Sorry, I won't stand by and watch that happen, then cheer for them the next game as if nothing ever happened. Carmelo Anthony wants to go, so let him but Chauncey Billups, the man who was born in Denver, played at George Washington High in Denver and then went to college at the University of Colorado at Boulder and became a fan favorite despite not having top winning talent around him even though he was a top prospect who could of went to any team in college if he wanted, he was that talented but his loyalties lied to Denver, the one place he called home. After becoming a journeyman in the NBA for awhile, even having a stint in Denver with a much different front office than it has right now. Even with a painfully awful team he was still eager to play along Nick Van Exel in the backcourt just because it was the Nuggets, it was his home team after all, Even though Billups had to wait until January that year before he could play because of the lockout.
When the season finally started, Denver didn’t have enough in the tank to make the playoffs, though Chauncey improved his numbers to 14 points and four assists a night. Eager for a full year in Denver, Chauncey was devastated when he dislocated his left shoulder in December of 1999. Then, after undergoing surgery that ended his season, he received more bad news, as the Nuggets traded him to Orlando. Chauncey never suited up for the Magic, spending his few months with the team rehabbing his injured shoulder before they let him walk. To me this was absolutely devastating to Nuggets fans and an almost heartless approach, Billups bled Denver blood more than arguably any Denver born athlete and not only that he was talented as hell and full of potential, it was more than about trading a player, it was about trading a player who wanted to play for the Nuggets more than any player in the league simply because he wanted to hear Denver fans cheering him on, this was home and nothing else would feel more right.
Everyone knows about how Billups proved all his critics wrong and dominated the Eastern Conference Year after with a team that was not incredibly talented and didn't have any major stars of any sort, an undersized and undrafted Center, a Power Forward with emotional problems and criticized for being a underachiever, a young and unproven SF, a sharp shooting SG who was only truly great at playing off the ball, and Billups. In the franchise's first appearance in the NBA Finals since 1990, Detroit faced off against LA. No one gave the Pistons even an outside shot of beating Kobe, Shaq and company yet the completely dominated that series, it was no competition.
In the end, Chauncey has found a home, his real home in Denver Colorado with the ultimate place he wants to play and that is with the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets acquired Chauncey in a trade for Allen Iverson and it has invariably been one of the best moves ever in the Nugget organization. Billups also wants to be apart of the front office when his time is up in Denver, he wants to be apart of the community and the team and all that is good about Denver, his home, my home and I will not watch our front office trade him like he is just another player, Billups even has said he wants to be apart of the team even if it is in a rebuilding stage, I bet he would go on the bench for Lawson once he is able to start for us. trade Harrington, trade Chris Anderson, trade any or them but I will not support this organization if they do what they did to Billups, sorry, not going to happen and maybe I am the only one, but I care about Colorado too much, I will support every other team in Denver until the Nuggets front office is gone if this trade happens then maybe I will come around.
To Billups!
