Chris Copeland

Christopher Stephen Copeland (born March 17, 1984) nicknamed "The X-Factor" is an American former professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League.

He played college basketball for the Colorado Boulder.

Copeland was born in Orange, New Jersey to mother, Terry, in 1984.

With his father absent from his life from birth, Copeland always looked up to his older brother, Vincent Alphaquan, a basketball standout at Seton Hall Prep and Columbus High School in New York before he played at Jackson State.

At age 4, he established a practice routine with Vincent as his coach, honing his game with various dribbling drills in a narrow alleyway next to their house.

He continued with the regimen through childhood at Elmwood Park under Vincent's guidance.

This all changed in May 1997 when Vincent slipped into a coma after a drunk driver struck him in a hit-and-run accident on Central Avenue in East Orange, just a few blocks away from the Copelands' house.

He regained consciousness for a couple days, but six weeks after the accident, he unexpectedly died.

Vincent, engaged to marry that June, was 22.

One weekend in August 1999, Copeland and his mother visited his aunt in Richmond, Virginia where she brought Copeland, then 15, to nearby Hermitage High School.

He wandered into the gym where, by chance, the school's players were running pick-up games.

He was already 6-foot-6, and he was immediately noticed.

Upon their chance encounter with the coaches at Hermitage, Terry decided she and her son would leave New Jersey.

She quit her job as a senior administrator for Unity Hospice in Newark, and by October 1999, her son was enrolled at Hermitage.

As a senior in 2001–02, he averaged 15 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.7 blocks per game for the Panthers as he earned Most Valuable Player honors, as well as Virginia High School Colonial District Co-Player of the Year, Virginia All-State honorable mention, all-region, all-district and all-metro first-team selection.

As both a junior and senior, he helped Hermitage win the Colonial District Championship.

In his freshman season at Colorado, Copeland proved to be a valuable contributor off the bench as he often provided CU with clutch points despite limited minutes.

In 26 games, he averaged 2.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per game.

In his sophomore season, Copeland played in 27 of the Buffs 28 games while averaging 9.2 minutes per game.

He scored a season-high 12 points against Iowa State on March 3, 2004, along with five rebounds and four-of-four from the free-throw line.

For the season, he averaged 2.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

In his junior season, Copeland earned Big 12 All-Improved team honors after more than tripling his points per game average.

He scored a career-high 25 points against Richmond on January 4, 2005.

In 29 games (15 starts), he averaged 11.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 blocks in 25.2 minutes per game.

In his senior season, Copeland helped CU to a 20–10 overall record and an NIT berth as he played in all 30 games with 28 starts while averaging 24.3 minutes per game.

He scored a season-high 22 points against Kansas on January 11, 2006.

For the season, he averaged 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

Copeland went undrafted in the 2006 NBA draft.

He went on to play 20 games for the Flyers to close out the 2006–07 season.

On March 29, 2007, he was acquired by the Fort Worth Flyers of the NBA Development League.

On September 20, 2007, Copeland signed with CB L'Hospitalet of Spain for the 2007–08 season.

In October 2007, Copeland left L'Hospitalet and signed with Matrixx Magixx of the Netherlands for the rest of the 2007–08 season.

In the summer of 2008, Copeland signed with TBB Trier of Germany for the 2008–09 season.

He played 67 games over two seasons as he averaged 13.2 ppg in 2008–09 and 16.9 ppg in 2009–10.

In June 2009, he re-signed with the Trier for the 2009–10 season.

In July 2010, Copeland signed with Okapi Aalstar of Belgium for the 2010–11 season.

In April 2011, he signed a two-year contract extension with the club.

However, he left Aalstar following the 2011–12 season after earning Belgian League MVP and Star of the Coaches honors.

On July 16, 2012, Copeland signed a one-year deal with the New York Knicks and went on to average 13.8 points in five games for the Knicks during the 2012 NBA Summer League.

On November 2, 2012, he made his NBA debut in the Knicks' season opener against the Miami Heat, recording no points in just under two minutes of action.