RE: Billups makes old team wonder

["Wright, Cecil" <Cecil.Wright@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Remember the heat I took for asking to be patient with him?  He wasn't a pure point guard was the prevailing theme.  There was no consideration of his defensive skills, ability to get his own shot or his free throw shooting.  It was right now this minute.  

Always was, always will be.

Cecil  


-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Forant [mailto:dforant1@nycap.rr.com]
Sent: March 17, 2003 9:53 AM
To: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: Billups makes old team wonder


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.
>
>
>
>
>       Somebody's Got To Say It
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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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