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10 Things to Know About Chris Copeland

Christopher Stephen Copeland is the newest player on the team. (And the oldest player on the team.)

Herewith, we get acquainted.

1. He signed with the Bucks in part because of Jason Kidd.

At least that is how Copeland (who played with Kidd on the Knicks in 2012-13) put it.

 

2. He plays small forward and power forward.

Looking at the current roster, small forward is arguably, relatively, the thinnest. Or it was before this signing. Positions and minutes are hard to project on this increasingly position-less team, but some veteran backup minutes behind Giannis Antetokounmpo at the three are welcome.

At 6-9 and 240 pounds, Copeland has the size to play power forward, though he is perimeter-oriented as a four, and he spent the bulk of his previous two seasons playing small forward. As a rookie though, according to basketball-reference.com, he mostly played power forward. Speaking of that rookie season…

 

3. He had a really nice rookie season with the Knicks (with Kidd as a teammate).

It makes sense on a number of levels that Copeland has fond memories and associations of Kidd. Perhaps in part because his one and only season with the Knicks and with Kidd as a teammate happened to be his best NBA season out of three so far.

As a rookie, he posted a 16.8 PER (fourth-best among rookies that year, and fifth-best on that Knicks team) on the unusually non-disastrous and actually-competitive 54-28 Knicks. He tied for sixth (with Harrison Barnes) in Rookie of the Year voting.

 

4. He played four years in college and then in five different countries before making the NBA.

So that should really specify “rookie NBA season” in the point above, because Copeland played on five different pro teams before his Knicks debut at age 27, going from the NBA D-League to Spain to the Netherlands to Germany to Belgium.

Copeland went undrafted in 2006, and by the time he made the NBA in 2012, more than half of the top-10 picks from that draft were either out of the league, or would be out of the league within a year or so, and they are long gone now (Adam Morrison, Tyrus Thomas, Shelden Williams, Brandon Roy, Patrick O’Bryant, Mouhamed Sene).

 

5. He had a relatively down year last season.

After two strong and efficient seasons playing on two extremely competitive teams, Copeland’s numbers dipped a bit across the board last season on a struggling Pacers team with few offensive options. At 31, he should still be in the thick of his prime, though.

 

6. He is now the oldest player on the team

And the only Bucks player in his 30s (he is 31). The oldest player on the Bucks will be going into his fourth NBA season.

 

7. He shoots a lot of threes.

With the departures of Ersan Ilyasova and then Jared Dudley this offseason, the Bucks – a team that ranked just 26th in 3-point attempts last season – lost two of their best long-range shooters, both of whom happened to play forward.

Copeland is not here to single-right-handedly solve this, but he will help. In each of the past two seasons, Copeland has attempted more 3-pointers than 2-pointers. That is rare for anyone, especially a forward. He will help space the floor. On this team – on all teams, but especially on this team – that will be appreciated.

 

8. He makes quite a few threes.

He converted 31.1 percent on threes last year, by far his least accurate season. Before that, he hit 42.1 percent on threes as a rookie (just a touch better than Ray Allen that year), and then 41.8 percent last season. And in 21 career playoff games, he is at 43.6 percent.

Don’t just look for him in the corner either. Copeland historically makes more of his threes from left-of-center and right-of-center than in either corner. Distribution is pretty even.

 

9. He is okay after a truly unfortunate incident last April.

Not an easy phrase to talk about or even type, Copeland was stabbed in the abdomen last April. In his own words, he is fine now. 

 

10. He made a game-winning shot against the Bucks.

Just one.

 

PHOTOS: Chris Copeland's Career in Photos