After spending two seasons in Los Angeles, Billups is headed back to the city where he earned the nickname "Mr. Big Shot." The Pistons added Billups this offseason to give the team some much-needed veteran leadership and extra depth at the guard positions. Billups averaged 8.4 points in 19 mpg with the Clippers last year, but he's expected to hold a bigger role for the Pistons. At 37, Billups is well past his prime, but he still has the ability to knock down clutch threes and provide a calming influence on the court. He's in contention for a spot in the starting lineup, but even if he nabs the shooting guard gig, Billups' production will likely only warrant consideration in deeper formats.
Billups had a rough transition to shooting guard after the Clippers acquired Chris Paul to man the point guard spot, shooting a career-worst 36.4 percent while seeing his assists per game fall to their lowest level since 2002-03. Unfortunately for Billups, he never received sufficient time to get adjusted to the position change, as a torn Achilles’ ended his season after just 20 games. Billups is expected to miss all of training camp while he recovers from the injury but is expected to return in the early part of the season. Even if Billups has fully recovered from the injury, he should be drafted with caution since he’ll still be 36 years old and playing a relatively unfamiliar position. Billups has never been more than a slightly above average three-point shooter, and is decidedly below average from the field, as his 41.6 career field goal percentage would indicate. Instead, the savvy veteran will have to rely on his scoring ability to uphold his fantasy value. Despite the poor shooting percentage, Billups still managed to score 14.9 points, and his unparalleled excellence at the free-throw line should stabilize his scoring. In addition, Billups’ point guard mentality should also garner him a few more assists relative to other shooting guards in the league, but not nearly close to the levels he produced during his Pistons heyday. Billups may be on the downside of his career, but there’s still some value to be mined here.
Fans saw two versions of Chauncey Billups after his trade to New York. A savvy veteran keying a fearsome offense with the ability to get to the free-throw line at will… and a fading greybeard sidelined by a variety of nagging injuries. The last of them – a knee injury suffered during Game 1 of the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against Boston – may have been the most costly, as the Celtics advanced in a sweep. After originally picking up their $14.2 million option on Billups, the Knicks decided to part ways with him via the amnesty clause to clear enough cap space to sign Tyson Chandler. The Clippers placed the winning bid on Billups, who's now expected to be slotted in at shooting guard alongside Chris Paul at the point. Billups has never played shooting guard in his career, but his penchant as more of a shoot-first point guard than a distributor should make the transition easy.
Point guard is a young man's position, with Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Rajon Rondo among the league's best, followed by a deep crop of youngsters like Steph Curry, Brandon Jennings and, this year, John Wall. But even at age 34, Chauncey Billups continues to post excellent numbers. Last season, his 12th in the league, Billups posted a career-best 19.5 point average, while chipping in 5.6 dimes, 3.1 boards and 1.1 steals per game. One of the best free-throw shooters in NBA history, he shot 91 percent from the line last season – only Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Ray Allen were better. But aspects of his game that have little to do with his fantasy production could have an impact on Billups' roto numbers going forward. Once a quality defender, Billups is now routinely torched by the NBA's top points. With young speedster Ty Lawson waiting in the wings, Billups could wind up losing some playing time, or playing off the ball more this season.
Just two games into the 2008-09 season, Billups was sent to Denver, in exchange for Allen Iverson. Denver went on to reach the Western Conference Finals. Detroit sputtered badly, started bickering, was swept out of the playoffs and fired its coach. Talk about your resume-builders. Last season may have cemented Billups’ place as one of the league’s top floor leaders, but from a fantasy perspective, not much has changed. His value is in his remarkable consistency… he’s averaged between 16 and 18.5 points per game every year since he first arrived in Detroit. He’s a mortal lock for around seven assists per game, having averaged between 5.7 and 8.6 every year since 2003-04. He won’t shoot too well… around .410 from the field, slightly lower from three… and grab 1.2 or 1.3 steals per game, and play every night. (He’s played 70-plus games every season since 1999-2000). And he’s always excellent from the free-throw line. Even at his age – he’ll be 33 when the Nuggets tip-off the 2009-10 season – it’s not hard to envision a boost to Billups’ numbers next season. Bear in mind, he didn’t have the benefit of a full training camp with his current teammates last year, and he still managed to post numbers remarkably similar to the ones he generated on a team he knew like the back of his own hand.
"It’s an interesting year in Detroit. There’s been a coaching change (Michael Curry) plus the comments of general manager Joe Dumars, declaring major changes to the lineup. Despite rumors of trade talks involving Billups, he remains the starting point guard on a team that’s still a threat in the Eastern Conference. But there’s a feel of transition going on with the team’s competitive window closing. Expect to see more of combo guard Rodney Stuckey this year at the point. Still, Billups is a clutch performer and the unquestioned leader of the team. He uses his strength against smaller opponents and can drill the 3-poitner. He’s very good breaking down opponents off the dribble and is an excellent free-throw shooter (88.6% career) while getting to the line over six times per game the last three seasons. He’s one of the best defenders at the position and averages 1.05 steals per game with the Pistons. Billups rarely makes mistakes and smartly runs this team. He’s not an elite assist man (5.5 career apg) at the position, but makes up for that in other categories (FT%, points, 3-pointers).
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Billups returns to Detroit after signing a big fat contract in the offseason. While Billups is a very productive fantasy player in several categories, his biggest basketball asset is leadership. And that will be needed more than ever because the Pistons aren’t the elite team they were in recent years. The Pistons’ next generation – Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson – are expected to become bigger members of the rotation and Billups will have to get them involved. He’s put up the best assist and scoring numbers of his career in the last two seasons under the Flip Saunders regime and had a league-leading 3.59 assist to turnover ratio among full-time point guards in 2006-07.
The transition from Larry Brown’s system to Flip Saunders’ netted big dividends for Billups – in the 2005-06 season, Billups posted major increases in points per game (18.5, up from 16.5 in ’04-’05) and assists (from 5.8 to 8.6 per game) while keeping his stellar three-point and free-throw percentages intact. The loss of Ben Wallace shouldn’t impact Billups’ numbers all that much; even with Big Ben manning the middle, Billups didn’t gamble for a lot of steals (.9 per game last year). What could make a difference, though, is the presence of a bench scoring option. Last year Detroit’s bench was among the league’s thinnest. This year, Flip Murray and the improving Carlos Delfino might take some of the scoring load from the first unit.
Billups is the unquestioned leader of the deepest and most balanced team in the league. That doesn’t necessarily translate into killer fantasy numbers, though. His 16.5 points and 5.8 assists per game put him in the second tier of fantasy point guards, well behind players without his championship pedigree. One thing Billups does exceptionally well, though, is hit from downtown. He shot 42% from three last season, hitting 165 treys – only Joe Johnson and Damon Jones hit more while shooting that high a percentage. Billups is also money at the free-throw line, hitting 90 percent of his attempts last season.
Billups thrived on the big stage last season, culminating in his selection as MVP of the NBA finals. The former No. 3 overall pick in the draft is finally living up to his potential, and can definitely be considered a starting fantasy point guard. While Billups' shooting percentage went down to 39.4 percent, he stepped up in every other category, scoring 17 a game, racking up 5.7 assists, 1.8 threes and 1.1 steals per game. He's also a great free throw shooter at 88 percent. Expect all Billups' numbers to improve once again in 04-05. The Pistons are loaded, and Billups should benefit from all the talent around him.
Billups established himself as Detroit's second scoring option behind Richard Hamilton. He averaged a solid 16.2 points for the Pistons and hit over 39% of his 3-point attempts. Although a PG, Billups won't get you a lot of assists -- he had just 3.9 per game. At least his average of 3.7 rebounds will make up a little bit for that. The biggest question mark about Billups seems to be his health - he has played all 82 games in a season just once, and has gone over 70 games just three times in his seven-year career. Of course, those three seasons came in the past three years, so maybe Billups is learning how to take better care of himself.
