Reflections from Mr. Big Shot
Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups’s first game after being elected to the Hall of Fame was in Boston, the team that drafted him third overall in 1997. Billups played just 51 games for the Celtics before Rick Pitino traded him to Toronto in a deal that brought Kenny Anderson.
Billups eventually became a seventime All-Star, NBA Finals MVP, and the unquestioned leader of some stellar Pistons teams in the 2000s.
Pitino has told the Globe over the years that he regrets making that deal, especially since Billups turned into one of the league’s top guards. Billups was 20 when he arrived in Boston and said he understood he wasn’t mature enough or skilled enough to help a team win immediately.
The Celtics were desperate for relevance and Billups wasn’t part of the short-term plan.
“I was so excited to get drafted here, the rich tradition and history and all the great players that played here, I was just so excited,” he said. “At that time Rick was coming here and the way [Kentucky] played in college kind of suited my game. They went up and down, played defense, shot threes. I just thought it was going to be perfect.
“It wasn’t. But it was nobody’s fault. I just didn’t have time to be that guy. It just took time. One of the things I’m most proud of is if I look back and say ‘Dang, what would I tell myself and what would I do differently?’ To be honest it’s probably nothing because I worked my butt off. It’s not that I said could have worked harder. I did.”
Billups would play just 29 games with the Raptors before he was traded to his hometown Nuggets. He played 58 games in Denver before signing with the Timberwolves as a free agent. Two years later, he signed with Detroit, a decision that changed the trajectory of his career.
“I’m grateful for the struggles I had early,” he said. “I thought it made me so much better in my prime and the rest of my career, and now being able to help [Portland’s young players] and other people around the league that come to me for advice and things. Had I not gone through that, then who knows? Everything happens that was supposed to, I always believe that.”
Billups averaged 15.2 points and 5.4 assists over his career. And he was considered one of the bigger shot-makers of his generation. There has been increased appreciation for his contributions as observers have had a chance to reflect on his career. Billups waited six years to reach this seminal moment, but he has no issue.
“I’ve always been pretty patient, that’s a characteristic that I get from my father,” Billups said. “I’ve always known there’s a due process that needs to happen too. I come from that oven generation, not that microwave generation. You’ve got to let it cook for a while and just see. That’s always been a good thing of mine but I always thought I could do anything if given the time. Sometimes in this sport, you don’t get the time to mature. There’s different pressures everywhere and you don’t get the opportunity sometimes.”
Billups is in his third season with the Trail Blazers, who are in a rebuild after trading Damian Lillard to the Bucks last summer.
“Look at what I’m doing now in my current job, my current situation, I’ve been surprised how patient I’ve been, it’s grown even more,” Billups said. “This has been a real challenge. But like my playing career, it’s going to end up the same way. I’m going to win. I believe that. I believe that 100 percent.”