Detroit Pistons: 10 best point guards in team history
By Amaar Burton
3. Chauncey Billups (2002-08, 2013-14)
If the Basketball Hall of Fame followed baseball’s lead and asked its inductees to choose one team to represent themselves, it would make perfect sense for Billups to choose the Nuggets. He was born and raised in Denver, after all, and had a nice run with the Nuggets that included a trip to the 2009 Western Conference Finals.
Still, the majority of hoop fans would probably more immediately associate Billups with the Pistons.
In seven-plus years with Detroit, “Mr. Big Shot” averaged 16.5 points, 6.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He helped the Pistons win an NBA championship in 2004, copping Finals MVP after he put up 17.9 points, 5.2 assists and 1.2 steals per contest in the Pistons’ upset win over the Los Angeles Lakers‘ much-hyped “super-team” that featured Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton.
Billups was kind of a journeyman. He played for seven teams in 17 pro seasons. Before he arrived in Detroit, he had bounced around the league trying to find the right fit in a franchise. The No. 3 pick in the 1997 NBA Draft was on the verge of being labeled a bust before he became a star with the Pistons.
It was with Detroit that he made three of his five career All-Star appearances, earned two of his three All-NBA nods and both of his All-Defensive Team selections. After the team traded him back home to Denver in 2008, he bounced around some more before returning in 2013 for one last season in Detroit.
Billups helped the Pistons make it to six straight Eastern Conference Finals. They won two of those series and split 1-1 in the NBA Finals, beating the Lakers in 2004 and losing to the San Antonio Spurs in 2005.
The Pistons of the 2000s were viewed as a modern-day version of the “Bad Boys” from the 1980s and 90s, which meant Billups was playing the role of Isiah Thomas. He was the leader, the calming influence on the court, a defensive stalwart, and the man trusted with the ball in his hands when the game was on the line.