My hot take - Billups is the 3rd best PG all time

[Cavsfansince84]

I think Chauncey has a legit case for the 7-10 range for pg's and top 60 overall.

[LascelleL]

This is the first REAL hot take I've read in weeks.

[rafale]

My hot take - Billups is the 3rd best PG all time - tell me why I’m wrong

Billups isn’t on most lists of top 10pgs. I hate how under appreciate he is. Stats aside here are my biggest decision makers

1. Billups destroyed MVP candidate prime Chris Paul in 2009 playoffs. He put up 23ppg on 74% TS while holding Paul to 16ppg on 50% TS.

2. Billlups for Iverson tanked Detroit and elevated Denver to contender status.

3Billups destroyed Parker in 2005 finals

4. Billups destroyed Kidd in the 2004 playoffs. He has massive game 5 and 7 performances and held Kidd scoreless in game 7.

5. This

Watch on YouTube

1)Chris Paul was injured in the 2009 playoffs and Billups was not even defending him, Dahntay Jones was. He had a very good series offensively that's true.

2) Billups is better than end of prime Iverson, no surprise there, and Iverson is anyway probably the most overrated player ever.

3)Parker was not a good player yet in 2005, it was not too hard to outplay him in a series. With that said, Billups had a good, maybe even very good finals, he would have been a worthy finals MVP.

4) Jason Kidd had microfacture surgery 1 month after this series, he was injured, and Billups himself that series averaged 15 pts in 39 mins on 50 TS%, Pistons won that series because of their defense, not because of Chauncey Billups's offense.

Anyway, don't get me wrong, Billups was a great player who was underrated when he was playing, but a top 3 PG of all time, he is not.

Personally i would rank him between 10th and 15th which is awesome already

[rafale]

I think Chauncey has a legit case for the 7-10 range for pg's and top 60 overall.

Magic, Curry, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Stockton, Steve Nash and Chris Paul, I think those 7 are the 1st tier of point guards.

I can see Billups in the 2nd tier with Westbrook, Gary Payton, Walt Frazier, Damian Lillard + Harden and Doncic if we consider them both point guards.

To me, the most underrated point guard is Kevin Johnson but he had a very short time, so he is always forgotten :/

[bkkrh]

My hot take - Billups is the 3rd best PG all time - tell me why I’m wrong

Billups isn’t on most lists of top 10pgs. I hate how under appreciate he is. Stats aside here are my biggest decision makers

1. Billups destroyed MVP candidate prime Chris Paul in 2009 playoffs. He put up 23ppg on 74% TS while holding Paul to 16ppg on 50% TS.

2. Billlups for Iverson tanked Detroit and elevated Denver to contender status.

3Billups destroyed Parker in 2005 finals

4. Billups destroyed Kidd in the 2004 playoffs. He has massive game 5 and 7 performances and held Kidd scoreless in game 7.

5. This

Watch on YouTube

The main issue with points 1 to 4 is that they probably don´t even consider themselves to be a top 3 Point Guard. You can make an argument for Kidd, who btw led the worst modern NBA finalist to the finals 2 seasons in a row.

[bkkrh]

I think Chauncey has a legit case for the 7-10 range for pg's and top 60 overall.

Magic, Curry, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Stockton, Steve Nash and Chris Paul, I think those 7 are the 1st tier of point guards.

I can see Billups in the 2nd tier with Westbrook, Gary Payton, Walt Frazier, Damian Lillard + Harden and Doncic if we consider them both point guards.

To me, the most underrated point guard is Kevin Johnson but he had a very short time, so he is always forgotten :/

I´d definitely put Payton, Frazier and even already Doncic in a higher tier than Billups. Harden definitely as well if we consider him as a true Point Guard. I can agree with Lillard and would probably put him in a group with additionally Kyrie, Tony Parker, Lenny Wilkens, Bob Cousy, Tim & Penny Hardaway, Kevin & Dennis Johnson, Mark Price, maybe Rondo and probably 1 or 2 60s or 70s guys I´m forgetting right now. If we count Shai as PG (I would at least if we count Harden as well) then he is definitely also one tier higher.

[tamaraw08]

Billups the "Detroyer" of a few Allstars in the playoffs is a 3rd ATG PG, Got it.
Career average of 15pts, 5.4 assists/2.9 rebs at 41.5 FG% RS.
In fairness though, He did have a couple spectacular playoff years in Denver and Detroit.

[Cavsfansince84]

I think Chauncey has a legit case for the 7-10 range for pg's and top 60 overall.

Magic, Curry, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Stockton, Steve Nash and Chris Paul, I think those 7 are the 1st tier of point guards.

I can see Billups in the 2nd tier with Westbrook, Gary Payton, Walt Frazier, Damian Lillard + Harden and Doncic if we consider them both point guards.

To me, the most underrated point guard is Kevin Johnson but he had a very short time, so he is always forgotten :/

Sort of depends if you consider West a pg but Kidd is also in the second tier as is possibly Isiah. I think Frazier is borderline tier 1 as well(or tier 2 if you put Steph, Magic and Oscar in their own tier).

[The_Ghost_of_JB]

I mean I liked Billups but this is just incorrect. I assume you have Curry and Magic in the first and second place. If that is the case I have: Nash, Kidd, Gary Payton, Westbrook, Stockton, Oscar, Paul, Thomas, Parker, Irving, West. Lillard, Luka and Pistol Pete above him.

[M2J]

It’s hard to say who the best player on that team was because each of the starters made such great contributions… I’ve heard plenty argue for Billups, plenty for the Wallace’s, and even a few for Rip. So I get disagreeing about him being the best on the Pistons, and no way is he 3atgpg… but hold on…

1. Chauncey was his team’s weakest defender? That take is wilder than OP’s.
2. His teammates laughed when he made all defensive teams? Is there a source for this?

When you make up stuff like this it feels like you are trying to trash the guy.

I didn't make up anything. Rasheed Wallace laughed when Chauncey was selected on camera in the locker room.... It was kind of a big thing at the time... He's not a good defender whether he was on that all NBA defensive team or not. If you need that to inform you... Says more about you. You can do your own research.

Well Google search turned up nothing, so what does that say about Google??

Anyway, typically when you make a claim, it’s incumbent on the person making the claim to provide a source, not the other way around. If you need to be informed of that… what does that say about you?

Just some food for thought. Cheers!

Says I have a memory that pre dates YouTube and social media where you've learned all about Billups. So tell me more about how great a defender is (actual topic) instead of asking me to reveal news footage from before you watched basketball for some Internet gotcha moment you feel hurts my feelings (especially when I know I'm right).

[Knightro]

I think you could absolutely make a legitimate case that Billups is a top 10 PG of all time. The highest I think I could go is 9th though.

3rd is way too high.

[Joao Saraiva]

Billups is definitely a player I really appreciate and when I vote I'm one of the 1st guys to bring him up in the top 100 projects. However, I feel like top 3 ever as a PG is a bit too much. I can't see a valid argument vs Magic, Curry, Stockton, Oscar... I'd say about top 5-7 is the most you can give him. And maybe even that is some overrating.

Dude was a master at controlling tempo, creating for others and taking shots, also he exploited matchups when he was bigger: post game and footwork were tremendous. But even with those qualities not quantifiable and making me push him up a lot... it's hard to argue him as top 3.

[Nazrmohamed]

Scorching hot.

[BigGargamel]

I mean, I absolutely love Billups and was a huge fan since he was in high school, but....

[GeorgeMarcus]

Chauncey was vey good, but not top 3 pg of all time good... Top 10 ish sounds fair. I also disagree with the notion that AI --> Billups turned Denver into a contender when they were similarly good with Iverson

[DC_Melo]

I didn't make up anything. Rasheed Wallace laughed when Chauncey was selected on camera in the locker room.... It was kind of a big thing at the time... He's not a good defender whether he was on that all NBA defensive team or not. If you need that to inform you... Says more about you. You can do your own research.

Well Google search turned up nothing, so what does that say about Google??

Anyway, typically when you make a claim, it’s incumbent on the person making the claim to provide a source, not the other way around. If you need to be informed of that… what does that say about you?

Just some food for thought. Cheers!

Says I have a memory that pre dates YouTube and social media where you've learned all about Billups. So tell me more about how great a defender is (actual topic) instead of asking me to reveal news footage from before you watched basketball for some Internet gotcha moment you feel hurts my feelings (especially when I know I'm right).

So in other words… you can’t find the video… because it doesn’t exist. It’s your claim this ever happened mate, so put up or shut up.

As for why he was a great defender… well he had positive DPMs every season with the pistons, was selected to 2 all nba def teams and got voted for 6 others, had far better than league average def ratings, there are numerous articles from coaches and players at the time praising his defense, and there are articles since then that take an analytical look at his impact and further discover just how impactful he was and his merits for HoF consideration. Here’s an example:
https://www.statitudes.com/p/is-chauncey-billups-a-hall-of-famer

Cool how the article also notes he was the most efficient offensive player for the Pistons championship team. Didn’t you say he was inefficient?

Crazy what you can achieve with sources

Edit: I honestly never knew just how good a defender he was till you went about making your absurd claims… pretty cool actually what I found… here’s some more sources praising his defense:
https://www.nba.com/pistons/news/detroit-pistons-legend-chauncey-billups-elected-to-naismith-basketball-hall-of-fame
https://nbaobserver.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/how-good-was-chauncey-billups/
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/chauncey-billups-defensive-rating
Is a def rating below 99 good? Cuz that’s what he had his championship season

[M2J]

Well Google search turned up nothing, so what does that say about Google??

Anyway, typically when you make a claim, it’s incumbent on the person making the claim to provide a source, not the other way around. If you need to be informed of that… what does that say about you?

Just some food for thought. Cheers!

Says I have a memory that pre dates YouTube and social media where you've learned all about Billups. So tell me more about how great a defender is (actual topic) instead of asking me to reveal news footage from before you watched basketball for some Internet gotcha moment you feel hurts my feelings (especially when I know I'm right).

So in other words… you can’t find the video… because it doesn’t exist. It’s your claim this ever happened mate, so put up or shut up.

As for why he was a great defender… well he had positive DPMs every season with the pistons, was selected to 2 all nba def teams and got voted for 6 others, had far better than league average def ratings, there are numerous articles from coaches and players at the time praising his defense, and there are articles since then that take an analytical look at his impact and further discover just how impactful he was and his merits for HoF consideration. Here’s an example:
https://www.statitudes.com/p/is-chauncey-billups-a-hall-of-famer

Cool how the article also notes he was the most efficient offensive player for the Pistons championship team. Didn’t you say he was inefficient?

Crazy what you can achieve with sources

Rudy gobert has more dpoy than anyone... The discussions today about his he sucks is what the discussions were about including Billups over several other guards on those teams simply because he was on a great defensive team and much like you media voters can't determine defense and those Pistons teams weren't winning due to Chauncey averaging mid teens ppg and under 45% shooting.... It was defense led by their front court. Watch a game... See what you can achieve then

[tsherkin]

Rudy gobert has more dpoy than anyone

No he doesn't. Both Mutombo and Ben Wallace also have 4 DPOY.

[M2J]

Chauncey was vey good, but not top 3 pg of all time good... Top 10 ish sounds fair. I also disagree with the notion that AI --> Billups turned Denver into a contender when they were similarly good with Iverson

Chauncey and a matured Jr Smith plus others gave Melo what he'd never had in Denver with can't
Camby Nene and Martin and Andre Miller.... Floor spacing release valves. AI of course with the ball creates space, but both Melo and AI wanted mid range and layups. So he did change Denver for the better with his play style.

[BeatLA2023]

My hot take - Billups is the 3rd best PG all time - tell me why I’m wrong

Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Steve Nash. end of discussion.

if you want titles, then Magic, Cousy, Fraizer, Parker. Chauncey would be in the top 7 or so here.

PS with all the other names tossed about, how did no one say MO CHEEKS for crying out loud. you all youngsters or forgetful?