Pacers sign Chris Copeland

[Nuntius]

Correct, but it's a fear like in MLB. After teams get a little bit of video on him, can they shut him down? Like they pretty much did with Novak?

Novak depends on his teammates to create shots for him. He cannot create for himself. He can only do one thing. Shoot the ball.

Copeland can do more things. He can create for himself. He can drive to the rim and score inside. He is not a one-trick pony like Novak and thus he is not as easily shut down.

I mostly agree, but it's a possibility that we have to at least admit as a risk, albeit a low one.

My friend, every signing is a risk

[Scoot McGroot]

Novak depends on his teammates to create shots for him. He cannot create for himself. He can only do one thing. Shoot the ball.

Copeland can do more things. He can create for himself. He can drive to the rim and score inside. He is not a one-trick pony like Novak and thus he is not as easily shut down.

I mostly agree, but it's a possibility that we have to at least admit as a risk, albeit a low one.

My friend, every signing is a risk

Of course, but this is a very realistic question. I mean, why did he not make it in the NBA until this past year? If he was as consistent from long-range since college as he was last year, he would've been making Kyle Korver or Jason Kapono money, at minimum. Obviously, there's something to worry about. It's a VERY fair question, in my mind.

[Nuntius]

I see a big risk which is there might not turn out to be a power forward among Copeland, Granger, Plumlee, Mahinmi, and Hill. okay, a lot of teams play small ball and maybe our substitutes can play at a high enough tempo to force teams to match down with us, but we just won a bunch of playoff games by staying big and forcing the other team to deal with our size.

My friend, we will be the biggest team in the league.

Let's check the size of our players a bit in DX:

PG:

George Hill - 6'2.5 with a 6'9 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/George-Hill-5067/ )

CJ Watson - 6'1.75 with a 6'6 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/CJ-Watson-569/ )

Donald Sloan - 6'3 with a 6'5 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Donald-Sloan-6312/ )

Wings:

Lance Stephenson - 6'5.75 with a 6'10.5 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Lan ... nson-1287/ )

Orlando Johnson - 6'4.5 with a 6'11 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Orl ... nson-6338/ )

Gerald Green - 6'7.25 with a 6'9.75 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Gerald-Green-287/ )

Paul George - 6'8.75 (or more as there rumors about his gaining an inch or so) with a 6'11.25 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Paul-George-5688/ )

Danny Granger - 6'8.5 with a 7'1 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Danny-Granger-86/ )

Solomon Hill - 6'7 with a 6'9 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Solomon-Hill-5824/ )

PF:

David West - 6'9.25 with a 7'4.25 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/David-West-4823/ )

Chris Copeland - 6'9 with no recorded wingspan but he is reported to have long arms ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Chr ... and-28546/ )

Miles Plumlee - 6'11.75 with a 7'0.75 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Miles-Plumlee-5261/ )

C:

Roy Hibbert - 7'2 with a 7'4 or a 7'5 wingspan ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Roy-Hibbert-585/ )

Ian Mahinmi - 6'10 (or 6'11) with a 7'7 wingspan (not too sure about that, just what I got when I searched online) ( http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Ian-Mahinmi-207/ )

In any case, our whole team is damn big and long. We upgraded the height and length at back-up PG and we may have downgraded a bit the height and length at PF (Tyler is 6'9.5 with a 6'11.5 wingspan) but we still remain probably the biggest team in the league.

Why is that? Because our starting 5 is huge. They are our basis, guys. They are the ones that give the tone. As long as those starters and Vogel are with us then we're always going to be bigger than the opposition. One bench player is not going to change our philosophy.

[Nuntius]

I mostly agree, but it's a possibility that we have to at least admit as a risk, albeit a low one.

My friend, every signing is a risk

Of course, but this is a very realistic question. I mean, why did he not make it in the NBA until this past year? If he was as consistent from long-range since college as he was last year, he would've been making Kyle Korver or Jason Kapono money, at minimum. Obviously, there's something to worry about. It's a VERY fair question, in my mind.

Here is an article on Copeland and his journey written by an old teammate of his in Europe:

http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/4 ... ks-profile

Here is Copeland's DX profile showing his statistics from college and the D-League:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Chr ... 546/stats/

Here is Copeland's EuroChallenge page:

http://www.fibaeurope.com/cid_KNce8jInH ... 59229.html

EuroChallenge is the 3rd tier level transnational club basketball competition in Europe.

Copeland was not highly recruited and he wasn't always the player that he is now. But he was always able to shoot well from long-range.

[Wizop]

thanks, that SBnation piece on Copeland is good reading.

the Star has a page now that is supposed to be a video of a press conference from today but it isn't opening for me. I assume the Pacers will also have a video online before the day is over.

[Scoot McGroot]

Good read on that Copeland piece from SBNation, Nuntius.


Otherwise, setting this thread free to the forum......

[bwgood77]

Suns might be willing to part with Scola for Green if Indy included a first round pick. He'd be a good bench player to have.

I would do this deal depending on the length of Scola's deal, health and the salary he's due. If he's in the final year of his deal its a good option. Scola is a solid all around player and is capable of minimizing the dropoff when West sits. One year for all the marbles; this would be a risk I would take.

Hill/Watson
George/Stephenson
Granger/Hill/Copeland
West/Scola/Copeland
Hibbert/Mahinmi/Plumlee

Well it looks like it happened!

[Nuntius]

Suns might be willing to part with Scola for Green if Indy included a first round pick. He'd be a good bench player to have.

I would do this deal depending on the length of Scola's deal, health and the salary he's due. If he's in the final year of his deal its a good option. Scola is a solid all around player and is capable of minimizing the dropoff when West sits. One year for all the marbles; this would be a risk I would take.

Hill/Watson
George/Stephenson
Granger/Hill/Copeland
West/Scola/Copeland
Hibbert/Mahinmi/Plumlee

Well it looks like it happened!

Good catch

[NY_Knicks_33]

Though he was only with us for a short time, and in a minor role, I really liked both his game, and personality in the bench. I was sorry to see him go, and I'll continue to root for him, except when playing against my knicks of course!

[Edub]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... C6VZ3mzJog

[Scoot McGroot]

Copeland Undergoes Successful Surgery
The Indiana Pacers announced Friday that forward Chris Copeland underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to remove a loose body. The surgery was performed Friday morning at the Indiana Orthopaedic Hospital. Recovery time is estimated at six to eight weeks and Copeland is expected to be ready for the start of the 2013 training camp.