Denver Nuggets legend Chauncey Billups open to coaching, more from his podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski

Denver native and former Nuggets point guard Chauncey Billups appeared today on Yahoo!’s “The Vertical Podcast with Woj” and discussed his current role at ESPN, his Denver playing days, almost taking a job on Frank Vogel’s Orlando coaching staff and his future as a coach or front office member in the NBA, among other topics.

Billups averaged 16.9 points and 5.3 assists in five seasons with the Nuggets. He played in Denver as a young player and returned to the Mile High City after winning a championship with the Pistons. He helped lead the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals in 2009, where they lost in six games to the Lakers. Billups also talked to Woj about playing with Carmelo Anthony and coming so close to reaching the NBA Finals.

Below are some highlights from the interview:

On how closely he listened to Frank Vogel’s offer to be his lead assistant in Orlando:

“Well, I didn’t really search for that job, it kind of came to me. Knowing Coach Vogel since we came to the league together – I was in Boston (as a rookie), he was the video guy in Boston, it was his first year when I came in – so we kind of grew together a little bit in this league and every time I see Coach Vogel since I retired he’s like, “Man I’d love for you to be on my staff.” That’s kind of how it started and once he left and took the job in Orlando and his staff didn’t come with him, obviously that opens up opportunities and he reached out to me. I did entertain it, (but) I’m at a point right now where I love my job, man, I love working for ESPN, I love doing what I do, I love talking about the game. I also know I love teaching the game. (When) I’ve talked about my future most of the time it’s always kind of been front office stuff but as I start to take a deeper dive into my future whenever that is that I decide to get back in or not, I’ve opened up my mind to the opportunity to coach. I know I like to have a day-to-day impact on guys, similar to how I was as a player, when I led a lot of my teams. One of my fears about being in a front office, not a fear but a reservation, is maybe I don’t have that kind of day-to-day influence and impact on a guy like I’m used to. So that’s kind of why I entertained the opportunity, I went down and interviewed with them. I think very highly of (Vogel), I think he’s a very  good young coach in our league. So I looked at it and he presented an awesome opportunity for me. I love him and I love (Assistant GM) Scott Perry in the front office, (GM) Rob Hennigan, those guys were very good to me as well. But at the end of the day I passed on it because thought I need to think a little more about this. My second daughter has a couple more years of high school so I didn’t really want to move away. It became more of a personal thing than just a coaching job. But it was a great opportunity.”

On fewer ex-players becoming general managers in recent years and how that factors in to his future plans (coaching vs. front office):

“Well it concerns me for this reason…my concern really is with most of these teams going away from having basketball people in the front office. It concerns me about the game. I think if you want to become a champion, if you want to become a great player, you have to be in a position to be taught that. You gotta learn that from somebody. In my opinion if you don’t have any basketball people – now I’m not saying just myself or a guy that’s played in the league for 15-17 years – I know nowadays so many people talk about the analytics of the game and it’s taken over decision-making in front offices. I don’t 100 percent agree with that being the way to build a team, but I think if you don’t know basketball and you’ve never been in basketball (analytics) is all you really have to go on.

On how front office execs with basketball experience have a unique perspective in team-building from a chemistry perspective:

That’s because to my point, analytics don’t tell you that. Analytics can tell you all these stats and what a guy can do, this and that, but they can’t tell you what personalities mesh, what egos mesh, who’s the alpha male. You have to have some basketball experience, somebody that’s maybe done it or been there that can tell you that. I still believe in the eye test. In particular for me because I can watch a guy for five minutes and tell you if he can play or not and not only that, who he can play with. If that’s going to be a healthy relationship, a healthy situation. Nowadays that stuff is getting overlooked a bit. It creates not only some bad basketball but it just creates some dire situations in my opinion.”

On the champion 2003-04 Pistons being the “anti-super team,” comprised of castoffs:

“You know it’s funny you say that because me and the guys we often talk, us five – myself, Rasheed (Wallace), Rip (Hamilton), Tayshaun (Prince) and Ben (Wallace). We often talk on a group text and say things, and we mean this when we say it, that what we did will never happen again in the fashion that it happened. You’re talking about like you said a lot of throwaways, man, a lot of guys that didn’t make it other places…that came together and played great basketball, loved each other (and) became brothers. There was never any fights on our team, never any dissension, never ever, not one time, not one practice and we competed hard every day. But we got it, so I just think what we did will never happen again. We didn’t have one guy making the max. It was an anomaly, it really was.”

On what he was unprepared for upon entering the league:

“I’m from Denver, Colorado. Not a hotbed for high school talent. I was a star from the time I was 14. I was the state player of the year at 14 years old as a freshman, so I was the best player from the time I was a freshman to the time I was a senior. I go to college and I go to (University of) Colorado, I’m the best player there. The first time that changed was when I got drafted. I was no longer the biggest point guard on the floor, I was no longer the most athletic guy, I wasn’t as smart as these guys on the basketball floor. Everything changed, so when you say what was (I unprepared for), it was everything. I had to learn how to play the game, how to get an advantage on a guy that was just bigger and stronger, how to study my opponent. It took me a while. Obviously I was thrown around a lot of times, man, but I always believed if I continued to keep working, with my skill set and the way that I work, at some point I could be a great player in the league.”

On going home to Denver the 2nd time in ’09 and being an example for Carmelo:

“It’s crazy Woj, outside of my championship year and then unfortunately losing in Game 7 the next year against San Antonio, that season in Denver was probably the biggest challenge of my career and it was the most fulfilling ,and here’s why: I was traded for a legend, man, he’s gonna be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, Allen Iverson. I went there and he went to where I was and I was playing with a ton of guys that were really known and looked at as misfits. Guys that were talented players but could never win. Melo was the best player on the team but he’s kind of just all worried about Melo. I was thrust into one unbelievable situation. I had my reservations about it the first time I went to practice and people were practicing in jewelry and sweats and half the team’s not practicing just because they didn’t feel like it. I mean I went home the first day after practice and I was in awe.”

“I tried really hard to show these guys the right way to lead them. My relationship with Melo was great from day one. For one he didn’t know what needed to happen because all he knew was getting to the first round (of the playoffs) and getting put out. He didn’t know how to win. They all kind of bowed down to me just by the way that I came to work every single day. I wanted Melo to know as soon as I walked through the door, “Melo, this is your team, man, I’ve got two or three years left in my prime but I’m done. This is for you. This whole thing is set up for you. I want to show you what to do, how to lead, what I learned from people that taught me.” So it was a great partnership. Melo was great to play with…they just thought, “Oh, he can score 25, just give him the ball.” I was saying, “Yea I’m gonna get you those same 25 but it’s gonna be a little different. We gotta get everybody else involved. You can’t just win it, just me and you can’t win it, we gotta get everybody else involved but your numbers will look the same at the end of the game I promise. And he just trusted me, man, and it was one of the most fun years in the NBA.”

On whether he was upset when Melo forced a trade to New York:

“I was never, not one day, angry at Melo. I knew that obviously the only reason why I was traded (in that deal) is because Melo wanted to leave and it just kind of matched up. So I was never mad at Melo at all, my only thing was I wanted him to understand that we are really, really close (to a title). We lost last year in the Western Conference Finals really because we turned the ball over on two out-of-bounds plays. (Author’s note: it still hurts). We could’ve been in the Finals. We get in the Finals against Orlando, we win the championship, we’re that close. Because Melo was young and he didn’t really know – I’m pretty sure he knows now after struggling so mightily with that organization in New York – when you have a chance to be close like that you gotta try to go for it if winning is that important…however, I understand that Melo didn’t know that (at the time).”

On the infamous “Malice at the Palace” in Detroit:

“Darvin Ham‘s two sons crying hysterically while the stuff was going on always will stick with me and two, Coach (Larry) Brown when we got everybody back in the locker room, sitting there and crying in front of us…he was crying pretty badly and I’ll never forget that. His whole thing was, he just said that we gave the game a black eye that night. Our whole thing was, ‘man we didn’t fight anybody. We didn’t have one fight out there.’ But obviously we were involved in it and obviously Ben pushing (Ron) Artest kind of sparked everything. So he was saying we as a whole….us, the Pacers, everybody, we gave the game a black eye. I’ll never forget that.”

On his chances of making the Hall of Fame:

“I think that I’ve done enough, but I was never a stat guy. I always kind of believed as a point guard the only stat that matters is if you win the game…so if all the voters look at my stats then I probably won’t get in. If I do end up making it, which would be a dream of mine, it would just go to show that it’s not all about stats. It’s about what you meant to the game…it’s about winning.”