NBA: 50 greatest players who aren’t in the Basketball Hall of Fame
50 greatest players who aren’t in the Basketball Hall of Fame: 1. Chauncey Billups
The Detroit Pistons went on a legitimate run of dominance between 2002 and 2008. It’s no coincidence that Chauncey Billups arrived in Detroit during the 2002-03 campaign.
Against all odds, Billups developed into one of the NBA’s greatest late-bloomers, if not one of the best point guards in the history of the Association.
The list of accolades that Billups accumulated are admittedly slanted by the fact that he found his place as a star-caliber player somewhat deep into his career. Nevertheless, he’s one of the few players on this list who should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Billups’ No. 1 claim to fame is the fact that he famously won Finals MVP when Detroit improbably defeated Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to win the 2004 NBA Championship.
Over the course of the years that followed, he would add five All-Star Game appearances, three All-NBA nods, and two All-Defense selections to his résumé. That combination of awards certainly puts him in the Hall of Fame discussion.
That case is strengthened further by the fact that a nickname like, “Mr. Big Shot,” is only given to players who routinely step up in the biggest of moments—and Billups did exactly that.
Billups made the Conference Finals in every single season between 2002-03 and 2008-09, including trips to the NBA Finals in 2003-04 and 2004-05. Once he left Detroit, he even guided the Denver Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since1985—a 24-year drought.
A winner in every sense of the word, Billups evolved from a journeyman into one of the greatest players of his rather loaded generation. It’s one of the best stories in basketball history.
Next. The 50 greatest players to never win a championship. dark
As for the fans of advanced metrics, Billups has the second-most Win Shares of any eligible player who isn’t currently in the Hall of Fame.