The Detroit Pistons will retire Chauncey Billups‘ jersey in a ceremony Wednesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the place where he spent the best years of his career. During his time there, he helped lead the Pistons to back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals, a championship in 2004, and six straight Conference Finals appearances. In his must-read essay over at the Players’ Tribune, the five-time All-Star and Finals MVP talks about the origin of that jersey number and much more in a letter to his younger self.
One of the best stories of Billups’ career came after Game 2 of the 2004 Finals, which the dynastic Lakers won at home to tie the series at 1-1. When head coach Larry Brown started to launch into a lecture about how his Sixers handled the same predicament just a few years prior, Billups stopped him dead in his tracks.
They need you to calmly, sternly tell Coach Brown — bless him — to miss everyone with that Philly talk. To not even let him finish when he starts in, dejectedly, on, “When this happened last time.” To just cut him off (with love), and tell him, point blank: “Don’t care, L.B.” To make sure he understands — the whole team understands — that no one should care, at all, about what happened to the Sixers in ‘01. And that, when Coach Brown says, “last time” — nah. Nah. There was no last time.
This is y’all’s first time. And this ain’t Philly.
This is Detroit.
But before all of that success in Detroit, Billups had a long road ahead as a young player in the NBA. After being drafted third overall by the Celtics, he was traded in the middle of the season as Boston looked to make a playoff push and flipped him for veteran point guard Kenny Anderson. He would go on to be traded five more times before finding job security in Detroit.
In the meanwhile, though … Chaunce, I won’t sugarcoat it: it’s going to be tough.
It’s going to be you, on your own, in the basketball wilderness. Boston to Toronto … Toronto to Denver.
“Stud prospect” to “journeyman” in less than two years.
Or that will be the perception, anyhow.
It’s crazy how misperceptions get started.
Billups goes on to briefly discuss his initial introduction to the late Flip Saunders during his time in Minnesota, the man who would eventually become his coach again in Detroit and help lead the Pistons to five straight Conference Finals appearances.
You’ll have Flip Saunders — and, listen: That’s probably a whole other letter. But all I’ll say, for now, is this: Chauncey, respect that man. And cherish him. As coaches go … he’ll be one of the good ones. And as people go … he’ll be one of the great ones.
(But don’t waste a big goodbye on him in Minnesota. You’ll meet him again later.)
Let’s hope Billups does decide to eventually write a separate letter about Saunders. But in the meantime, there’s plenty in this one that we couldn’t possible cover in its entirety, so you should probably just check it out for yourself. It’s well worth it.
(Via The Players’ Tribune)
