And in Newark. Yeesh.
That's the situation at the moment for Chauncey Billups, who's being dragged kicking and screaming into the massive potential megatrade that would send Carmelo Anthony to the Nets this season. The Nuggets are desperately searching to get something back for Carmelo before he leaves this summer. They need to bring in a third team to get the assets they want, and somehow, they've decided that the best scenario is to unload Billups, their five-time All-Star point guard, as well.
That's a shame. But what do you expect? When you try to organize an unfathomably complicated trade involving as many as 15 or even 17 players, there's always going to be a problem with one of them. In this case, it's Billups.
Billups loves it in Denver. He was born there in 1976, he was raised there, and he was a high school basketball standout at George Washington High in Denver in the early 1990s. He married his high school sweetheart in Denver, and they now have three kids who live in Denver. When the Pistons made their 2008 blockbuster trade to land Allen Iverson, Billups got the opportunity of a lifetime: to return to his hometown and land the perfect job. He jumped at it. And now, just over two years later, it's slipping away.
Basketball-wise, the two situations are pretty similar — the Nets have been rebuilding for a long time, and the Nuggets will be rebuilding as soon as Carmelo packs up and leaves town (which he inevitably will, sooner or later). But Billups doesn't need to win — he's already done plenty of that. He was an NBA Finals MVP with the Pistons in 2004. At this stage in his career, he just wants to tread water as an NBA starter while living in the town he loves.
Hasn't he earned that right?
Shipping Billups to New Jersey is an insult. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a bad idea. Billups is a Colorado icon, and he deserves to be treated like it.
If Billups stays in Denver forever, he can be a part of the Nuggets' organization long after his playing days — as a coach, a general manager, an announcer or anything else he desires. To alienate him now would be a poor choice.
The Nuggets have to get rid of Carmelo, and to get everything back that they want to get back, it'll take a big trade. But there has to be a better way than unloading Chauncey Billups, who's more of an institution in that town than snow and thin air.
Do the Nuggets owe it to Chauncey Billups to allow him to stay in Denver? Share your thoughts below.
