Chauncey Billups ‘grateful’ for short Celtics chapter of his Hall of Fame career
Portland coach interviewed with Stevens
When Chauncey Billups got the call that he had been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame last week, he was initially skeptical. The date was April 1, and he couldn’t help but think it might have been a joke.
“I was like, ‘Nah, I know you’re not playing this sick game with me,’” Billups said.
But he quickly realized it was very real. After a 17year NBA career that included five All-Star selections and being a core member of the Pistons’ 2004 championship team, Billups’ name will be immortalized in Springfield. On Sunday, a few days after that memorable call, Billups was reminiscing about where it all started.
It may be somewhat forgotten that Billups — who spent his prime years with the Pistons — started his NBA career in Boston after being selected with the No. 3 pick in the 1997 draft. He only lasted 51 games before the Celtics, under new head coach Rick Pitino, surprisingly traded him to the Raptors. Billups struggled, and he wasn’t exactly the right fit at the time. But he was grateful for the experience because it helped shape the rest of his Hall of Fame career, and now as the head coach of the Blazers.
“It was hard early,” Billups said Sunday before his Blazers faced the Celtics. “Being here, I was so excited to be drafted here. The rich tradition and history and all the great players that played here, and I was just so excited to be here. And at that time, Rick was coming here and the way they played in college (at Kentucky), I thought kind of suited my game.
They run up and down, played defense, shot threes, and I just thought that it was going to be perfect. Obviously it wasn’t. It was nobody’s fault. It wasn’t necessarily Rick’s fault, my fault. I just wasn’t really ready at the time, to be that guy. It just took time, man. It took time. …
“I just needed time, so it all worked out. I’m grateful for the struggles I had early. I thought it made me so much better in my prime and the rest of my career and even now being able to help my youngins and other people around the league that come to me for advice and things, so had I not gone through that, who knows what could have happened? But everything always happens how it’s supposed to, I’ve always believed that.”
Billups was traded for All-Star guard Kenny Anderson as the Celtics looked to speed up their rebuild around Antoine Walker and Ron Mercer. That offseason, the Celtics drafted Paul Pierce, and both Billups and the Celtics ultimately won championships over the next decade. But Billups holds no bitterness to how everything worked out.
“When Rick traded me, he was very honest with me,” Billups said. “I appreciated that. He really liked Kenny Anderson and he wanted to try to make the playoffs right away, and I was too young for that. Like I wasn’t ready to help in that regard. I was just happy that he was honest with me, and I respect that and I appreciate that. …
“They drafted the right guy, they just gave up too quick, you know? But I enjoyed my time here, I enjoyed the fans here, they treated me well. I thought they believed in what was to come of our team. We were really young, and Antoine was our best player and he was an All-Star, Ron was playing pretty good. I thought we had a good young mix, but decisions always have to be made in pro sports.”
A near reunion
Billups, whose playing career ended in 2014, had a chance to come back to Boston in 2021 after Brad Stevens stepped down as head coach. The Celtics ultimately hired Ime Udoka to be his successor, but Billups said he had multiple conversations with Stevens about the opening.
“I absolutely did,” Billups said. “It would have been kind of crazy going full circle like that. …
“It was great,” Billups said of his discussions with Stevens. “I thought they had real interest in me and obviously at the end of the day, they went with the more experienced person in Ime who had been around for a long time. They obviously made the right call, he’s made a great coach already in the league, but it was really good. We had a couple conversations. I was excited about it. I was prepared for it. So yeah, it was cool.”
Tip-ins
Former Celtics Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon and Dalano Banton — who are all with the Blazers — made the trip to Boston and were welcomed back on the TD Garden video board during the first timeout in the first quarter. Williams and Brogdon — who were sent to Portland in the Jrue Holiday trade — were both out due to injuries.
Williams, who played the first five seasons of his career with the Celtics and was a starter on the 2022 Finals team, received the loudest ovation. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in November. …
Jayson Tatum missed Sunday’s game due to a right knee contusion.