Class of 2022 PG Quadir Copeland (PA/IMG) COMMITTED/SIGNED TO SYRACUSE

[IthacaMatt]

Watching the IMG top team and the point guard who is supposed to be great, isn't great at distributing, and Walker has a lot to work on. They are currently a bad team.

And we also have 3 or 4 months left in the season. These guys will play a comparable number of games to what college kids play - 30 or more games. They've maybe played 5 games or so (I haven't checked, but the season is only 1 month old ...).

IMG is like a finishing school, like a prep school. The first month, few of these guys know each other. Most are away from home for the first time. Give it time, it's a process.

 

[baggerbob]

Sure he coached them but go back and watch some highlights. Pearl Sherm Johnny they all basically had a green light. I agree that Q is going to give Jim hives but i think JB for the most part will let him use his gifts.
Look at Joe. Jim knows hes a great shot and usually lets him off the hook when he jacks up poor takes. Should be fun

Yes Sherm's between the legs to Stevie is the stuff of legends.

 

[Melancer46]

Do we have any full length videos of the IMG Post Grad games yet?

 

[rrlbees]

Here’s some notes on IMGs game tonight that were sent to me. IMG won 110-107 in OT against another good team. I’m going to put the notes here because there’s more about Copeland.

IMG just started. Opponent looks a lot better than last game. Copeland just looked quicker and more explosive than I’ve seen him, blew by a guy baseline and threw down a powerful dunk.

Taylor playing great. First ten minutes against a tough team he’s hit two threes, had a nice reverse layup plus a foul, a two pointer in the paint, and had a good block. I’ve missed a few possessions too.

Wow IMG down 97-94 with 2 seconds to go, they foul Copeland shooting a three. He had missed a few free throws already. Stepped to the line and calmly knocked down all three. None were close to missing. Going OT. Copeland made a few big plays in the last couple minutes, couple tough defensive rebounds, a steal, an assist. He could be really good when Boeheim gets him to focus all the time. Taylor has looked good throughout.

The stream just cut out. Copeland opened OT with two more free throws, then yet another tough defensive rebound and was heading out on the break when the stream stopped. That was a good game. Think he was about 3-6 from the line before he hit the three in a row. He was a different player down the stretch.

 

[007]

Thanks for posting rrlbees

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Thanks for posting rrlbees

Word.

 

[AZOrange]

Disagree. He pulled off a reverse dunk on a breakaway during this game. When he sees an opening, he takes it.

Definitely quick when he wants to be and definitely can jump out of the gym.

I have a few concerns about him but not on his athletic ability.

Big issue will be between his ears.

 

[sutomcat]

Here’s some notes on IMGs game tonight that were sent to me. IMG won 110-107 in OT against another good team. I’m going to put the notes here because there’s more about Copeland.

IMG just started. Opponent looks a lot better than last game. Copeland just looked quicker and more explosive than I’ve seen him, blew by a guy baseline and threw down a powerful dunk.

Taylor playing great. First ten minutes against a tough team he’s hit two threes, had a nice reverse layup plus a foul, a two pointer in the paint, and had a good block. I’ve missed a few possessions too.

Wow IMG down 97-94 with 2 seconds to go, they foul Copeland shooting a three. He had missed a few free throws already. Stepped to the line and calmly knocked down all three. None were close to missing. Going OT. Copeland made a few big plays in the last couple minutes, couple tough defensive rebounds, a steal, an assist. He could be really good when Boeheim gets him to focus all the time. Taylor has looked good throughout.

The stream just cut out. Copeland opened OT with two more free throws, then yet another tough defensive rebound and was heading out on the break when the stream stopped. That was a good game. Think he was about 3-6 from the line before he hit the three in a row. He was a different player down the stretch.


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Nice report.

Really glad these two are at IMG, where they will face top notch competition most games. Should position them well for playing in the ACC next year.

I think we will need immediate contributions from both of them.

 

[asj410]

Big issue will be between his ears.

 

[RealMcNeil]

Big mad after that game.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Big mad after that game.

View attachment 211728

Big illiterate after that game. Probably at other times, as well.

 

[sutomcat]

Big mad after that game.

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Founded the Speights Academy and apparently is also the head coach.

https://speightsacademy.com/

 

[Melancer46]

Full stream of their game from Friday for those that are interested.

 

[Melancer46]

Okay, I finished watching the game above. My unofficial numbers for Quadir are:

• 13 points on 49.7% TS%
• 3/10 from the field (all attempts within a couple feet of the basket) and 7/7 from the free throw line
• 8 rebounds (probably 5 or 6 offensive rebounds)
• 4 assists to 4 turnovers
• 4 fouls; had to sit a good amount of the first half due to foul trouble. Picked up his 4th with 8 or 9 minutes left and sat out a minute or two from there on
• 1 steal
• FWIW, shot 9/19 from 3 in their warmups, all from above the break.

The good:

• Talented passer, uses his height to see over the defense and make passes that smaller guards are unable to.
• Good body control; can get the defender in chase mode and then sort of lean back in mid air to curl his body around the defender for his layups.
• Willing to scrap for offensive rebounds
• 7/7 at the free throw line; that's obviously as good as it gets

The bad:

• All his shots were at the rim and he only shot 30%. It's nice to see that he has the body control to attempt some of these layups but he lives on a diet of low quality attempts at the rim.
• Some people mistake playing at a methodical pace with being a low effort player; Quadir is definitely the latter. Defensively, he mostly stands straight up with his arms down. If the other team had cared to feed the post, they would have scored on him all day (at least until he started trying to avoid being embarrassed); he offers no resistance at all to bigger players posting him up. A couple instances of being lazy getting back and pointing at his teammates to stop someone so that he wouldn't have to. A couple other instances of just losing his man or ending up guarding nobody at all in transition.
• Still has a loose handle on the ball; only 4 turnovers in this one but he lost his handle a couple more times and was able to regain possession.
• Could rein in the no-look passes a bit.

He definitely shows flashes of the kinda things that get people really excited about him as a prospect; one of the NBA draft scouts I follow on Twitter loves his potential. Definitely seems like a high ceiling player if you get him to buy in to what the coach is selling. At the same time, he simply will not be playable in college if this is the mentality he's going to play with. There's no way Boeheim or most D1 coaches would put up with this. The good news is that effort is a really easy thing to fix; he simply has to want to. The level of competition here is not nearly as high as what Chris Bunch is facing in the NIBC games, but I reckon Copeland is probably the 3rd or 4th best player on this IMG team (based on this one game anyways).

Not his worst defensive possessions, but here's a couple possessions from early in the game that show some of the issues.

 

[007]

Okay, I finished watching the game above. My unofficial numbers for Quadir are:

• 13 points on 49.7% TS%
• 3/10 from the field (all attempts within a couple feet of the basket) and 7/7 from the free throw line
• 8 rebounds (probably 5 or 6 offensive rebounds)
• 4 assists to 4 turnovers
• 4 fouls; had to sit a good amount of the first half due to foul trouble. Picked up his 4th with 8 or 9 minutes left and sat out a minute or two from there on
• 1 steal
• FWIW, shot 9/19 from 3 in their warmups, all from above the break.

The good:

• Talented passer, uses his height to see over the defense and make passes that smaller guards are unable to.
• Good body control; can get the defender in chase mode and then sort of lean back in mid air to curl his body around the defender for his layups.
• Willing to scrap for offensive rebounds
• 7/7 at the free throw line; that's obviously as good as it gets

The bad:

• All his shots were at the rim and he only shot 30%. It's nice to see that he has the body control to attempt some of these layups but he lives on a diet of low quality attempts at the rim.
• Some people mistake playing at a methodical pace with being a low effort player; Quadir is definitely the latter. Defensively, he mostly stands straight up with his arms down. If the other team had cared to feed the post, they would have scored on him all day (at least until he started trying to avoid being embarrassed); he offers no resistance at all to bigger players posting him up. A couple instances of being lazy getting back and pointing at his teammates to stop someone so that he wouldn't have to. A couple other instances of just losing his man or ending up guarding nobody at all in transition.
• Still has a loose handle on the ball; only 4 turnovers in this one but he lost his handle a couple more times and was able to regain possession.
• Could rein in the no-look passes a bit.

He definitely shows flashes of the kinda things that get people really excited about him as a prospect; one of the NBA draft scouts I follow on Twitter loves his potential. Definitely seems like a high ceiling player if you get him to buy in to what the coach is selling. At the same time, he simply will not be playable in college if this is the mentality he's going to play with. There's no way Boeheim or most D1 coaches would put up with this. The good news is that effort is a really easy thing to fix; he simply has to want to. The level of competition here is not nearly as high as what Chris Bunch is facing in the NIBC games, but I reckon Copeland is probably the 3rd or 4th best player on this IMG team (based on this one game anyways).

Not his worst defensive possessions, but here's a couple possessions from early in the game that show some of the issues.

Thanks for the write up and the clips Melancer46 At first, I thought maybe Copeland had 4 fouls and was trying to stay in the game. Then, I realized it was 4 minutes into the 1st half. Not sure if anything was up, but if those clips are indicative at all of his "effort" he is in for a rough ride with JB. I know we heard similar things about Kadary, but it was never like this.

 

[orangejunkie]

This feels like "buyers remorse". Everyone is excited about these recruits when they first sign and how with their length they're perfect fits for Syracuse. Now we're getting clips of how they don't play any D. One of the problems with these assessments is that they're taken from a potentially small sample size. I wonder if these kids go on this website to see how they're viewed.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I still feel great about Copeland. He's going to be fine.

 

[721Comstock]

I still feel great about Copeland. He's going to be fine.

Agreed 144%.

Yeah, and with Sr JGIII around, and Symir, there will be plenty of motivation via:
'pine time w/ Boeheim' if QC struggles with defensive intensity issues.

Kadary had very similar reports of 'motor issues' on D in HS.

 

[hoopsupstate]

It seems to be a requirement that you can’t play defense if you come to Syracuse.

 

[rrlbees]

I’m not worried only because I know of the 5, 1-2 won’t live up to our expectations. 1-2 will and 1 will exceed them. Which ones are which I have no idea. That’s just how it usually goes and not just at SU. None are can’t misses like a Melo but all have some skills. I’ve seen JT and Cope play 7-9 times, Bunch probably 5-6 and just clips of Carey and Brown. The first 3 have all had very good games and bad games. But you can see the potential in each.

 

[Melancer46]

Agreed 144%.

Yeah, and with Sr JGIII around, and Symir, there will be plenty of motivation via:
'pine time w/ Boeheim' if QC struggles with defensive intensity issues.

Kadary had very similar reports of 'motor issues' on D in HS.

He did, but that was overblown. He was more of the "plays at a methodical pace" type. He was quite active defensively and constantly showed off the great hands for steals that he showed last year.

 

[kcsu]

Here’s some notes on IMGs game tonight that were sent to me. IMG won 110-107 in OT against another good team. I’m going to put the notes here because there’s more about Copeland.

IMG just started. Opponent looks a lot better than last game. Copeland just looked quicker and more explosive than I’ve seen him, blew by a guy baseline and threw down a powerful dunk.

Taylor playing great. First ten minutes against a tough team he’s hit two threes, had a nice reverse layup plus a foul, a two pointer in the paint, and had a good block. I’ve missed a few possessions too.

Wow IMG down 97-94 with 2 seconds to go, they foul Copeland shooting a three. He had missed a few free throws already. Stepped to the line and calmly knocked down all three. None were close to missing. Going OT. Copeland made a few big plays in the last couple minutes, couple tough defensive rebounds, a steal, an assist. He could be really good when Boeheim gets him to focus all the time. Taylor has looked good throughout.

The stream just cut out. Copeland opened OT with two more free throws, then yet another tough defensive rebound and was heading out on the break when the stream stopped. That was a good game. Think he was about 3-6 from the line before he hit the three in a row. He was a different player down the stretch.


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Thanks for these Bees!

 

[Scott11]

 

[SarasotaPaul]

Here’s some notes on IMGs game tonight that were sent to me. IMG won 110-107 in OT against another good team. I’m going to put the notes here because there’s more about Copeland.

IMG just started. Opponent looks a lot better than last game. Copeland just looked quicker and more explosive than I’ve seen him, blew by a guy baseline and threw down a powerful dunk.

Taylor playing great. First ten minutes against a tough team he’s hit two threes, had a nice reverse layup plus a foul, a two pointer in the paint, and had a good block. I’ve missed a few possessions too.

Wow IMG down 97-94 with 2 seconds to go, they foul Copeland shooting a three. He had missed a few free throws already. Stepped to the line and calmly knocked down all three. None were close to missing. Going OT. Copeland made a few big plays in the last couple minutes, couple tough defensive rebounds, a steal, an assist. He could be really good when Boeheim gets him to focus all the time. Taylor has looked good throughout.

The stream just cut out. Copeland opened OT with two more free throws, then yet another tough defensive rebound and was heading out on the break when the stream stopped. That was a good game. Think he was about 3-6 from the line before he hit the three in a row. He was a different player down the stretch.


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Thank you so much for this post.

 

[OrangeXtreme]