Chauncey Billups is ready for the next phase.
In the twilight of a 17-year-career where his clutch and heady play earned him the moniker “Mr. Big Shot,” Billups now seems destined to call even more as an eventual member of the Detroit Pistons front office.
Word is the franchise that Billups has spent the bulk of his career starring for has now set its sights on the 37-year-old veteran as a natural fit for its front office. After yet another season of major disappointment, there are certain to be changes in the Motor City this summer and that’s where Billups could again come in.
He and president of basketball operations and fellow Pistons legend Joe Dumars are as close as their roots are deep in the Motor City.
“Obviously I would look at that if that opportunity came about,” Billups told his hometown Denver Post while Detroit was in town to face the Nuggets. “That’s like my home away from home. They really adopted me there. Of course, Denver is always going to be my home. But Detroit is like my second home. So any opportunity that arose, I would obviously look at.”
The Pistons welcomed Billups back last summer to provide veteran leadership and serve as a mentor to new-jack point guard Brandon Jennings. And while that plan hasn’t quite panned out as management would have liked, Billups is savvy enough to see the big picture.
He knows with a core of Jennings, Andre Drummond, and Greg Monroe it only seems a matter of time before things get rolling in the Motor City. Somehow, someway, Billups seems willing to take his chances on the situation.
After undergoing arthroscopic surgery on the left knee that has limited him to just 19 games this season, Billups hasn’t completely ruled out playing next season, but simply being a part of the mix seems far more important to him.
Mr. Big Shot seems to know all the angles. And no matter what direction he goes, he seems convinced whatever he does he can’t lose by simply staying the course in the Motor City.
