Chauncey Billups

Chauncey Ray Billups (born September 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Born in Denver, Colorado, Billups graduated from George Washington High School in 1995.

At George Washington, he was a four-time All-State first team pick, Colorado Mr. Basketball three times, and Colorado Player of the Year as a sophomore and as a junior.

He started on varsity as a freshman.

He was selected to the 1995 McDonald's All-American Team but did not play due to a shoulder injury.

For college, Billups chose the University of Colorado Boulder over Kansas, Georgia Tech, University of California-Berkeley, and Oklahoma State.

He averaged 18.5 points, 5.1 assists, and 5.6 rebounds per game over his two seasons with the Buffaloes.

In the 1996–97 season, he was named to the All-Big 12 Conference First Team, the Basketball Times All-American First Team, and Consensus 2nd team All-American.

That same season, Colorado finished second in the Big 12 conference with an overall record of 22–10.

Billups then led the Buffaloes to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 28 years.

As a 9-seed, Billups and the Buffalos upset the 8-seed Indiana Hoosiers 80–62 but then lost to the North Carolina Tar Heels 56–73.

Billups averaged 17.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game.

After playing college basketball with the Colorado Buffaloes, he was selected third overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics.

A five-time NBA All-Star, a three-time All-NBA selection and two-time NBA All-Defensive selection, Billups also played for the Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Clippers during his NBA career.

Billups was drafted third overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics.

He did not mesh with new Celtics head coach Rick Pitino.

In his first career game, Billups recorded 15 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists in 16 minutes of playing time as a reserve in a win against the Michael Jordan-led Bulls.

In his eighth career game, Billups posted a then career-high 22 points, on 5-for-14 shooting from the field and 9-for-10 from the free throw line, to go along with 3 assists and 4 steals, in a 103–99 win over the visiting Raptors.

Years later, Billups reflected on his stint in Boston, commenting, "That didn't help. That didn't give me a chance to really slow down and listen to myself, listen to the game and what's going on. I never really had that chance. It was a recipe for disaster there."

In addition, the Celtics coaching staff did not know whether to play him as a point guard or shooting guard.

Fifty-one games later, Billups was traded to the Toronto Raptors on the trade deadline.

On February 18, 1998, Billups was traded to the Toronto Raptors, along with Roy Rogers, Dee Brown, and John Thomas in exchange for All-Star point guard Kenny Anderson, Žan Tabak, and Popeye Jones.

On February 22, in just his second career game with the Raptors, Billups recorded a then-career high of 27 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field and 13-for-16 from the free throw line, to go along with 2 rebounds and 5 assists in a 113–105 win over the Vancouver Grizzlies.

On March 3, Billups recorded 26 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 6 assists in a 93–108 loss to the visiting Utah Jazz.

On April 14, Billups recorded 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in a 96–92 road win over the New Jersey Nets.

On January 21, 1999, Billups was dealt to his hometown Denver Nuggets in a three-way deal involving one of Billups's future teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Minnesota received Dean Garrett and Bobby Jackson from Denver, Toronto received future teammate Željko Rebrača and Micheal Williams from Minnesota and the 5th pick in the 1999 NBA draft from Denver, and Billups, along with Tyson Wheeler, were sent to Denver from Toronto.

Three months into his first tenure with the Nuggets, Billups visited a local Denver hospital in order to comfort and inspire Patrick Ireland, a victim of the 1999 Columbine High School Shooting Massacre.

A year later, on February 1, 2000, Billups was traded to the Orlando Magic along with Ron Mercer and Johnny Taylor in exchange for Chris Gatling, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, a future first-round pick, and cash.

Billups was on the injured list until season's end due to an injured shoulder and never played a game for the Magic.

Despite this, he was included in the season-ending team photo.

Among NBA circles, Billups was considered a draft bust.

Billups was signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves (who had been involved in the trade that sent Billups to Denver) as a back-up to then point guard Terrell Brandon, who would mentor the troubled player alongside Sam Mitchell, Wally Szczerbiak, and Kevin Garnett.

Billups would work with his more experienced teammates on shooting, scouting, decision-making and the other attributes that came with playing point guard in the NBA, such as learning to work more effectively with teammates and deciding which plays would be most beneficial for the team in a specific situation.

In his first career game with the Timberwolves, Billups recorded 15 points, 2 rebounds and 5 assists in a 106–98 road win over the Houston Rockets.

Billups spent the majority of his 17-year basketball career playing for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he won the NBA Finals MVP in 2004 after helping the Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals, and was given the nickname "Mr. Big Shot" for making late-game shots with Detroit.

Billups worked as a studio analyst after his retiring from playing in 2014.

The Pistons retired his No. 1 jersey in 2016.

He started coaching as an assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers during the 2020–21 season.

Billups was appointed as head coach of the Trail Blazers in 2021.