The Mile High City is so close to Chauncey Billups’ heart that he’ll wear the town’s ultimate sports number over it as proof.
No. 7.
Yep. The numeral synonymous with John Elway and athletic excellence in Denver — and one of only two orange-and-blue numbers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — will now be worn by Billups, who bleeds any color related to the city.
Talk about pressure. Nuggets coach George Karl and Billups held up the jersey at the guard’s introductory news conference Thursday afternoon and joked about offseason smack talk.
“He hangs out with us in the summertime and gives us all types of grief about not winning championships,” Karl said. “So now we give you grief to win a championship (for Denver).”
Billups is back for a number of reasons, but chief among them is to win in the playoffs. In the past five seasons, the Nuggets are 4-20 in the postseason. In that same span, Billups’ Detroit teams are 61-38, with trips to the Eastern Conference Finals every season, two NBA Finals appearances and one NBA title.
That winning pedigree and stabilizing leadership should be big pluses for a somewhat schizophrenic Nuggets team.
“I look forward to trying to lead the charge and hopefully one day bring a championship to this town,” Billups said. “Everybody knows I have a lot of pride in Denver. Being able now to have that Denver across my chest, it just makes me feel good.”
Karl played coy as to whether Billups would be in tonight’s starting lineup against the Dallas Mavericks at the Pepsi Center, but there is no doubt that if not now, then soon. Billups went through his first practice with the Nuggets on Thursday morning, which was more of a glorified shootaround than anything else. He spent part of practice walking through the Nuggets’ plays and strategies, offensively and defensively.
Karl said the Nuggets are catering their system to Billups, but he’ll be required to learn the Nuggets’ core system as well.
“I would say it’s 50-50,” Karl said. “I think he’s got to adapt to what we do well. And we will also try to initiate some structure that he likes, that he might have had in Detroit.”
As for teammates, Kenyon Martin acknowledged there was a buzz in the air with Billups at practice, but it was a “different” buzz, not a better buzz in lieu of the departed Allen Iverson.
Iverson’s popularity in the locker room will be a sizable obstacle for Billups to overcome. Carmelo Anthony and Martin were big Iverson supporters. They still express disappointment Iverson is no longer with them.
But Billups said he is not concerned with winning over his new teammates.
“That’s not something that you try to do,” Billups said. “I’m coming to work, I’m coming to win. If guys want to win, they are going to fall in line. You come in and try to win games and they gain respect for you as you go along. You can’t force or push that.”
And after watching the Nuggets blow an 18-point lead against Golden State, Billups had a couple of observations.
“I think a lot of the times some of the players lacked self-discipline as far as bad shot selection, turning the ball over,” he said. “I think it’s really a thin line when you run-and-gun. You’ve still got to try to take care of the ball and try to get stops. It’s hard.”
Yet that’s what Billups is charged with. He essentially has been on the trading block since Detroit’s president of basketball operations, Joe Dumars, said a trade was likely after the Pistons lost to Boston in last season’s playoffs. Billups said he thought once the season started, he was in Detroit to stay this year.
“The one thing I did know is when you get a special group of guys like that, you don’t really give up on it that fast,” Billups said. “We were that close to winning a championship every single year, but just couldn’t get over that hump. But when (a trade) didn’t happen in the summertime, I felt like I probably would be there the rest of this season with the changes that they made and us trying to do it again. I thought I probably would be there. But I was wrong.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
Dallas at Denver
8:30 tonight, ALT, ESPN, KCKK 1510 AM
Spotlight on Dirk Nowitzki
The Dallas all-star has started off strong yet again, averaging 23.8 points and 6.5 rebounds. He is shooting a blistering 62.5 percent from the 3-point line.
Notebook
Mavericks: Three players (Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Terry) are averaging at least 17 points per game. They are the only three players averaging in double figures. Guard Jason Kidd is averaging almost half (8.8) of Dallas’ total assists per game (19.8).
Nuggets: Kenyon Martin (hamstring) played Wednesday and is expected to play again tonight. He reported no setbacks from his time against Golden State. . . . Guard Chucky Atkins (knee) will not play. Neither will center Steven Hunter (knee inflammation). “I don’t know when I’m going to be back out there, but I’m trying to make it as soon as possible,” Atkins said. “No timetables, because I don’t know how it’s going to react.”
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
