Chauncey Billups may be taking his All-Star snub in stride, but coach George Karl has a bone to pick at his guard’s exclusion.
And, for that matter, the exclusion of rookie Ty Lawson and sharp-shooting Arron Afflalo as well.
Let him explain.
“I can’t deny that I’m highly disappointed that Chauncey, Ty and Afflalo didn’t get more recognition,” Karl said Friday afternoon. “I think all of them deserve to be. Arron in the 3-point contest, Ty I think has proven to be a top-five, top-10 rookie easily in my mind. But the abundance of guards probably forced him out, and the same reason for Chauncey.
“I have no problems with Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Steve Nash being selected. But Chauncey in the last four weeks has been playing better than all of them. I think he has been incredible, holding our team together and lifting it into a very confident and successful team.”
In fact, Billups has been there when the Nuggets have needed him most. Without their leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony, Billups has picked up his play immensely. Anthony has missed seven of the 13 games this month with injuries.
In January, Billups has averaged 24.6 points, 6.5 assists and 1.3 steals. He’s shot a blistering 46 percent from the 3-point line and a sizzling 47 percent from the field overall. He’s helped lead the Nuggets to nine of their 11 wins this month, including a current eight-game winning streak.
But despite the disappointment in selection matters, Karl is looking forward to coaching his fourth All-Star game, but not for himself.
“I look at it as an honor,” Karl said. “But I’m more excited for my assistants, especially some of the young guys. Two years ago, when we lost (assistant coaches Mike) Dunlap and Doug (Moe), we made a decision, instead of going out and hiring people from outside, we decided to give our young guys an opportunity. We gave them an opportunity and I think they’ve done fantastic. I’m just really proud of them and it will at least give us some opportunity for them to get some recognition and hopefully someday to progress into being a head coach somewhere.”
The coaches Karl spoke of are assistants John Welch, Chad Iske and Jamahl Mosley, as well as Adrian Dantley who he says “even though he’s an older guy, he’s a young coach.”
Karl is the second Nuggets coach to walk the sidelines during an All-Star game. The first was Larry Brown in 1977. Karl last coached an All-Star game in 1998.
He said his strategy will be to keep it simple and keep the focus on the players.
“I think you’re going to rely upon your point guards and just the experience of a lot of guys being in the game before,” Karl said. “All you try to do is organize it and rotate the guys so that everybody gets at least one opportunity to play well.
“As the second half comes around, you might try to win the game if it’s a close game, but in a lot of ways you’re just trying to make sure there’s no potholes or anything. You just try to get the game in a good rhythm and let them celebrate the game of basketball by what great players they are.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
