Billups makes old team wonder

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Billups makes old team wonder

by Steve Bulpett
Monday, March 17, 2003







AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Chauncey Billups was just being matter of fact as he
spoke after his Pistons beat Washington Friday night.




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``I'm doing what I would have been doing for Boston,'' he said without a trace
of malice in his tone.

Billups isn't angry with the Celtics for trading him away in February of his
rookie season. The club's top draft pick in 1997 is more chagrined that he
didn't get to be part of the ``backcourt of the future'' that Rick Pitino so
boldly advertised (Then again, Ron Mercer didn't make it to the future with
the C's either).

Billups is a happy point guard these days. He's been given the job in Detroit
and he's been getting better as his first season with the Pistons has
progressed. Still, he wonders what could have happened had not Pitino been so
impatient in Boston.

As he spoke, Ben Wallace walked by in the Pistons dressing room at The Palace.
Billups was told that Wallace once tried to hook on with the Celts during the
M.L. Carr days, but that he was sent packing. Wallace, now the NBA's leading
rebounder, says Carr told him he needed to work on his small forward skills.

This was news to Billups.

``For real?'' he said. ``That's incredible. Think about that. Me and Ben with
that team and what they've got? No stopping that . . . No stopping that.''

The problem is there was no stopping the Celtics from making moves once Pitino
had the license to deal.

``I was cool with Pitino,'' Billups said. ``But I just felt like, one, he gave
up on me too quick, and two, he gave up on me without really giving me the
chance to do what I do. It was a tricky situation, man.

``I liked everything,'' he added. ``The city was great. The fans were great.
And I liked Pitino. We had a good relationship. We never had any problems. But
he wanted to win fast. He didn't want to be patient. That was pretty much what
happened. It's just a little hard to look back on it, because it could have
worked out there a lot sooner. But I'm finally getting the opportunity to
shine.''

Billups is taking advantage of that opportunity. He's fifth in the league in
scoring this month and is averaging 6.5 more points per game after the
All-Star break than he did in the first half.

He has found a home with his sixth team.

``I was always confident in myself from day one,'' Billups said. ``I felt it
was going to happen a lot sooner for me, but it didn't. I went through
different . . . situations.

``But it's worked out for me, and it's worked out for the Celtics, too,'' he
added. ``I think that's great. I'm glad for coach (Jim O'Brien). I'm very glad
for him. He was the guy that I was close with when I was there.''

O'Brien was able to see down the road with Billups when some others could not.
And he understands how things got mixed up for him along the way.

``I think it all started when we traded him, in that he really didn't get the
right chance,'' O'Brien said. ``Once you get into trades with a young guy,
then it's hard to be with somebody long enough to develop in their system. If
he had been drafted by a team that had all its ducks in a row from a personnel
standpoint, then he might have stuck and been this type of player earlier.''

If one wants to be a bit imaginative, Billups also might have been feeding
Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce and watching Wallace track down their misses.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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