Chauncey Billups deserves a chance to end his career on a high note

Chris Paul:

Toughest day to date for me as an NBA player losing the best backcourt mate I’ve ever played with, my big bro, and gr8 teammate C. Billups…I know they say everything happens for a reason but I’m having a hard time understanding this one…what he did for our team is immeasurable…Its not ideal but for the time being I’ll have to settle for my son running around the house yelling “CHAUNCEY B-B-BILLUPS for 3!!!” Plz keep him and his family in your prayers, LOVE that guy!

As most people have probably heard, former Piston Chauncey Billups will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Reactions by players like the one above by Paul have been common because Billups is possibly the most well-liked and respected player in the league. I still frequently go back and read parts of this Tom Friend article on ESPN.com because it’s full of so many great Billups moments — I particularly love when he makes George Karl draw him up an in-bounds play because he was getting too tired of the free-wheeling nature of Denver’s offense at the time. Billups’ presence and leadership influencing J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony to start wearing suits is pretty great too.

The title of that article — ‘The Disposable Superstar’ — was appropriate at the time considering that Detroit had just traded Billups, its leader and still an All-Star player, essentially for cap space. Looking back now? That descriptor is a downright tragedy for how Billups’ career has unfolded.

Billups is well-liked by players, coaches, executives, fans and media alike. He’s never been a me-first player. He’s never been accused of being a divisive force in locker rooms. On the contrary, he’s often credited in his Detroit guys that often prevented a locker room full of volatile, hot-tempered players from completely turning on and tuning out Flip Saunders. Prior to Saunders, he took Larry Brown’s tongue lashings without a complaint. Post-Saunders, he helped make Karl a better coach.

Other than maybe Ben Wallace, Billups was the most deserving Pistons of the era to have had the luxury of retiring a Piston. Unfortunately, that didn’t materialize. Certainly, he deserved to end his career in Denver, in a community he grew up in and, upon being traded back there, returned to a hero’s welcome. Certainly, he deserved to finish his career in New York after being the collateral damage in Carmelo Anthony’s awkward mission to get himself traded to the Knicks. Certainly, he didn’t deserve to be one of the few casualties of this offseason’s amnesty provision. And certainly, even if he landed in a decent situation next to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin on the Clippers, he deserved a chance to ultimately decide where he would end his NBA career.

Now, unfortunately, after suffering the same injury at a later age as the one that ended Isiah Thomas’ career, Billups might not get a say in the matter. Like everyone, I’m sure, I truly hope Billups is able to come back from this injury and leave the game on his own terms. He’s one of the game’s most under-appreciated talents and leaders of all-time. He’s deserved better from the franchises he’s helped win, and he certainly deserves better than an injury forcing a premature end to his career.