ESPN's Chauncey Billups is enjoying his retirement after a 17-year career in the NBA. During that time Billups played for seven teams and experienced free agency four times.
After a round of brutal layoffs, Billups has signed a multi-year deal to remain as an NBA broadcaster on the national sports network. He says he enjoys the analysis side as much as he did playing and loves to give insight of the game to viewers.
One of his more recent opinions revolves around the Los Angeles Clippers whom Billups played for from 2011-2013. His concern stems from the fact that the Clippers have one won one playoff series since the time he was around six years ago, and he seems to be able to identify their biggest issues.
The five-time All-Star spoke with the Los Angeles Times about his former team where he only played 42 games due to an Achilles injury.
“This isn’t a jab at anyone but they just don’t have enough guys who can make plays late in games. They depend too much on Chris. That year (2011-12), we had that. We would’ve been a tough out.”
Billups says he is proud to have helped change the team's culture and believes the Clippers should look to retool by adding athleticism on the wings, especially at the small forward spot. Not that it would matter a great deal this season at least because he is also bracing for a third Warriors vs. Cavs NBA Finals series.
“I don’t see any challenges coming from any other teams. At the end of the day, the Warriors and Cavs are just better. I think it’ll be a seven-game series. You always have to be a little bit lucky to win a championship. The Cavs were fortunate that Draymond [Green] didn’t play Game 5 and rode that momentum. The year before, the Warriors were fortunate that Kyrie Irving got hurt.”
That really isn't a difficult scenario to see happening this June, but there are still games to be played should that become a reality. Billups has already chosen his favorite to win and threw that in for extra measure.
“I like Cleveland to win. They’ve got more shooters. They played a nine-man rotation in the last series and there’s only one guy who can’t make a three and that’s Tristan Thompson, but what he does is invaluable. LeBron [James] is still the best player in the world and now you’ve got guys around him knocking down shots.”
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