Re: Billups makes old team wonder

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Billups rightfully so, pouring salt in a wound.

DanF

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Beauregard" <sb@maine.rr.com>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 7:49 AM
Subject: Billups makes old team wonder


> 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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