Originally Posted by finestrg
Not sure what you're saying here or what you think I said...I'm saying play the kid, even heavy mins when scoring punch is needed (obviously with Melo out). It seems you're advocating that too. Only thing -- the dude's gotta bring it on the defensive end, at least somewhat. He came out firing and hitting from the perimeter against Cleveland yet got yanked after he dogged it on defense. And against Houston (I was at the game), he didn't come out strong offensively early (I believe all of his offense or the bulk of it came in the 2nd half) but yet again, didn't play defense, wasn't getting back on defense etc. in that 1st half, and coach yanked him again..In the 2nd half, his defensive intensity picked up considerably and he continued to play and produce (which makes me believe they spoke to him about it during halftime)...All true...Go back and look at the tape...Can't say I disagree with Woody here at all -- if you dog it on D, you should get removed from the game. That goes for anyone, esp. a rookie.

I want the kid out there playing man -- I think he's too talented offensely not to, esp. with Melo out. Just gotta bring a better effort defensively and he'll play and won't give coach any reason to yank him prematurely...You don't play defense, you make it easy on coach to pull you...If he gives effort all-around he's gonna get time now, maybe he'll even make a case for playing time once Melo returns. Not like he can't play D -- we've seen it -- matched up against Beasley for PHX he did a nice job even blocking his shot at the rim once; did a nice job against Jared Sullinger in the post the couple of times we played Boston in the preseason (even blocked a 3-pt attempt to seal the deal at the end of one of those games), etc...We need to see it consistently. If we do, he'll make one hell of an interesting case for consistent PT.
We need to change this to a Copeland vs Woody thread LOL

What your mentioning is true to a sense, but Copeland wasnt pulled out of the game for poor defense (if so alot of our players wouldve been pulled out of the Cavs/Rockets games).

Copeland was a starter in both games, Woody was depending on his bench-players JR & Novak's minutes & scoring to makeup for a missing Melo in both games.

In the Houston game Copeland played the first 7 minutes of the 3rd quarter, because in 3rd qtr. the starting lineup had chip away at Rockets 12 point lead down to a 5 point lead with 5 min remaining in the 3rd (Tyson, Copeland, Brewer, Kidd, Felton).
Woody was not suppose to take Copeland out of the game when we were only down by 5 points with 5 minutes remaining in the 3rd.
Jason Kidd was the only player tired that needed a rest, and shouldve been replaced by Pablo (we needed a steal to bring the Rockets lead down to 3).
But Woody took Copeland out so JR could get the final 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter, then 2 minutes later Woody took Brewer out so Novak could get the final 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Then called time-out with 1 minute left in the 3rd with the Knicks down by 20 points.
I'm not going to go into the Cavs game we won that on another last shot.

The Knicks vs Brooklyn game with Novak out with injury ..
Copeland bigbody became a factor in the WIN by boxingout/setting screens/running back on defense .. in some games i would rather have Copeland replace Kurt or Rasheed at banging bodies in the paint on offense/defense .. in other games I would like to have a peremeter shooter Novak increase our lead.