MCAP Auto #50 - Chauncey Billups
2018-19 Panini Select - In Flight Signatures Neon Green 82/99
Born in Denver, Colorado, Chauncey Billups was highly rated from a young age. At high school he was a four-time All-State first team selection, named Mr. Colorado Basketball three times, Colorado player of the year twice and a McDonald's All American in 1995. He was widely recruited by colleges, however elected to remain local, attending the University of Colorado Boulder.
He spent two seasons with 'the Buffaloes' averaging 18.5 points, 5.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds per games and as a sophomore was named All-Big 12 Conference First Team, Basketball Times All-American First Team and consensus 2nd team All-American, leading the Buffaloes to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 28 years where they upset Indiana in the first round before losing to North Carolina.
The 21 year old, 6'3" point guard was drafted with the third overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, behind Tim Duncan and Keith Van Horn, but he had issues with Celtic coach Rick Pitino early on and the team wasn't sure whether to play him at the point or shooting guard. Billups showed flashes, including scoring 15 points in 16 minutes on debut however he was traded out of Boston in his first season, after only 51 games. The trade saw him, Dee Brown, Roy Rodgers & John Thomas head north of the border to Toronto for Kenny Anderson, Zan Tabak and Popeye Jones.
Billups played 29 games for the Raptors to see out his rookie year. He had consistent numbers with both franchises, averaging 11.2 points, 3.9 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals his first full year, but his field goal percentage was a shade under 38%.
The league then found itself in a pay dispute and the players locked out. Before Billups could take the court again, he found himself traded to the hometown Denver Nuggets in a three way trade involving Minnesota. Billups was placed in the role of starting shooting guard for a poor Nuggets team, playing out the shortened season. However he made just another 15 appearances for Denver when he was once again dealt. This time with Ron Mercer and and Johnny Taylor to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Chris Gatling, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, a future first-round pick, and cash.
Billups would never take the court for Orlando due to a shoulder injury and his services weren't retained at the end of the season. Suddenly it was possible the #3 pick could be out of the league in just three short seasons. However the Timberwolves signed Billups on a 2 year, $4.725m going into the 2000-01 season and gave him a starting role. It began well with Chauncey having a night against the Bucks in just his 7th game for the T-Wolves, scoring 31 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Less than a month later, Billups found himself out of the starting line up. The Wolves would scrape into the playoffs with Billups averaging 1 point, 1.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists as they were eliminated by the Spurs.
Fast forward one year later, and Billups would return a stat line of 22 points, 5.7 assists, 5 rebounds and 1 steal per game in another first round exit but in completely different circumstances. Initially coming off the bench for Terrell Brandon, a knee injury to the starter gave Billups another shot and this time he was able to make it work. But Billups was now once again a free agent and despite wanting to return to Minnesota, the Wolves wanted to stick with the former all-star. thus leaving Billups to sign a 5 year, $35m deal with the Pistons to be their starting point guard. Meanwhile Brandon would never play in the NBA again...
Chauncey quickly endeared himself fans for his tough defense and and clutch shooting, earning the nickname "Mr. Big Shot" after making two game winning shots within three weeks of each other. The Pistons finished the season first in the Eastern Conference but fell in a 3-1 hole to the 8th seeded Magic. Billups then put up a combined 77 points in Games 6 & 7 as Detroit came back to win the series. They would advance to the Eastern Conference Finals where they would be swept by the Nets with coach Carlisle losing his job.
Replaced by Larry Brown, the Pistons fell to the third seed in the East despite winning more games than the previous season. Billups averaged, at the time, a career high 16.9 points per game to go with 5.7 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals but it was in the playoffs where he really stood up. In the first round against the Bucks he hit key free throws in a crucial Game 3 to seal the victory. The following round, he hit a half court buzzer beater to send the Nets to overtime, and although the Pistons would ultimately lose in triple OT, they would ultimately win the series 4-3 before surviving a touch series against the Pacers to make the NBA Finals. Despite being underdogs to the final version of the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, the Pistons won 4-1 and Billups was named Finals MVP averaging 21 points, 5.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals, as well as shooting 50.1% from the field and 47.1% from deep.
The following season Billups would be the Pistons best player in the Finals again, however this time his squad would lose to the Spurs in seven games. He would be named to the All-Defensive 2nd team for the first time. The following season Billups started a streak that would result in five straight All-Star appearances and made 2nd team All-Defensive again as he captained the Pistons to a franchise best 64-18 record, however the team would fail to make the Finals for a third straight season.
Billups opted out of the last year of his deal and signed a new 4 year, $46 million deal with the Pistons ahead of the 2007-08 season, however it would prove to be his last full season playing in the Motor City. Despite achieving five straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, just two games into the 2008-09 season, Billups was traded back to Denver along with Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb for Allen Iverson. Pistons GM Joe Dumars said that it was "the hardest and toughest" move he had made as a general manager. The move didn't work for Detroit and its decline down the standings quickened. During his spell with the Pistons, Billups averaged 17 points, 6.4 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1 steal.
Meanwhile Mr Big Shot's return to Denver was a win. Teaming up with young superstar Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets had unprecedented success whilst Chauncey was running the point achieving a franchise best regular season record and achieving back to back 50 win seasons for the first time. However, after making it to the Western Conference Finals in his first season and taking the Lakers to six games, the Nuggets disappointed in the following post-seasons, being eliminated in the first round by Utah.
Despite publicly stating his desire to retire in Denver, Billups found himself traded in the 2010-11 season as "collateral damage" in the deal that saw Anthony become a Knick. Billups found it hard to say goodbye to his young family to move across the country. He then got injured in Game 1 of the playoffs and would feature again as they lost to the Celtics. Billups express his desire to have a full season in New York to see where the team could go. Despite averaging 17.5 points, 5.5 assists and 3.1 rebounds in his 21 games in the Big Apple, the Knicks used their amnesty clause on Billups contract and put him on waivers.
In the twilight of his career, Billups was keen to join a contender as a free agent, however the Clippers claimed him off waivers. Initially not happy to be headed to the Clippers, the franchise signaled their intentions two days later, trading for Chris Paul and now Billups was on board with their direction. Chauncey helped the Clippers get off to a hot 19-9 start but an Achilles tear ended his season. He re-joined the Clippers the following season but various injuries limited him to 22 games.
Ahead of the 2013-14 season, Billups re-signed with the Pistons on a 2 year, $5m deal, but knee issues meant his was limited to just 19 appearances and the Pistons elected not to pick up their team option. Billups prompted retired from the NBA after 17 seasons.
He averaged 15.2 points, 5.4 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1 steal across his 1043 regular season games. He also won gold at the 2010 FIBA World Championships with Team USA.
He has had his #1 jersey retired by the Detroit Pistons and his #4 jersey retired by the University of Colorado Boulder. He actually wore the #4 jersey in high school, college and early on in his career as he idolised Joe Dumars. The GM who brought him to Detroit and ultimately made the mistake of trading him away.
After his career finished, Billups spent time in TV studios, broadcasting games for ESPN before moving into a staff role with the Los Angeles Clippers. In 2020 he became an assistant coach with the Clippers before being named head coach of the Portland Trailblazers the following season. His first season in Portland was a rocky one, with the Blazers going 27-55 under Billups however the franchise traded away its second best player CJ McCollum midway through the season and its best player Damian Lillard only managed 29 games. Thus far Billups and the Blazers have managed to surprise the league going 10-6 at the start of the 2022-23 season.
The hiring of Billups as head coach of the Blazers brought back into the spotlight an ugly incident from his past. Whilst a rookie with the Celtics, Billups and teammate Ron Mercer were accused of of sexually assaulting a woman at the home of teammate Antoine Walker. According to a civil suit, Billups, Mercer and Walker's roommate Michael Irvin assaulted the woman at Walker's condo. A medical examination on the following day revealed injuries consistent with the victim's testimony. No criminal charges were filed, but Billups and Mercer settled a civil suit in 2000. Before being hired as the head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers, they investigated this allegation and concluded it did not disqualify him from taking the role.
Basketball-Reference.com currently has him as an 84.4% chance to make the Basketball Hall of Fame.