. I'm almost more comfortable with my left now than I am with my right. I mean, I still shoot the ball on my right hand, but like if I'm driving, I'm finishing, I typically go to my left hand. I throw with my left hand. I can write with both hands, so it just depends on what I'm doing.
"Every game counts. Every game means a lot, so I'm enjoying the competitive nature of it."
This is my first EuroCup season and it has been different. It's been an adjustment. It's obviously a different style and brand of basketball than I have played in my career so far, so I'm still kind of getting used to it and adjusting, but it's a challenge. It's a competitive league. Every game counts. Every game means a lot, so I'm enjoying the competitive nature of it. Just learning and figuring things out along the way has been a good process for me. I'm figuring things out slowly, and I think hopefully we can continue to get some good wins under our belt and put ourselves in a good position to close out the year.
We just signed Shannon Evans and I am excited to get him into the team. I think he will help us a lot, adding some extra backcourt help. He is a guy who can get his own baskets and create on offense, a really competitive guy. So I think adding him to the fold will be really good for us. We will try to get him up to speed as quickly as possible because obviously, he's a guy we want on the floor for us.
I have to say I have enjoyed just kind of being able to see the places that I've seen so far. Even before I came here, I had been to a few different European cities in the past years just visiting and vacationing, but just being able to see more of Europe, see more of the world since I have been here, it's been awesome. I never really thought that I'd be here growing up, so seeing all these different places, all these different cities and being a part of the different cultures has been a blessing for me and it's kind of just been able to open my eyes and realize that there's a lot more out there than what I'm used to. So it's been an awesome experience.
If you can, check out my video blog on YouTube. I do everything myself, all the editing and stuff. It really just came from just me being bored, honestly, a couple of years ago. As a professional basketball player, we tend to have a lot of extra time. Whether we are in season or off-season, our work days are pretty short in comparison to people who don't work in sports. So even if I train for 3-4 hours a day, I still have a lot of time left. And especially when I'm away from home, I just had to figure something out that would occupy some time.
"Everybody wants to win, but I think for us, it's just about being focused, keeping our competitive spirit and being on the same page."
For me, that was one of the things that just kind of came easily and naturally for me, sharing my thoughts and my experiences with those who want to watch. It is something that kind of keeps my mind at ease through the ups and downs and through different experiences and new challenges. It's something that keeps me grounded and focused. I haven't uploaded one in a while, so I have to kind of do some catching up, but it's something I really enjoy doing.
We are arriving to the most exciting games of the season, which is very important, not only for this club, but for everybody in Europe. Everybody wants to win, but I think for us, it's just about being focused, keeping our competitive spirit and being on the same page in terms of not only what we are doing on the court, but what are our collective goals are, staying in the moment, not looking too far ahead. And then obviously just putting everything we have out there on the floor and giving ourselves the best chance to be successful. It sounds just kind of monotonous and it sounds cliche, but for us, I think it's just keeping everything simple, playing our hardest and putting ourselves in a good position, which we have so far. So I'm super excited for that. I think we have a really good chance.