Auburn Hills, Mich. – From Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood, stretching throughout the Mile High City and continuing to the far corners of the state, Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups wants to play for all of Colorado at Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game in Houston.
After a 15-year hiatus, Colorado finally has a native son back in the big game.
“I’m representing the whole state, even though my pride is in Park Hill,” said Billups, a former George Washington High School and University of Colorado star.
Colorado my be known for producing Olympians, but not often NBA standouts.
When Billups makes his first appearance in the All-Star Game, he will join Tom Chambers (Fairview), Micheal Ray Richardson (Manual), Joe Barry Carroll (Denver East) and Scott Wedman (Mullen) as the only Colorado high school products to make it to the NBA’s showcase event.
“Nobody believes I’m from Colorado,” Billups said. “They’re like, ‘Colorado? They don’t even have black people in Colorado.’ Then when they see me play, they say: ‘There is no way you can be from Denver. We’ve never heard of anybody from Denver.”‘
Pistons teammate Antonio McDyess still kids him about it, saying: “I always mess with him. ‘How did you come from Denver?’ That’s kind of odd. He has a lot of street game.”
Actually, he has a whole lot of overall game. Billups is fast building a résumé that could end with him being regarded as the finest player to come out of the state.
“When you mention basketball in Colorado, you mention Chauncey,” McDyess said. “He really put it on the map.”
In an earlier time, so did Richardson. The four-time all-star is a man whom Chauncey’s father, Ray, saw as an inspiration for his son when “Sugar” was at the height of his game.
“He was the stepping stone for kids here to see that they can make it,” the elder Billups said.
“For as big as (Colorado) is, I think we should be able to produce more (players),” Richardson said. “But the game in Colorado isn’t like it is back on the East Coast. … In Denver, it’s hard to find real good basketball.”
Ray Billups found it, often playing pickup ball with Richardson in the late 1970s. When Chauncey was growing up, his father would tell him to pay attention when Richardson’s games were on TV. The 1974 Manual High School graduate averaged 15.7 points with New York, Golden State and New Jersey from 1978-86.
“I met him at a young age, but I still didn’t know the magnitude of him,” Chauncey said. “When he was on TV, my dad would be like, ‘There’s Micheal Ray.”‘
Richardson’s rise to stardom crashed in 1986 when the NBA banned him for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.
“I thought he was the best to ever come out of Denver,” Chauncey Billups said. “He could do everything. I mean everything. Defend, score, pass, everything. There’s a lot of things you can take good from his game.
“And, off the court, with the drugs, you learn what not to do. That was tough times for him, I know. But somebody like me learned so much from that that I know I would never get caught up in something like that.”
Richardson and Billups talk on the phone about once a month. Richardson said he admires Billups’ game and the tenacity he has shown.
“A lot of people were writing him off because he was bouncing around the league,” Richardson said. “But once he found the right situation that suited him, he was able to show his ability.”
Colorado coach Ricardo Patton, who coached Billups at CU, goes further.
“Some guys talk about making it to the NBA, and for the most part they just want to live an NBA lifestyle,” Patton said. “But Chauncey’s a young man that wanted to be someone once he got there.”
No hometown dream
Billups grew up a Nuggets fan, loving Fat Lever’s triple-doubles, Alex English’s smooth moves and Michael Adams’ long-range shooting.
“I’m always going to be a Nuggets fan, I really am, except for the two times when we play them,” Billups said.
He eventually got his dream to play for his hometown team, but his short stay was filled with disillusionment. A McDonald’s All-American at George Washington, Billups stayed two years at CU, left for the NBA and was chosen No. 3 overall by Boston in the 1997 draft. The Celtics traded him to Toronto after 51 games. The Raptors had even less patience, trading him to the Nuggets on Jan. 21, 1999, during a lockout-shortened season.
Billups started well with Denver, averaging 13.9 points and 3.8 assists as a reserve in his first season. But the Nuggets couldn’t figure out whether the 6-foot-3 Billups was best suited to play point or shooting guard. His numbers declined to 8.6 points and 3.0 assists in his second season before he suffered a dislocated left shoulder that led to season-ending surgery Dec. 27, 1999. Soon after, general manager and coach Dan Issel sent Ron Mercer, forward Johnny Taylor and Billups to Orlando for forward Chris Gatling, swingman Tariq Abdul-Wahad and a first-round draft pick.
“That was definitely one of the dark days in my NBA experience,” Billups said. “I was at home playing for a team I had so much admiration for.
“The biggest thing about that trade is everybody knew I was hurt at that time. I couldn’t help the Nuggets. I couldn’t help anybody else.”
Ray Billups also took the trade hard, saying, “The organization didn’t give him a fair shake.”
Issel today admits his error, but adds: “Chauncey Billups wasn’t the same player then as he is now. I’m happy for him. I wasn’t the only idiot that traded him.”
Motown fulfillment
Billups was passed around the league like a bad cold – from Boston to Toronto to Denver to Orlando to Minnesota to Detroit. The Pistons’ organization, known for their shrewd personnel judgments, signed him as a free agent in 2002 with a five-year, $36 million deal, then handed him the starting point guard spot.
“Sometimes you just see something in a person and you have to go with your gut feeling,” Pistons president Joe Dumars said. “I thought Chauncey had everything it took to be a great player in this league.”
Billups repaid that faith, averaging 16.2 points and 3.9 assists in his first season. A year later, under first-year Pistons coach Larry Brown, Billups had his breakthrough season, averaging 16.9 points and 5.7 assists and helping Detroit win the NBA title, in the process earning NBA Finals MVP honors.
Former Nuggets teammate Nick Van Exel credits Brown with helping refine Billups’ game.
“Larry Brown slowed him down a lot,” Van Exel said. “He’s more calm, more relaxed.”
Billups continued his drive toward stardom last season, averaging 18.7 points and 6.5 assists. But he was snubbed for the All-Star Game back in his hometown. It took some strong urging from his wife, Piper, to convince him to attend the game.
“I didn’t want to go,” Billups admitted. “My wife talked me into it. ‘It is what it is. You got to be better than that.”‘
Now reunited in Detroit with his old coach at Minnesota, Flip Saunders, Billups has helped lead the Pistons to the best record in the NBA this season. And he finally got his All-Star Game wish, as a reserve.
“I had a feeling that I probably would make it,” Billups said. “But until I saw it on paper, I couldn’t believe it.”
Gov. Bill Owens said Billups is doing the state proud.
“Watching him go through his illustrious high school career and then go on to play in Boulder gives me a great sense of pride as a Coloradan,” Owens said. “He is truly one of the state’s best-loved sons.”
Billups might even lead a renaissance of Colorado talent flowing into the NBA. The short list of NBA players hailing from Colorado this season includes Pat Garrity (Lewis-Palmer High School in Monument), Michael Ruffin (Cherry Creek), Eddie Gill (Overland) and Kaniel Dickens (Denver East).
A new wave of Coloradans is coming, with NBA prospects such as University of Denver senior center Yemi Nicholson (Overland), Nevada junior forward Nick Fazekas (Ralston Valley), Nevada-Las Vegas forward Louis Amundson (Monarch) and Colorado State sophomore forward Jason Smith (Platte Valley in Kersey). They all hope to follow the footsteps of Billups, who has a “King of Park Hill” tattoo on one arm but will be King of Colorado on Sunday.
“He’s somebody I look up to and I listen to,” said Nicholson, who has played on Billups’ summer league team. “He’s such a great player. Somebody that’s a mentor. Somebody I really admire.”
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
