Need an MVP? Billups May Fit the Bill
By Jason Branch
JACK OF ALL SPORTS
Where would the Nuggets be without Mr. Big Shot? (Photoshop by Joseph Coleman)
All we hear about lately on ESPN and other major sports media outlets are the “big three” candidates for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade (who has rapidly risen into vogue). Heck, the “Big Ticket” isn’t even being talked about anymore, now that he’ll be riding the Celtics’ pine most likely the rest of the regular season.
With all of the opinions being thrown around, however, the one man no one considers for MVP is Chauncey Billups. He’s been the catalyst for the Denver Nuggets ever since he replaced the toxic influence of Allen Iverson in the Mile-High City. For the record, the Pistons got out of the gate 4-0. Enter “The Answer” in the November 3 trade. The Pistons fell to where they currently sit: three games below .500.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets began the season 1-3. Enter Mr. Big Shot. Right now, the Nuggets are 50-26 — the two seed in the Western Conference playoffs if they began today — and have the opportunity to establish a franchise-best regular-season record (54-28, 1987-88).
This season as of Friday night, Billups is posting 18.1 points per game and 6.3 assists per game against just 2.3 turnovers per while shooting 41.7 percent. Not staggering numbers by themselves, but you have to factor in the intangibles that Billups has brought to the Nuggets. While Iverson is done for the season, Billups has not missed a single game.
He’s a controlled player who has given Coach Karl much more stability at the point guard position than Iverson. Billups does not make the careless mistakes that Iverson is prone to because of his style of play. Taking care of possessions is vital to winning championships, but also crucial in regular-season games, and Billups has done just that. Furthermore, Billups provides much more stout defense than Iverson, as the downfall of the Nuggets the past few seasons has been the inability to effectively defend opponents. This season, with Billups, the Nuggets — yes the Nuggets — rank second in the NBA in opponents’ field goal percentage.
Without Billups, the Nuggets are still possibly a playoff team. But unlike years past, the Nuggets are now a legitimate force in the West, and not just a bottom seed in the playoffs that can’t hang with the likes of the Lakers and Spurs.
This season, with Billups running the show, the Nuggets are a solid team on both sides of the ball and are the second-best team in their conference. Sure, they won 50 games last season, but that was only good for the eighth seed and a sweep from the Lakers. With a clear shift in power at the top of the East this season, the Nuggets have been able to rise in the standings. This at the same time that all of last season’s playoff teams from the West, minus the Lakers, have seen a drop in total wins.
Without Billups at the point for the Nuggets, surely this team would not be playing as well as it has this season. He has made everyone around him better, and he has brought to his team the leadership that AI lacks and ‘Melo still hasn’t grown into.
With AI still at the helm, this Nuggets team would’ve experienced the same dropoff that has hit most of the West’s playoff teams. Instead, the Nuggets now have the chance to win one or two playoff series before likely being bounced out by the top-seeded Lakers for a second straight season. This year’s version of the Nuggets may not be as fun to watch as last year’s — when every game seemed to bring at least 250 combined points — but this year’s Nuggets are much more complete and capable of winning in the postseason.
So why no love for the leader of the second-best team in the West?
A lot of it certainly is due to his much lower profile and less flashy style (compared to LeBron, Kobe, and D-Wade). Chauncey’s numbers also aren’t as impressive on paper as the “real” contenders (according to the sports media that matter, which isn’t TakingBackSports.com yet), but he has meant just as much to his team as the aforementioned players.
The fact that Denver is a much smaller media market than many of the East Coast cities or L.A. certainly contributes as well. So does Denver’s location outside of the Eastern Time Zone.
I’ve made as much of a case for Billups getting some love as I can. It is a crime that the leader of the second-best team in a conference has not gotten more attention this season. I personally don’t think he should be the MVP this season, but there is no denying what he has meant to his team. Regardless of the fact that Chauncey has virtually no chance to win MVP because of the aforementioned factors, he deserves to be at least mentioned in the conversation. He has had that kind of season.
The likes of ESPN and national sportswriters should be ashamed of themselves for denying the fan the full truth surrounding deserving NBA MVP candidates this season.
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Living in Denver I can attest to what Billips has meant to the Nuggets who went being OK to really, really good. The trade for “the answer” really provided some answers for Denver. Billips is a leader and inspirational. He makes big shots, sets up teammates and makes big shots. As pointed out in the article, he won’t win the award nor should he as it will come down to Kobe or the King but Billips really has taken the Nuggets to a new level. Kind of like what Manny Ramirez did for the Dodgers last year without as much hype.
I couldn’t agree more. Billups’ biggest asset when he was with Detroit was he knew how to command the floor and keep his teammates in check (except for ‘Sheed, no one puts Sheed in a corner). He’s more than a point guard; he’s a court general with a knack for big shots and timely contributions. While he doesn’t get the love of LeBron or Kobe, he’s just as important to the Nuggets as they are to their respective squads.
Detroit can attest to that.