Billups, Hammon among nominees
Chauncey Billups, the Denver native and former NBA all-star, and Becky Hammon, the former Colorado State standout and current trailblazer as an NBA assistant coach, have been nominated for 2018 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Billups and Hammon are firsttime nominees. Finalists will be announced Feb. 17 during NBA All-Star Weekend, and the new Hall of Fame class will be unveiled at the Final Four in San Antonio. Enshrinement is scheduled for Sept. 6-8 in Springfield, Mass.
Billups was a five-time NBA allstar during his 17-year career in which he played for the Celtics, Raptors, Nuggets (two stints), Timberwolves, Pistons (two stints), Knicks and Clippers from 1997-2014. He was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP for the champion Pistons and compiled 15,802 points, 5,636 assists and 2,992 rebounds over his career. His No. 1 jersey has been retired by Detroit.
Billups’ No. 4 has been retired at Colorado, where he was a second-team All-American, led the Buffaloes to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 28 years in 1997 and became the No. 3 overall pick in the NBA draft. Before signing with the Buffaloes, Billups was a three-time Mr. Colorado Basketball while starring at George Washington High School.
Hammon, who broke barriers when the San Antonio Spurs hired her as the first full-time female NBA assistant coach in 2014, was an All-American at CSU and led the Rams to the Sweet 16 in 1999. She became CSU’s and the Western Athletic Conference’s all-time leading scorer with 2,740 points and set several other school records, including assists (538) and 3-pointers made (365). She was inducted into the CSU Sports Hall of Fame in 2004, and her No. 25 was retired in 2005.
Hammon was a six-time WNBA all-star and became the league’s all-time assists leader in 2007.
Other first-time nominees include Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton.