Michael Cooper (born April 15, 1956 in Los Angeles, California) is currently the head coach of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds basketball team of the NBA Development League. He is also a former NBA player, playing his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and has coached in both the NBA and the WNBA. Drafted out of New Mexico by the Lakers in the third round of the 1978 NBA Draft (60th overall), "Coop" became an integral part of the "Showtime" Lakers teams of the 1980s with his indomitable will on the defensive end of the court. In his 12-year NBA career, he was named to eight NBA All Defensive Teams, including five First Teams. He won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1987. He, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, was a member of five Lakers championship teams in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988. At 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), 174 lb (77 kg), the rail thin Cooper played shooting guard, small forward, and sometimes point guard, although his assignment was invariably the other team's best shooter at the 2 or 3 position. A popular player among Lakers fans, home crowds were known to chant, "Coooooooop" whenever he controlled the ball, and the Lakers sometimes ran an alley-oop play for him that was dubbed the "Coop-a-loop."