M1Garand
07-31-2007, 07:40 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. -- Chauncey Billups saw what happened to the Detroit Pistons and their fans when Ben Wallace left last summer for Chicago. He wasn't going to put them through it again.
"This is the first city and the first organization to show me love," Billups said Monday. "They've helped me go from a pretty good player to an elite player, and I wasn't going to break their hearts." Billups spoke before teeing off in his annual charity golf tournament at a joint press conference with Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations. It was their first meeting with the media since Billups agreed to a five-year, $60 million contract earlier this month.
"You don't get many great players who are also great guys, and when you do, you don't let them go," Dumars said. "We had to go through the process, but we knew it was imperative that we keep him." Billups was the third overall pick in 1997, but played for five teams in his first four seasons before coming to Detroit as a free agent in 2002. He immediately took over the point guard job, led the Pistons to an NBA title in his second season and had them in Game 7 of the Finals in 2005.
Even after losses to Miami and Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals the last two years, Billups has become widely seen as one of the league's best point guards and clutch players. "This is our captain, our point guard and our leader," Dumars said. "Making this happen was a no-brainer."
Billups had said all season that he hoped to stay in Detroit, and he acknowledged Monday that he might have hurt his own bargaining power in the process. "A lot of teams probably didn't even bother, because they knew my heart was in Detroit," he said. "This is where my family wants to be, because this is where we've made our home."
While Billups did say there were "plenty" of teams that were making offers, he never took them seriously. "I told my agent that Detroit got the first chance to sign me, and they also got the second, third and fourth chances," he said.
Full Story (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2954409)
"This is the first city and the first organization to show me love," Billups said Monday. "They've helped me go from a pretty good player to an elite player, and I wasn't going to break their hearts." Billups spoke before teeing off in his annual charity golf tournament at a joint press conference with Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations. It was their first meeting with the media since Billups agreed to a five-year, $60 million contract earlier this month.
"You don't get many great players who are also great guys, and when you do, you don't let them go," Dumars said. "We had to go through the process, but we knew it was imperative that we keep him." Billups was the third overall pick in 1997, but played for five teams in his first four seasons before coming to Detroit as a free agent in 2002. He immediately took over the point guard job, led the Pistons to an NBA title in his second season and had them in Game 7 of the Finals in 2005.
Even after losses to Miami and Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals the last two years, Billups has become widely seen as one of the league's best point guards and clutch players. "This is our captain, our point guard and our leader," Dumars said. "Making this happen was a no-brainer."
Billups had said all season that he hoped to stay in Detroit, and he acknowledged Monday that he might have hurt his own bargaining power in the process. "A lot of teams probably didn't even bother, because they knew my heart was in Detroit," he said. "This is where my family wants to be, because this is where we've made our home."
While Billups did say there were "plenty" of teams that were making offers, he never took them seriously. "I told my agent that Detroit got the first chance to sign me, and they also got the second, third and fourth chances," he said.
Full Story (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2954409)