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On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Mon Nov 4, 2013 6:32 pm
by Grang33r
Pretty big discussion we've had in almost each GDT, so i figured i'd just started a new one just for this topic. We have been discussing Copeland's lack of playing time. He didn't even see the court in the first two games and when he did play a few minutes in the third, he miss fired a few bombs. But Candace Buckner from the Indy Star has some insight on his lack of playing time...

http://blogs.indystar.com/pacersinsider ... -rotation/

Copeland: Pacers are so deep, no room yet for him in rotation

Social psychologist Robert Cialdini wrote the very insightful book ”The Psychology of Persuasion,” and in it he explains the why behind the decisions we make.

Cialdini examines our daily automatic responses to certain stimuli – you know, the actions we do that necessitate no thought whatsoever, like saying ‘yes’ to a small, cute kid panhandling for our loose change so that she can go on a school trip to Florida or something. He calls it the “click-whirr” syndrome.

“Click and the appropriate tape is activated; whirr and out rolls the standard sequence of behaviors…”

It’s not giving in to the small, cute child that’s perplexing some Pacers fans this year. But it’s the knee-jerk “Oh, no! Where’s Copeland!?” reaction when Indiana plays and the curious exclusion of forward Chris Copeland from the rotation becomes clear.

Every game, every time coach Frank Vogel looks down his bench to send in a sub, the Copeland worries fill my Twitter feed. Like a prerecorded track, several fans continue to voice concerns that something must be wrong if Copeland continues to sit on the bench.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Mon Nov 4, 2013 7:06 pm
by EuroPacer
Wow, I find the tone of that piece very offensive somehow... like it is weird that fans are wondering why a guy is given a 3 million per year contract to sit on the bench.

The most insightful thing on the whole blog is the first comment: we picked him up to be the fourth big and then Scola happened.

I agree that getting Scola was always an opportunity not to be missed but it is sad for Copeland, although he does create the nice opportunity to play him to give Scola/West games off at times, we are aiming for a deep play-off run, lets start by saving our older guys some mileage.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Mon Nov 4, 2013 7:30 pm
by Robertchk
its a long season gentleman, just relax. Cope is still recently off of minor surgery, the team is winning, and there are 79 games yet to go. Vogel is a smart coach and will get him his opportunities soon enough.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Mon Nov 4, 2013 8:56 pm
by Wizop
signing Scola did push Cope down on the depth chart but he'll get important minutes when the other team goes small and we decide to match up. we may go small ourselves too. I don't know if we would have signed Copeland had the Scola deal been done first, but I don't think you can have too many shooters so we probably would have.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Wed Nov 6, 2013 8:39 pm
by 8305
Wizop wrote:signing Scola did push Cope down on the depth chart but he'll get important minutes when the other team goes small and we decide to match up. we may go small ourselves too. I don't know if we would have signed Copeland had the Scola deal been done first, but I don't think you can have too many shooters so we probably would have.


Had we signed Scola first I can't imagine that Copeland would have been looking for a gig where he projected to be the 3rd 4. Nor would we have been looking to shell out 3 mil/ year on a player who would likely fall outside the regular rotation.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Wed Nov 6, 2013 11:44 pm
by FortyDaysThree
I'm glad we don't need him. He's not a good defender and is not as good of a shooter as he is given credit for. He;s not an ideal 4 or 3 for that matter.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Thu Nov 7, 2013 3:05 am
by Grang33r
When the offnse couldn't hit a shot to save their life in that second quarter and the Bulls came back from 8 down to go up, i think it would of been a good decision for Vogel to put Copeland in to try to shoot a deep missile and spread the court.

But coach knows best, so who am i to doubt him.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Thu Nov 7, 2013 4:47 am
by pacers33granger
I like Copeland and it's nice to have someone on the end of the bench who can fill it up in short spurts, as well as someone who by all accounts is a consummate professional. However, we really don't need him. I'd like to see him traded for cap space during the draft or before so we have enough to resign Lance and not waive Scola.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Fri Nov 8, 2013 5:52 am
by Gremz
Scola's acquisition is a major part of this and It's probably something to do with his form. He might well get minutes if his shot starts falling, but I don't expect a run for him any time soon.

Re: On Copeland's playing time

Posted: Fri Nov 8, 2013 11:23 am
by 8305
If Hibbert, West, Mahamni, or Scola gets hurt he will likely get playing time. Even then if Granger is back that could change.