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Chris Copeland: The Bucks’ Most Interesting Character

By Adam McGee

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The Milwaukee Bucks signed 31-year-old forward Chris Copeland on Thursday. You might have heard of him before. You might have seen him play a game once. He’s the sort of guy it can be easy to forget about in the NBA though.

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There was a time when Copeland was used to being forgotten about though.

You might have heard of a guy who landed on his feet in the world’s biggest basketball league following a journeyman career around Europe. A guy who landed on his feet and became a valuable contributor who drew occasional ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the Madison Square Garden crowd on one of the best New York Knicks teams of the past 20 years.

You might have heard of a guy who lost his brother to a hit-and-run accident while still only a child. A guy who got hit in the shoulder with a stray bullet at a college football party. An NBA player who only a few months ago was stabbed outside a New York City nightclub.

You might have heard about a player who has experienced Playoff runs in two of his three NBA seasons to date, or you could have heard about a guy who was once deemed not good enough to play for a bad team in one of Spain’s lower tiers of professional basketball.

Or then again, you might not have heard any of that.

Chris Copeland is referred to by most as quiet and unassuming, which perhaps makes it no surprise then that he has often flown under the radar.

At the same time, Copeland’s personality makes him different to most players we get to know in the NBA, and his journey to get there has probably defined him more as a player and a person than anyone including Copeland could ever pinpoint.

In an outstanding longform piece detailing Copeland’s journey from back in 2013 for SB Nation, Flinder Boyd captured the essence of who the former Colorado Buffalo is.

Behind adjectives like genial, quiet, unassuming and shy, a singular vision and drive stands out in Copeland’s story.

"Copeland, for reasons most of us could probably never understand, stubbornly stuck with his dream with a singular focus against the skepticism and better judgment of nearly all of those around him."

He’s a hard worker, and it would seem impossible to level accusations otherwise in his direction. Not only that, but the New Jersey native has a striking intelligence both on and off the court.

Boyd, a former teammate of Copeland’s in Europe describes Chris Copeland the basketball player in fantastic detail.

"Despite his bow-legged, plodding movements that hindered him against more athletic players, Copeland has a rare sense of court awareness and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. He is blessed with an inherent understanding of floor spacing and action without the ball. Even now, when I watch him play with the Knicks, he’ll float a few feet away from his defender, or slip a screen into the only open space on the court before unleashing a lightning quick fade-away jump shot, the same shot he developed over the course of thousands of hours in the gym. He’s an unselfish player who takes what the game gives him and knows precisely what he can and cannot do."

A player who understands his role and utilizes all the smarts he possesses to execute to the best of his ability.

Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports wrote a piece on Copeland on Friday, detailing the various interests and sides of the former Indiana Pacer’s personality. Spears quoted Copeland during a recent Facebook externship as saying:

"Apps are something that I’m doing on the side, quietly. I’m into a lot of things, whether it is real estate and transportation, where I have something brewing on the side as well. Just to go in there and see a well-run machine was big for me."

I should also add that Copeland was a psychology major.

So, why did the Bucks go after him? Why was he the player who felt like the right man to step up and replace Jared Dudley?

Coach Kidd has become well-known for the written tests that he gives his players, so why should it be a surprise that he’d be interested in an analytical thinking veteran professional, who he had the first-hand experience of playing with?

Any feeling that Kidd has for Copeland seems to be shared mutually too. When Spears asked him of his reasons for choosing the Bucks, the forward replied:

"The biggest hook for me was Jason Kidd, by far. Obviously, he was a friend of mine before all this. He was a great mentor for me in New York and someone I continue to grow under. An incredible mind on and off the floor."

An incredible mind on and off the floor, maybe that’s something that the 31-year-old could apply to himself too some day.

Question marks remain over how Copeland will fit and contribute to the Bucks as a basketball player, but in terms of character, there shouldn’t be many reservations.

Who knows, Chris Copeland might have another “breakout” season, and then you might hear a whole lot more about him too.

Next: Projecting 5 Bucks Who Could Improve The Most Next Season

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