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Billups out for the Season

It's official. As everyone seemed to suspect, when the MRI results came back in Cleveland, Chauncey Billups of the Los Angeles Clippers has a torn left Achilles tendon. Watching the injury as it happened in Orlando last night, it had the look of a torn Achilles; the MRI simply confirmed what everyone assumed. The absolute shortest recovery time for this type of injury is six months, and it usually takes longer than that. Regardless, Billups' season is over.

This is a tough blow for Billups. He'll be a free agent at the end of the season, so his future with the Clippers, and indeed his future in the NBA, is up in the air at this point. Billups will be 36 before he even has a chance to play NBA basketball again. If he wants to keep playing, someone will give him a chance. But it's not so easy returning from major injuries at 36.

It's a blow to the Clippers as well of course. For the present time, Randy Foye will slide into the starting lineup, leaving Mo Williams in the sixth man role that has worked so well for him this season. Eric Bledsoe is trying to come back from an injury of his own, so if he's back on the court soon, the overall Clippers guard depth will be more or less the same going forward. Of course, neither Randy Foye nor Eric Bledsoe are Billups. The luxury of having several players willing to take, and capable of making, big shots is the biggest loss here. You can't underestimate the value of a Chauncey Billups in a close game.

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Comments

:-(

.

Chauncy will be fine, i had the same thing happen to me, while playing basketball, i went up for a jump shot and when i came down it felt like someone hit me in the back of my leg with a bat. i fell basically out of shock more than anything. i was able to walk under my own power,went home and went to the doctor the next morning. I had the tendon surgery a few days later,was put in a cast for about 6 weeks, came out of that into a walking boot, for about another 6 to 8 weeks, and about 2 1/2 months of physical thereapy,from there i was able to start walkig and running on a treadmill, as well as strenght training,so somewhere between 6 to 8 months he should be fine, and i was older and he probably has better treatment, i was at kerlan and jobe in westchester, that was 12 years ago, and no problems since. I remember Elton Brand went down with the same injury and he was able to return with no problems.

Send him to Germany to get him fixed
Very sad to hear
That sucks

I think he can make a comeback if he wants, the question is whether he would still want to given his age and the steep paycut his next deal would be.

Billups will probably stay in the NBA

the Clippers said they hoped to have him longer than this year, and while a major injury will clearly affect their decisions now, im sure they will know more when his contract him since they are the closest to the situation.

if anything, as long as a roster spot is available, the Clips can offer a small 1-year deal to allow him to heal up and still be given a chance with the Clippers and possibly get a slightly longer contract next next off season. low risk high reward

and worst case scenario…if Billups just hangs it up. unless he wants to go home to Denver, he might be a very interesting candidate to be part of the coaching staff. im sure everyone on the team would lobby for him plus being sidelined the rest of the season (sidelined on the bench that is) will give him a good feel of what it would be like.

the injury sucks, but i do not think this is the last of Mr. Big Shot

I think his family is in Denver

if he can’t play for the rest of the year and you factor in the length of his rehab he might just be back in Denver for the rest of the year.

He'll still be paid by the team as a player; I would think any relocation to Denver will wait till the end of the season
I'm so bummed out!
Pray for a full recovery

It is sad to think yesterday’s game was likely his last in a Clipper uniform.
I’ll never forget his big shots late in Denver and against Dallas.
Hope he remains on the players bench to help guide this team with his wisdom.

+1 and hope last night wasn't his last on an NBA court
This guy added an entire team's fanbase to his list of fans.

I wish Billups a fast recovery. I believe this will hopefully serve as motivation to win one for him.

I don’t think it will hurt our regular season as much, but his “Big Shot” will definitely be missed in tight playoff games.

Good Luck Chauncy!

Buddahfan, the one who jinxed it the other night for the team, just posted

the article. Let’s jump him. :-)

Clipper nation, please put your hands together for Assistant Coach Billups
Feb. 15th

I hope Billups comes to the first home game back from this road trip. We definitely need to give him a standing ovation.

I think this should give you an idea of Chauncey's injury.

David Beckham tore Achilles tendon

The article makes me feel somewhat better that he will be back
This is actually a defining moment for the Clippers

Today is the last day to waive guaranteed players, right? We have to wait until 9pm to see if the Clippers front office is the New Clippers or the Old Clippers.

If Chauncey is still on the team at 9:01, it’s the new Clippers, and we’re going to the Western Conference Finals!

If he’s off, then watch for a sudden 8 game losing streak – 7 seed – bounced in the first round – lots of talk about wasted potential – Chris Paul gone as soon as he is able.

Wow, you're really reaching there.
well...was chanceys contract an unguaranteed one anyways?

was that in the amnesty proposal?

because if hes guaranteed…then there is no need to release him now if we really need 2 rosters spots

Honestly, that makes no sense.

His contract is guaranteed. There’s no ticking clock.

exactly
I guess I inferred that incorrectly from Solomon Jones.

Excuse please.

Ah... I just re-read...

I’m an idiot. Sorry.

According to an ancient Congolese proverb:

“An idiot will cross an ox with an elephant.”

So if you think about it, you really aren’t an idiot at all. (My logic is undeniable.)

Everyone in this room is now dumber for having heard that. I award you no points...and may God have mercy on your soul.
Exactly

Prob insurance kicks in now.

The insurance is an interesting issue.

If there is insurance, does he have to be waived to collect? Who collects Knicks and Clips?

Bummed

It was a lot of fun watching a team comprised of three All-Star PGs.

at least now we will have all-star power with the coaches

cause Vinny and Howard Eisley dont got anything special

Really A Shame For Billups, The Clippers and Us Fans

My guess is that he will retire.

and so should you
cold blooded
just like b-b-Billups
Chauncey Billups vows to return from injury
After a basketball life of comebacks upon comebacks, Los Angeles Clippers guard Chauncey Billups is determined to make the greatest of his career: a full recovery from a torn Achilles tendon.

"I will be back," Billups told Yahoo! Sports by phone. "I’m not done. I’m not retiring. I will definitely be back. This has been the story of my career, coming back, fighting, scrapping and I will play again."
You better not have just jinxed his come back...
He will be back!!
this sucks!

Billups was a great spark for us always hitting the open threes and clutch free throws. Thanks for all your work and effort chauncy.

Just when I thought we had sidestepped the curse, it rears its ugly head.

This sucks.

Seriously?
You are adorable when you try to remain positive.

The irony makes me want to pinch your cheeks.

he isn't really much of an optimist

just the bogus curse talk tends to annoy, as you can read below.

Stop it with the curse talk!
its not a curse if CP3 is around

Old guy gets hurt…..CLIPPERS CURSE PROVEN!!!!

If Clippers are cursed so is Portland, New York, Golden State, Chicago, Lakers... pretty much the entire league

Every team has major injuries. When it comes to injuries Portland has had it much much worse than us… however somehow Portland stays competitive despite injuries.

Denver with Gallinari

Memphis with…you know

Yeah, Darrell Arthur was a key loss.

That’s who you meant, right?

Nah Damon Stoudamire back in the day
Portland is a perennial playoff team, and has even made the finals.

We’ve experienced 30 years of futility.

Let’s not compare the two.

Not a curse

but just dumb management really. Look what could actually happen with better management. 1st in the division! 2nd in the West!

Portland has an extensive injury history

Walton, Bowie in the past and now Roy and Oden.

Manning, Harper, Livingston, etc.

Portland has still had much better success than as.

Bowie, Oden

That’s really all that needs to be said.

Walton's foot

Overlapped Portland and the Clippers.

Really?

I’d expect this from a Clipper hater, not a Clipper fan

Can he be our assistant coach at least?

And wow, it’s saddening to see some of the comments from so-called Clipper “fans” that sound conspicuously like the garbage I’m bound to hear from bandwagon Laker fans tomorrow.

Come on, guys. Let's stop with this whole curse stuff. There is no curse. Injuries

this season are more often and common because of the compressed schedule.

Plus, sports "curses"...

are total BS and just an excuse for front office mismanagement and poor execution.

Thank you!

I agree

Exactly. NBA teams lost 5 guys just last night to injuries. Guess Denver also

has a curse.

DJ Foster espn article on Billups loss

very pessimistic. He says Billups loss is perhaps ‘the final blow to Clippers title hopes’
Never underestimate a team led by Chris Paul.

I read that crap earlier...

His writing changed since he moved to ESPN.

i think ESPN is the real curse
Agree with you. Never underestimate Chris Paul.
ESPN also probably still thinks the Lakers are the overwhelming favorites.

Total haters of all but a select few franchises.

Also...

“Final blow”? When did the first few blows happen?

When Lakers fell to second place in the standings?
somewhere between CP3s pass and Blakes dunk

its name was Kendrick Perkins

though that is the first major blow to the league that the Clippers are dominating

misquote

i believe he said ‘first step in what could be the final blow’. Either way its way too cynical for me to post a link, not worth reading. He doesnt even mention the fact that Olshey will no doubt make a move or add another player by the deadline.

Because if he mentioned that, there would be no point to his article

Classic ESPN purposely leaving information out so they can get page views.

DJ said that? That’s crazy talk.

I really like Chauncey. Way more than I thought I would. But his WP/48 is .046. That’s not that hard to replace.

clipperblog writers always come across as overly critical...

like they’re trying to always prove they’re not homers or something

This.

I hate their Clipperblog live recap.

Jovan: So Clippers just blew out the Thunder lets start this off by talking about everything they did wrong.
DJ: I hate Brian Cook
Nick: Yeah he’s the worst

cue KA for some great analysis on the game

return to bitching and moaning

I almost never ever go there now.
I used to love ClipperBlog. I'm the same. Never go there anymore.
I still have the RSS feeds

But I like ClipsNation more. It’s true that a lot of their posters are so into minute analysis of the games that they come off as overly negative. But I’m more turned off by their commenters then anything else. Clipperblog, even when it was run by Kevin Arnovitz, has always had a knack for attracting a single annoying commenter that does nothing but hate on someone. This time it’s “Demote DeAndre”. Back when KA and DJ Foster wrote the articles it didn’t matter since I enjoyed the writing. But now, not so much.

Demote DeAndre?

That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard all year.. our defense when DJ is on the bench alone should be enough.

It's true

All the guy does is find reasons to hate on him. And whenever DJ has a good game he’s seemingly quiet.

He's been very negative since the beginning of the year
Chauncey is a class act and I hope to see him play again
Lets trade for EJ. lol
So we can relive this feeling every week?
lol, lets trade for someone that wears Nikes!
I'm so glad CP3 wears Jordans
J's > all other kicks
I hate to say it

But Kobe IV’s are still the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever worn.

Some say the jason kidds low with the two big circles on the side

Where one of the best ever

Some say the jason kidds low with the two big circles on the side

Where one of the best ever

Never got to wear those...

My 2nd most comfortable were old Iversons, but they were some weird variant that I could never find again.

those were some extremely comfortable shoes that i owned.

i just came across a pair of hardly worn white with red ones that im about to throw on Ebay. size 11s that look like they been worn only a few times. comfortable shoes

So are we pushing harder for JR Smith now?
Neil probably on the phone making some deal. Never underestimate the guy.
I'm guessing the Clippers are going to try to get Courtney Lee from Houston

His name has been mentioned in quite a few rumors. Should be on the block

For the trade exception?
For now

I’d settle for perimeter defender like Thabo at SG. This team really needs to work on defense.

They have 2 young small forwards and then lowry and dragic as the pgs. unless houston wants gomes or a guard, we really dont have anything they want.

but do they even want lee?

thats the question

Trade exception, second round picks?

I agree there’s not much we have but how much does Houston value him? Seen his name in trade rumors for awhile now. Do they think they can get a late first round pick for him?

This is such a huge blow. To be honest, unless we sign JR Smith I don’t see us advancing far in the playoffs.

is JR smith really the ONLY guy out there?
Worth pursuing right now? Probably.
Really?

You know that? He might be the only free agent worth pursuing. But that wasn’t the question.

another one right on point...

u get me

I think JR could be the x-factor that gets us to finals

More than the other names being tossed around.
CP, JR, Caron, Blake, DJ? What team wouldnt be terrified to go against that starting 5 with Mo and Kenyon off the bench.

Is JR Smith really that much better than Foye?

I mean at least Foye plays defense and can hit his free throws in crunch time.

Yes. JR Smith provides the ability to stretch the floor and is a very adept mid-range shooter.

Absolutely

Better yes. As a player.

As a human. Not so much.

He can change.

ZBo changed in Memphis, after all.

i suppose

i mean if Ricky Davis became a mentor and a chef for the Clippers…anything can happen

Why the "as a human" stuff?

I really need to be enlightened as to why JR Smith is a bad person.

Because not only did he kill his friend by going 67 in a 35 zone and blowing through a stop sign

But then he showed so much remorse over his actions that he got 2 more speeding tickets between the accident and his trial.

That doesn't seem like a moral issue

You act as if he murdered someone. They both were injured (and his friend died) because they weren’t wearing seatbelts, not because Smith is immoral. It seems like a stupidity and recklessness issue. I see how the term “knucklehead” fits, but I don’t see any reason to think he’s lacking of moral quality. He’s just stupid. Yes, getting 2 speeding tickets after getting into a horrible accident is disturbing (as the judge put it, I’m now reading), but it’s not immoral.

Hmmm, I guess this is where we disagree
getting 2 speeding tickets after getting into a horrible accident is disturbing (as the judge put it, I’m now reading), but it’s not immoral.

I think it is, because to me it shows an utter lack of remorse. If my actions caused such a tragedy, there’s no way on earth I’d repeat the same actions. Doing so demonstrates what the legal folk call a “callous disregard for human life.”

Lack of remorse

How can you jump to that conclusion? Can’t you just as quickly assume he’s being reckless because he’s distraught?

Just because you wouldn’t do it, that isn’t a moral response. It’s an intelligent and insightful response. JR Smith’s response was negligent. Just like not wearing his own seat-belt was negligent. Disregard for any human life is negligent, but unless he has some intent to actually hurt people, I just can’t call that an immoral action.

Of course, this is all my personal definition of morality. I’ve had college courses on this stuff, and there is by no means one definition. To many, allowing oneself to be negligent would represent an immoral act, even if it’s not consciously performed. I admit there’s plenty of grey area here, but I’m not willing to call the guy a bad person because of it, and especially when there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that he’s a nice guy. Per the ESPN article: “Hextall [Smith’s attorney] read from a letter Wanda Bell [mother of the deceased] wrote last fall in which she called Smith ‘a beautiful young man’ who was like a brother to her son.”

Couldn't disagree more

Doing it the first time is merely negligent. Doing it again once the potential consequences have been violently demonstrated is not just negligent but immoral. Avoiding a repeat of one’s actions in that scenario doesn’t take intelligence and insight, just merely the desire not to do harm.

So you think he intends to harm by driving fast?

Really?

I think it means he doesn't care one way or another
Or maybe he didn't learn his lesson

Remember, he walked away from the crash unharmed. So if he was speeding with no passengers, in his mind, it’s not a repeat of the last situation. I think you make Smith out to be smarter than he is. I see him as a dumb teenager more than a sociopath.

Remember, my mind is firmly grounded in Disneyland, though. We should just agree to disagree on this one. ;)

You're confusing morality with stupidity
so you want someone that stupid?
Doesn't take a whole lot of smarts to put the ball in the hoop.

We’re not asking him to crack the mystery of life here.

True - I'm not a big fan of the guy personally

But to me he’s reckless and stupid, not immoral. George Karl would’nt start him for that reason – not sure why we would start him either.

I would rather we sign someone else but the question is who is available that we can use.

Yea that's what me and bolts and Raffo concluded

One man’s negligent is another man’s sociopath.

Go away

You’re confusing me with someone who give a rat’s ass what you think about anything.

You should go back on your meds before posting here

Seriously – get lost

Go away moron
Go back on your meds - seriously

It is kind of said that someone as old as you (50+) has so much aggression to take out on a message board. One can only imagine what you’re like in person.

I’m not going to respond further, but please heed my advice.

Dumb-dumb says what?
What?

Aw MAN!

Gotcha!!
Lying quicker than usual I see
I’m not going to respond further

Two posts away, less than 2 hours ago. And by the way, if you actually could stick to this promise, then we wouldn’t have a problem, since I never respond to any of your idiotic posts. For the love of God, just STOP F***ING TALKING TO ME!!!!!!

Oops, my bad

After I posted I realized your response was to Erik, not me. So I take the first part back. Not the second part, though. I do still wish you’d avoid me the way I do you.

Your doctor called and urged you to take your meds
Ah, there it is
I’m not going to respond further

Nice one liar. And after I admitted I was wrong there, too. You’re really a class act. Now go away, you psycho.

The reason I said that was that you are so ready to jump down my throat

(or anyone you disagree with – which is most of us) that you make mistakes that make you look foolish and prove our points.

And as I've said before

The community service he was sentenced after the accident resulted in this. Really struggling to figure out why he’s in the moral doghouse.

It's easy to go too far here...

I think we’re struggling with the word “moral”. Too me, driving too fast, risking the lives of others is a moral issue in the same way driving under the influence is a moral issue.
Has he figured it out, has he paid his debt? I don’t know. (You’re article smells suspiciously of baby powder, puffy clouds, and spin control).
It seems to me, we’ve returned to our Carmelo Anthony issues of a year ago. Why do shoot-first wings from Denver also have sociopathic tendencies?
I want to bail on the “moral” word. I don’t wish J.R. Smith ill will. His family’s actions in China are regrettable… and only prove that the term “Ugly American” is alive and well. Shame on us.
Smith’s driving habits resulted in a death. That’s a simple fact. And he’s a recidivist. That’s a double fact.
That he’s also a selfish player who won’t play defense, is the most important issue and not, to my mind, what the Clippers need is the paramount issue. But the other stuff counts too.

Haha I didn't scroll down yet, and you were on the same train of thought about the word "moral."

Great minds, huh?

I can dig that we’re both just treading on different sides of the grey area, and it’s just about how you interpret what you see. I’m overly optimistic and my girlfriend constantly says that I give people too many chances, even when I repeatedly get burnt. So I’m also willing to accept that not everyone sees things like I do. I give JR the benefit of the doubt, but I have no reason to do so. I call him negligent, but he could just as easily be a sociopath that feels no remorse at all. And I put lots of weight on that article, but it is indeed awfully “Disneyland.”

As you said, there are simple facts that no one is going to disagree with. Off the court, he’s done plenty of dumb stuff, and one extremely stupid thing. Whether he feels bad about it is beside the point, as we can never know. The point is that he could very well do those dumb things while under a Clipper contract, and he’s shown no effort to stop doing those dumb things. On the court, he doesn’t play D, and the Clippers need a defender. Personally, I think his offense will outweigh his defense, and his size alone will be a defensive improvement over Billups. I like to hope that CP3 would keep him in check, but one never knows.

Haha -- this time I'm the one who didn't scroll down

I see you’re open to the possibility that one man’s negligent is another man’s sociopath, so I guess that’s about all that needs to be said.

Hahaha

This is why I love CN :P

Maybe we can figure out Syria next.
Actually, I'm thinking about this...

Can anyone other than a Clipper fan better navigate the grey area of moral ambiguity? I mean we’ve all checked our righteous moralism at the door haven’t we? When a Clipper fan throws a moral flag… it’s either completely meaningless or it’s beyond meaningful, because we walk the minefield of Donald Sterling’s sociopathic strangeness every day.

Moral ambiguity of being a Clipper fan

I don’t want to say I love the team for the players on the team because that’s what annoying bandwagoners say.

I don’t want to say I love the team for the name on the jersey because that would mean I love something that DTS helped create.

Why do I love this team??

DTS didn't help create it

He stole it from the people of San Diego in the middle of the night.

Back when I started liking the Clippers

I already knew what I was getting myself into :(

That should tell you how much I don’t like the Lakers.

YES

He is bigger, more confident, and more athletic. He can drop 40 on you on any given night, he’s just more of an x-factor as i said. With Foye you know what your getting every night, a steady guy who can occasionally get hot from 3 but lacks that explosive ability to score in bunches like JR can.

Tell the people about JR's defense.
Yes I would like to know cause

I thought we were trying to build our identity on defense not offense. We already have a ton of weapons.

I feel like people say this every year, but watching an offense consisting of 1) lobs, 2) pick and rolls and 3) Chris Paul dribbles past everybody and scores, has its limitations.

You should maybe lay that on the coach, no?

Fair enough. I do think people overrate Griffin’s offensive game a little bit though.

I agree with that.

And I think coaching is essential to his development. And I’m wondering when that will happen.

Not if it can't be stopped

JR would be a one year rental. His defense is not good. But not worse than Foye, and he is a smart passer, decent rebounder, and he has played with CP, Billups and Kenyon and if those guys vouch for him, why not take a chance? What happens when Mo and Caron are ice cold and CP and Blake are doubled? Id rather have JR than Foye in that position.

Im not saying he’s the only option, but if he’s willing to come here for this season and we get to keep Bled? Not a bad idea.

Smith is also a better rebounder and passer.

In short, he’s a better basketball player.

JR Smith is the leading scorer in China right now, at 35.4 PPG

that suggests to me that he is going to return to the NBA with a #1 option and scorer’s mentality.

Not sure how great that would be. But I do like his game.

It’s like when Bonzi Wells went to the Chinese league like 6 years ago and averaged 50 points a game for the first month.

Maybe we can get Bonzi.

No seriously, I hear he’s good.
mwhite, why don’t you whip out some of your superfancy defensive stats on JR, so we can look at them. I’ll work up his knucklehad index. I hear it’s through the roof.

I prefer to evaluate potential Clippers based on their ability to play basketball.

I’ll take a look at the knucklehead index when it comes time to interview drivers for my kids carpool.

Okay.

It’s hard to make an argument about whether a good basketball player has to also be a good guy. I think I’d like to err on the good guy side, perhaps to offset the negative karma of our illustrious owner. But I’d also like to see the Clips with a wing defender. A wing defender who could score a little would be better.

Gotta deal with with what's reasonably available

That’s fine. I get where you guys come from on the JR objections and I wasn’t going to try and change your mind. We’re in agree to disagree territory on this one.

As for the guys who are perfect fits, I’d easily give up Mo for them (Thabo, Allen, Fields) but I don’t think any are particularly gettable.

Okay, that's an interesting argument...

Would you give up Mo Williams, your high volume, high scoring mini tweener guard who plays willing, faulty defense for a big wing defender who scores okay. Both would probably play that sixth man position. Hmmm….
I’ve been thinking Bledsoe should go, but you might have a better idea. Not that I’d want to keep Bledsoe over Mo, after all I invented the Knucklehead Index for him. His number’s very impressive.

I would do it for Alenn and Thabo

Doubt i would for Fields.

Not any more - we need scoring now
Smith only looks out for himself.

There’s a reason why he can’t beat out Anthony Carter for the starting role and why he constantly butt heads George Karl. Even Nuggets fans don’t want him back.

Maybe he caught some Linsanity
billups is a warrior

he will come back from this, maybe not this year but he’ll be back. Let’s get a better replacement than jr smith please, there is a reason this guy never starts its because he doesn’t play D and doesn’t pass the ball.

I'm more sad for him than the clippers this year.

He was forced into this situation at the end of his career and for it to end like this just cuts like a knife. I just read in one of his latest interviews that he wanted to go out a winner. This is not the way any athlete wants to go out. Just sucks for him.

I hope the team is mentally stronger than what was described after the game last night. I know they were worried about him but its just something they have get over quickly. If the sadness lingers they can stumble in their progression. CP seemed to lean on Chauncey for leadership now he will have to do it along with Caron.

I would be great if Chauncey could stay around the team still. Help Kenyon get more acclimated and even be a player/coach.

I feel bad for him. This is not how it should end.

We'll get him his second ring. He helped get us here, we'll finish it for him
That would be so badass
Caron Butler went down after 20 some games for the Mavs and they won the title

Billups goes down on the 22nd game….just saying

I like your optimism.
$2,000,032

Good luck charm.

and Caron is getting his title ring on Monday when we play in Dallas.
WIN IT FOR CHAUNCEY!
Very difficult to replace him

I hope we see him on the sidelines, they need him around. When has the ball in the last few seconds you can actually breathe a little bit.

Kobe give this man your Doctor's business card.
That's the second time I've seen reference to Kobe's miracle German knee procedure...

It’s evident that neither of you know what you’re talking about.

clearly, since Kobe got the Knee thing done and what happen

his wrist is injured

…lol

Per Ralph Lawler
For the record, JR Smith is the leading scorer in the CBA @ 35 pts a game. His team is in 6th place with the top 8 making play-offs. His team has a half-game lead over the team in 9th place. Play-offs begin Feb. 22.
So JR might not be immediately available.
Why doesn't JR start shooting air balls?
Maybe his girlfriend and mother can get him kicked out the the country early.
he should just tank the season
Can we wait?

JR seem a hot topic, but with this condensed schedule is it worth it for us to wait for him? I’m sure we can find another option via trade. It doesn’t have to be something major.

We could use a Tony Allen type of shooting guard.
I agree

We don’t need an all-star, just a really good role player.

It would be nice to pry Landry Fields form NY

This would be all kinds of perfect, but I don’t think the Knicks are that dumb

you really don't think the Knicks are that dumb?

Not really. They held out Fields in the Melo deal, I think they know what they’ve got.

and we held out Bledsoe in the CP3 deal.

sounds perfect to me!

Yep

Finding the perfect defensive role player will be tough, most of them are locked into good teams already

And break up the Stanford back court, how dare you. Haha.
I thought Jeremy Lin is from Harvard
He is a Harvard graduate
Nope Stanford

GSW home town hero. I think he grew up in Palo Alto

Oops your right. My Bad.
he did grow up in Palo Alto though

Foye – role player
Gomes – role player (although not exactly sure what his role is)
Evans – role player
Martin (at this point in his career) – role player
Cook – role player
Thompkins and Leslie- scrub

I think we have enough “role players” on the bench. We need some offense; someone who can score.

If only Tony Allens were easy to find

Tony Allen is the best perimeter defender in the game. Teams aren’t going to just give up their best defender for our scrap heap.

I’m sure we can find another option via trade.

Well that’s (obviously) the other avenue. Problem is that the only guys that’ll most likely be out there are guys like Nick Young and Leandro Barbosa.

Nick Young > JR Smith

I love Nick Young to death, mainly because of his USC days, but no.

There are similar, both scorers but I think JR is better at it.
Nick has better character, I think.

But way less BBIQ.

Nick Young!!!??

You picked the one guy with a higher knucklehead rating than JR!

What's wrong with Cleveland HIgh product Nick Young?
Seriously

It was between him and Al thornton a few years ago, and look who’s still in the league? Nick Young. He’s doing something right!

by not getting injured?

sounds perfect!

It has nothing to do with where he grew up.

Have you seen him play?

You claim he's a knucklehead - what are you talking about?
well this Wizard's team has that reputation

going of his stats and the general mood towards him on the Wizards blog he is kind of a black hole on offense whilst his defensive numbers seem unimpressive. Lil’ Chucker 2 it seems.

Blatche, McGee, and Young...

Are the knucklehead core of that team.

I think you're confused - he's just not a good enough basketball player for you

He hasn’t done anything stupid as far as I know.

Okay, I get it.

Yes, I throw them all under the knucklehead label, which isn’t fair, because I’m tarring a guy with moral issues like JR Smith with the same label. I’ll go back to the Knucklehead rule book on that one.
But Jax, is this a USC issue for you? School of no knuckleheads?

I think Jax went to UCLA

Anyway, I think there are two types of knuckleheads. ON the court, and OFF the court.

Nick Young is an on-court knucklehead, but seems fine off the court.

Carmelo Anthony is an off-court knucklehead, but he’s pretty solid on the court.

JR Smith is a both.

No Mikey, Carmelo is a both.
I'm a UCLA guy

I just think that these guys are people and that we should not unnecessarily castigate them. Sometimes it helps to meet one of these guys or get a chance to interact with them. For example, Demar DeRozan is a great guy with a great family if you’ve ever had the opportunity to meet him. He might not be the best basketball player but he’s a good dude.

NBA players generally are good kids

especially when compared to NFL players.

I used to get upset by how much grief Terrell Owens got. He was a hard worker and a good citizen who never got in trouble with the law. Sure he was a lousy teammate, but the way the media railed against him, you’d think he was some sort of criminal.

Same with LeBron James. He is really a nice kid. Never been in trouble. That’s remarkable, considering where he grew up and how early on he was being told how great he was.
J
R Smith is a bit troubled, though.

I've heard Nick Young is a really nice guy.

Treats other players really nicely too.

Dude Nick Young isn't good
oops I misunderstood your confusion

nvm

I support USC players!

Just a thought dude!

I'd like to be honest.

I went to a women’s basketball game last year just cause between UCLA and USC.
UCLA won big-time.

Yes that is a problem.
Gomes, Foye, Cook, Leslie, and Cash for Beubois and player x!

That would be so incredible.

I was reading on Hoopsworld.com, JR Smith is looking to be compensated for his services. Also he was to be primary option on offense. I don’t know if that is true. That may not work with the Clippers. New York may be able to offer more, but he had played with Melo before and he didn’t like that. The article tossed more names into the mix (t-wolves and Lakers)

There goes my hopes of getting Smith to play for free

BREAKING NEWS:

NBA player expects a paycheck for playing in games

tell that to DTS
Nah DTS is fine with paying players

he just hates paying coaches and GM’s.

How much did he make playing in China?
Not sure how much he wants to get conpensated

His contract is going to be pro-rated over the course of what, 25-30 games? He’ll be looking for playing time and a team that is going to go deep in the playoffs so he can show off for his next contract. Now’s the time to get him. Whoever signs him to a long term deal will probably regret it

Question...

Does the full amount of the veteran’s minimum hit our cap hold, or the pro-rated amount? Can we offer up the entire veteran’s minimum for those 25-30 games?

isn't that the point fo the whole pro rated stuff?

that the player get’s only a part of the contract? I believe that’s why it was important that Keyon signed before the 10th of this month. The cap hold is a interesting question (on the face of it would say the whole amount) but not very relevant for our Clips (only to DTS wallet if they hit lux tax but that seems unlikely in any event).

That's what I figured.

It was worth a shot ;)

I"m just guessing

But I think only the pro-rated amount count against the cap. For example, only the amount that was paid out to Solomon Jones will go against the cap, not the entire vet. min for the whole year.
Every team has the same amount to offer with the vet. min so it will be pro-rated the same for every team also. Any team (Lakers, Clippers, Heat) with nothing else to offer but the minimum can promise any more the one of the other teams.

Something that bothered me while reading a few people's comments, but it's Chauncey fellow Clippers fans, not Chauncy, not Chancy, but Chauncey.

If you’re going to mourn his loss learn how to spell his name.

he didn't die
lol, ok, then bring on the bad spelling
The day Chancy dies is the day I spell his name correctly!
LOL thinking the same thing
damnit people

if you dont start spelling Chancy Bullips name right…

Black Griffen will find you and dunk on u so hard, you will rip both Achilles

But what will Deandre Jones do?
he will bear hug u to death
Yes, he ain't Blake Griffen.
THA RAYJING BUUL GRIFFAN!
LOL RAYJING

classic

Statistically

Chauncey is replaceable. But his presence on the court can’t be duplicated.

Still, I think a young, athletic Bledsoe returning to the floor may help ease the pain a little bit.

i actually think this could be a blessing in disguise

No billups means room for a returning Bledsoe

before there was no slot for Bledsoe, now all of a sudden there is

Bledsoe is also familiar with the SG position
Although I don't rmr him being very good at it in Kentucky
He had some games in the NCAA tournament were he did well I think.

One game he went 8 for 9 on threes.

Because he's familiar with it, doesn't mean he's good at it.

Check that, he’s not good at the point either.

But he has upside..

UPSIDE!!!

you're taking the loss of Billups the hard way

think club O!

I took it hard. I'm getting over it.

It’s all the lame JR Smith stuff I’m tired of. And then, Nick Young! Of all people. Six years in the NBA and still doesn’t have a clue.

Explain please
Look at his stats, Jax... okay, I'll do it for you...

Link.. Okay, this is his fifth year, my mistake. A career PER of 13. Career rebs is 1.9, career assists is 1. He’s a six-six swing man who averages two rebs and one assist. And his per 36 numbers are just as bad. He averaged over 30 minutes last year, shot the ball 25 percent of his teams possessions and average 17. He makes JR Smith look like Michael Jordan.

I guess I'm confused by your use of the term "knucklehead"

To me, that’s a reference to a non-basketball issue. I guess you’re just saying he’s not a good basketball player based on statistics.

And then of course you have to jibe me for being lazy by not looking up stats – even though I think most would agree with me that what you said doesn’t seem to equal bad basketball player.

Really?

I think his numbers are terrible.

So that alone makes him a knucklehead in your mind?

I guess we have different definitions of the term “knucklehead.”

JR Smith is a knucklehead, but not because of his basketball game.

+1

there is always the chance that he’ll thrive in a new setting but for the moment he seems a Foye with out the playmaking skills.

What reasonable names would you like to hear?

And please don’t say Randy Foye

We need backup for your argument...
Bledsoe is a lot less dangerous to us at SG than PG

He may turn out to be an asset.

...i was actually thinking bled would be the backup PG

as much as i hate to say it…Foye starting is what should happen with Bled and Mo in the backcourt

like how Mo is soo good with CP3 on the floor because Mo can just roam free and hit the open shots….now Bled will feed Mo in the 2nd unit

and there will be less pressure for Mo to handle the ball when its him and Foye in the backcourt.

Plus while Foye is a huge downgrade to Billups…CP3 will make Foye a better Foye

Foye needs to study the Kobe System™
I didn't know

That Chauncey had aspirations for a GM position at some point after he retired. I sure hope he sticks with the Clippers wholeheartedly for the remainder of this season. They still need his basketball knowledge on the sidelines.

Assistant GM: Chauncey Billups

Also to this day I’m not sure what Andy Roeser does. Also does he rank higher or lower than Olshey?

I think Roeser just advises Olshey on how to talk to DTS.
Right - we might as well capitulate now
We talk about JR's roots with Chauncey and Martin but he also played with Melo.

JR would probably love to chuck it in DeAntonio’s offense in the Garden.

If it turns out that he values chucking and scoring more than winning...

then I won’t feel too bad about missing out on him.

if he goes to the Knicks where the heck are they going to find shots for him, Carmelo and STAT?
Guards usually bring the ball up the court.
Only way i see JR picking Clips over NY

Is if by the time he comes back NY is out of playoff hunt, or barely in it, and we are still at the top of the west. If he thinks he can help Clips make deep playoff run he might take less $, and if we go far he will earn an even bigger contract from someone this summer.

This seems right to me

And seems completely plausible if not practically a guarantee. Knicks have played an easy schedule and still suck

JR has roots with CP3

Plus, I don’t think he liked Melo all that much.

If the Clips had the cash, this is where JR would land.

Can we use the $2M we were paying Chauncy (Chauncey) for this?
Nope

Clips only have the vet min to sign free agents now

He played, what one year with him? Both were rookies?

I’m kind of underwhelmed by this. Do you know they got along?

CP's rookie season

I remember a Clips-Hornets game in 05-06 where CP was dishing out to JR all game for jumpers, i think JR had 30 something points in the win. That was back when JR was a teen, and he clashed with the coaching staff. They benched him and eventually traded him.

I am not a fan of his personality, off court behavior, but if we cant find that defensive wing we dream of, and CP gives the ok, why not see what he can do on a short deal.

ok, he had 21 pts.

Not sure

There is this.

The first line of the story is:

When they were youngsters together about three years ago, Chris Paul and J.R. Smith were close friends.

I blame this injury on the accursed TJ Simers who decided to travel with the team this roadtrip!!!

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-simers-20120205,0,2631554.column
He decided to travel with the Clippers on the road trip to increase his P.R. (get a job promotion.)

TJ is a Dick,

That spews BS out his Hole.

how is this guy employed? who actually enjoys his writing?
+10000000000000
This was not worth breaking the law over.
via twitter

manuginobili Manu Ginobili
Best wishes and speedy recovery to Chauncey Billups. Tough injury. A great competitor I enjoy playing against.

fyi Chauncey Billups, achilles and JR Smith are trending topics on twitter.

Manu is classy
Most underrated player in the league

Seriously.

Last season: Foye averaged 16pts and 4 asts on 41% shooting as a starter over 24 gms.

This season: Billups had 15 and 4 on 36% shooting…

Just food for thought…

I actually like Foye as starter

But we’ll still need another SG/SF for the bench.

We are 4-2 this year with Foye as the starter

His stats were horrendous the first few games but he picked it up against Minny and TOR.

That was on a bad team where he could chuck up tons of shots

Billups was doing that on a much better team and more efficiently. He gets to the line alot more. And he was having one of the worse years of his career. It’s likely he would have gotten much better as the season played out.
Foye has 6 starts this year and is averaging 10.7 pts 4 asts on 37% shooting. I think this is the Foye we will likely be seeing as a starter

I think the argument about whether Billups would have gotten better is now (unfortunately) irrelevant. Rather, as much as I liked him, his numbers were fairly pedestrian. Despite that, the Clippers have been excellent.

So, if somebody like Foye (who also promises to put up pedestrian numbers) starts in his place, it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. We were already getting fairly little out of the SG spot.

Yeah i kinda agree Definitely not end of the world

Foye is a slight downgrade from the Chauncey we have been seeing so over the remainder of the season it might not be too big a factor. And whoever takes Foye’s minutes off the bench won’t have to do much to accomplish what Foye was doing. Even with Chauncey the Clippers needed to upgrade the SG spot if they wanted to make a serious title run (or Billups would have to started playing better)
The silver lining in all this might be that the Clippers are forced to acquire someone who may better then Billups and Foye.

By one statistical measure, perhaps
We were already getting fairly little out of the SG spot.

But not by others. PER was above 15, which means above average. WS/48 was .124, also above average. And then there’s the value that can’t be adequately calculated (which I’m fully aware that many stat-heads don’t believe exists). In this case I think I’ll side with Chris Paul’s estimation of Chauncey’s worth to the team over that of Professor Berri et al. As Steve so eloquently put it above, “You can’t overestimate the value of Chauncey Billups in a close game.”

I’m probably a stat-head, but I completely agree that Billups had a significant contribution on the club outside of the measurable statistics.

You and I have always been treading in that middle ground

We love the stats, but acknowledge that there’s something else out there. Kind of like Stephen Hawking and God. (Oddly enough, I’m not joking about that analogy.)

I'm right there with you

As I’ve always said, ignoring the stats is foolish, but assuming that they have been perfected enough to capture everything that goes on in a basketball game is equally foolish.

Stats are fun because we can play with them

I’m pretty juiced about finding that site with WP for each player (which somehow I never ran across til recently). Now that I have that site, I can create an amalgam stat. Equally weighting PER, WS/48, and WP48, and taking everyone as a percentage of the “average player” mark of that stat (i.e. 15.0 for PER, .100 for WS/48, and .100 for WP48).

If you are 200% time the “average player” level, you are a “superstar” (i.e. 30+ PER, .200+ WS/48, .200+ WP/48, or ).

I can set up the table like this:

15.0——-PER-30.0———20.0———15.0
0.100—-WS—-0.200——0.255——0.250
0.100—-WP—-0.200——0.210——0.250
-———————-200%——199%——200%

Etc.

Introducing: MEGASTAT

Oh, just for reference, here was Jordan’s best year, 1990-91:

31.6
0.321
0.437
323%
Jordan

Looks like by MEGASTAT, LeBron is insanely awesome, but still not the best ever. Wade is playing down from usual years, but he’s also been hurt sometimes. Kobe’s not really having the revival everyone thinks he’s having. Love is amazing, and it’s showing in the wins column finally. Paul is probably the 2nd best player in the league. We know Griffin isn’t at the LeBron-level yet, but it’s nice to see that he’ll be passing Kobe soon. Durant, Rose, and Howard are all superstars, as expected.

Same players, by best career season...

This is fantastic!!

Can you try it with someone who scores well in one and not in another? Like Reggie Evans or Eric Gordon?

Sure :) I need a better name for this amalgam-stat. For now I will call it MILPH, for they are already an amalgam of awesome.

WP gives Reggie so much love, and EJ so little love. But PER is the other way around.

PER is supposed to take into account a player’s ability to create for themselves (so if you can keep shooting at the same rate, even as defenses adjust to you, then you get rewarded, like EJ). WP cares very little about scoring, with much more emphasis placed in rebounds.

you should make a fanpost of your results

that is impressive

Considering it

It’s fun when they disagree with each other.

I’d probably also add salaries so I can find guys that are “sneaky productive” based on any of these advanced stats.

not a big fan of all those combined statistics

just different ways of weighing the same stats.

I’ll go as far as TS% and eFG%, but there it stops.

"just different ways of weighing the same stats."

But that’s precisely why I did this. Each of those advanced stats were created for the purpose of taking all of those individual stats and creating a single number by which a person can measure a player to decide if they are good or not. This can be used to predict which teams will be successful and which teams won’t be successful. The key is to fill your roster with guys who are worth every penny you pay them, so no dollar is wasted. Your low salary guys are sneaky productive, and your high salary guys are at least as good as you’re paying them to be.

However, each of those numbers uses subjectively determined weights, and many believe that they are flawed in some way. Obviously there are differing opinions in how the weights should be given, since according to PER and WS, EJ was much better than Reggie last year, but WP has Reggie playing like an all-star, while it has EJ playing barely above average. I sought to offset one metric’s flaws with another metric, thereby creating a potentially more fair view of the player, with less impact from those flaws. Of course, by picking these 3 advanced stats, it’s going to sway whichever way they agree on. If they all agree that having a high TS% is a good thing (which they do), then players with high TS% are going to be favored.

This is awesome.

Just for giggles, I’d like to see the algebraic formula laid out. It’s gotta be enormous.
You should put it in a fanpost. But don’t call it Milph, call it something like, “The Awesome Amalgamation”… something like that.

This is genius

Pure genius. And for the record, I liked Megastat.

Most notably

he is money from the FT line. At the end of a game, he will help ice it.

Hugely valuable.

TS% is the key difference

Billups was still being efficient because he took a ton of 3’s and got to the line.

indeed

still I would have liked the ball in Paul’s hand instead of Billups. In my opinion Paul deferred a bit too much of the ball-handling duties to Billups.

Big yes

That’s the silver lining of all this. More time with Paul doing things. I think he deferred out of respect, even when it wasn’t best for the team.

can you prove that TS% between the two comparison points though?

they both had about 2 three’s made a game for what it’s worth

I smell a stat fight!

Stat fight stat fight (yawn) stat fight sta…zzzzzz…

I find it interesting

But you're a stat head!

A baseball stat head! The worst (best) kind!

A little confused

What do you mean between the two comparison points? FT attempts was basically the difference, shooting-wise.

I took it to mean comparing Chauncey's TS% to Foye's TS% in his 24 games as a starter last year

i.e., the comparison he began with above.

Ohhh

Dummy Erik…

I’ll need a minute. (lol @ my work productivity this last hour)

Sorry, just wondering if you knew the TS% for Foye last year as starter - couldn't find it on BB-reference site

This is what I was looking at earlier:
Randy Foye last year when he was a starter

Billups this year
BB-ref has Billups TS% at 0.554.

I did it all manually in excel

Pleasantly surprised… I came up with 53.1% TS% as a starter in those games from 1/25 to 3/16 using PTS / (2 * (FGA + 0.44 * FTA)). I used the gamelog from b-ref because it comes in .csv format.

But now I’m doubting myself because using that same formula on b-ref’s own stats, I get 57.6% TS% for Chauncey this year.

What am I doing wrong?

Oh I'm dumb

They calculate it for you with the advanced game logs.

54.44% according to B-ref’s stats for Randy as a starter. Not too shabby at all.

can you provide the link for that 54.44%?

that’s what i was hunting for…

Clips Nation is great.
I calculated it using this page:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/foyera01/gamelog/2012/

First filter for the “advanced game log”.

Then I basically just took an average of his TS% whenever he started.

hmmm...

that doesn’t sound right… considering his shooting attempts vary game to game.

from a statistical point of view

still should be a good indication

or not now that i'm thinking

but should be easily calculated using the raw stats

I recalculated using raw stats

Differences were like 0.0000021 and stuff. B-ref seems to be doing this rightat the gamelog level. I don’t know why that one Chauncey stat is wrong, but when you go down to the gamelog level, each game’s TS% is perfect.

no weighted average necessary?
+1

but that seems complicated for TS% so best to use the raw data (or averages will also work)

Ohhh

That’s why they differed. Duh. They did the average TS% weighted by FGA I bet. Though it’s hard to do that when you also have to weight by FTA. I wonder how they weight it?

probably not

better to just calculate using total stats (or average stats)

Based on just FGA (since Randy barely shoots FT anyway) is a pretty good weight

52.22% weighted total average
53.34% weighted average off the bench
50.06% weighted average as a starter
53.72% weighted average with less than 15 mins
51.92% weighted average with more than 15 mins

Results are inconclusive…

Honestly it seems like I did something wrong there.
like leave FTA out? :)
Just the weighting... but using raw data is better.

Trying to average out averages is always sticky territory.

Stupid B-ref.com is broken.

It would appear their own calculation of TS% for 2011-12 for Chauncey is wrong. Using their own advanced game log, I come out to the exact same TS% of 57.6% for Chauncey this year, which is awesome. The 55.4% they have on the main Chauncey page is just wrong.

TS% when not starting?

Foye seems less trigger happy as a starter. And he should get some good looks playing alongside Paul. I’d prefer Billups but of our starting 5 he seems the most easily replaced.

On it!

51.3%——-total average TS% with the Clippers
49.8%——-average off the bench
54.0%——-average as a starter
47.2%——-average with less than 15 mins
53.0%——-average with more than 15 mins

(this is including the current season, that's why his average as a starter went down... he was ever so slightly worse this year as a starter, but that was also without CP3)
I had 47% TS as a starter this season

but small sample size

51,9 coming of the bench this season
Oh I see

Just used raw total FGA and FTA, yes?

no averages,but total works the same

it is all linear stuff so you could use either.

Yup

Got the same for 11-12… now I’m back on track. Stupid percentages were screwing me up.

In 2010-11
Bench – 46.38%
Starter – 55.36%

2010-2012

Bench 47.9%
Starter 54%

I would go further but my excell converts the playing time wrong

taking minutes for hours and seconds for minutes

and I haven’t found an easy way to convert it.

I wasn't seeing much conclusive stuff when I went to minutes played... he only seems to care if he starts or not haha.
if only I could get my hands on a data dump of gamelogs per player

with access and excel you can do some nifty things with raw data

CP3 just posted this on his twitter:

Toughest day to date for me as an NBA player losing the best backcourt mate I’ve ever played with, my big bro, and gr8 teammate C. Billups…I know they say everything happens for a reason but I’m having a hard time understanding this one…what he did for our team is immeasurable…Its not ideal but for the time being I’ll have to settle for my son running around the house yelling “CHAUNCEY B-B-BILLUPS for 3!!!” Plz keep him and his family in your prayers, LOVE that guy!

and even better, this on twitter:

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski
Chauncey Billups tells Yahoo! Sports: “I will be back. I’m not done. I’m not retiring….I will play again.” Story soon on Y! Sports.

I like this one better.

CP’s tweet sounded so final like Chauncey was done.

He better get over this quick though. There’s games to play

Great to hear

I won’t be easy but I definitely wouldn’t write Billups off.

LarryCoon Larry Coon
This seems a good time to point out that Clips have two trade exceptions, one for $3.831M and the other for $2.756M.

Good to know.

The 3.8m one is from EJ

where did the 2.7m one come from?

Aminu I guess?

But that doesn’t really make sense because Kaman contract was less the Paul’s contract?

both were from the CP trade
Yeah the LA times has repeatedly printed the two TE's...

But trade exceptions are so weird. You can’t combine with a player in a trade (or add them together?). So they’re only useful to a team who wants to get under the luxury tax. So that’s the trick, find a team 3.831M (or less) over the tax and see if they have a wing you like. It’s like playing Scrabble with only X’s, Q’s, and Z’s in your rack.

OX, QI, ZA... gotta know the two letter words!
The COOOON

fighting crime

Serious Debate Question to Clips Nation

The Clippers won the bid for Chauncey Billups when the original CP3 deal fell thru. Do you think the Clippers would have still gone after Chauncey if CP3 would have been signed first? I personally think not.

Nope

Really, they made a lot of noise about having a replacement in hand in order to send out Gordon.

You guys think they were covering their tracks? I took it at face value.

it kind of worked out OK

but I’m quite certain the Clips would have made the deal regardless if they won the auction for Billups. A bit less certain but I guess they also would have made a bid had they landed Paul, perhaps a little less high. He might have been an average SG but that’s noty too bad for 2M.

I think at the price they bid

they were just taking a stab at the dark. If they didn’t pull off the CP3 trade then Chauncey might have been really pissed and not even report. Given only 2 teams even put in a bid I think the teams around the league took his retirement threats pretty seriously.

Who was the other team that bid

from what I read the clippers were the only team.

Oh I thought there was two teams from what someone else said here

I don’t think they revealed who the other team was. The bids were submitted via a silent auction type format.

Apparently there was no other bidder...

But the idea that Chauncey wouldn’t have reported is bunk. He would be walking away from fourteen million dollars.

Many players have done it

Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess are 2 that retired recently even with big money left on their deals.

Chauncey wasn't retiring

He wanted to control where he went

He was threatening to retire

if he went to a team that was rebuilding. So if a team like the Kings or Wizards picked him up he’d retire (or so he claimed). Whether it was just posturing only Chauncey would know.

Right but he didn't want to retire - he wanted to play
I'd say yes

I don’t think CP3 would stand for Foye being his backcourt running mate and would have politely suggested that Olshey shop around. Chauncey would still have been the best guard available at the time at very little risk to the Clips. Knowing how close the two now are it would make sense for Chris to lobby for him.

@BA_Turner: Billups wants to return to Clips: "Obviously I feel like there some unfinished business there."

i love him that much more!

someone get the brother a clipboard and a whistle

awww gosh Chauncey
lol my favorite response
This is awesome.

I would be happy to bring Chauncey off the bench to replace Randy Foye. Assuming we get SG X in the interim.

Billups got some assasin-mojo fron CP3!!!!
RELEASE THE KRACKEN!

I mean bledsoe!!

NEED FOR SHEED!!!

sorry, couldn’t help myself.
I think we should sign him solely to piss off the Lakers.
C’mon olshey, get’er done!

Maybe Morris Peterson

Free Agent, could give him a shot to see if he still got game.

We will need him in the playoffs.. :(

Maybe we should try Thompkins at backup SF? I’m sure he’ll be more productive than Gomes (wouldn’t take much).

or maybe we could get Tristan Thompson or James Johnson for a couple 2nd Round Picks?

BRING BACK CAT MOBLEY!!
Chauncey has become one of my favorite basketball players ever

I really want him to stay with the Clippers throughout his comeback

from the mavs game

I wish I could edit guys ;(

wanted to post the picture below, but I somehow missed the copy paste and this is one of the gifs from the W against Orlando

Apparently the link for the image above had been saved since the win in Orlando and now I did not copy paste properly to link the picture of Billups below
.......wtf.
Yeah I know man, I feel terrible

I hope you guys understand what went wrong – this is really, really terrible

No ripped achilles there...
omg, how wrong is that.... the gif from the Orlando game after winning...

Here it is

sorry….

The picture I meant to post before, instead of the skeletondance ;^(
Mo looks so content.

Lulz.

Mo “I love you man…I mean…I really love you man….”

DJ “GROUP HUG!!”

Blake “oh were not doing high 5’s anymore?”

DJ could be naked back there thinking he's in the shower for all I know...
lol...Longest Yard, Rob Schnider cameo

“yea! group hug in the shower tonight!!….”

“or not, or not…”

There is a lot of talk (ESPN mostly) that the Clippers can’t make it to the WCF without Chauncey. That the team will lack “leadership”. I will never under estimate Billups’ influence on this Clipper team, but I don’t think we will be lacking leadership. Chris Paul is, and should be, the leader of this team. Mo has playoff experience, as does Caron and Kenyon. Chauncey’s on court production will be replicated by Foye, a returning Bledsoe and maybe a future piece (JR Smith?). The off court presence should still be there. I don’t know what the rehab schedule would look like and I don’t even know if Chauncey will rehab in LA, but if possible it would be HUGE to have Billups on the bench next to VDN. What better bench leader for our PG crew than Chauncey? Maybe that is wishful thinking on my part…CB’s rehab schedule may not allow that much team interaction. Bottom line, I think that this team will be OK. What we should all expect now is for Chris Paul to start dominating like we know that he can.

yeah, all of these people are writing off the Clippers already.

They find anything to down play the team. Sure, losing Chauncey is big, but we have guard depth and the team is still strong. This team will be motivated. All of this bad mouthing by the media has to fuel CP3, Blake, and the others. The team will be fine.

i know right

first it was…Clippers have too many PG’s they will fail

reality: Clippers have the best backcourt in the league…with all the PG’s

now…Billups out for the season, Clippers lose a PG, now they will fail for sure

…can’t wait for reality to smack them in the face again

This

They have the basic buliding blocks. They have a good FO finally. Things are looking up.

Quick Question

Should I trade Joakim Noah, Tim Duncan, and Marc Gasol for Blake Griffin, Hawes, and barandon bass

See other response in other thread.

Don’t do it!

I will miss Chauncey this season.

And welcome his return next season. I was almost a ecstatic when the Clippers picked him up as when the picked Paul up. Stand up guy, works hard, great leader, great clutch shooting, yet always shafted. He’ll also be a great coach someday.

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