Chauncey Billups Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Poole, Billups, Nuggets, Rockets

September 25th, 2022 at 10:02pm CST by JD Shaw

Warriors guard Jordan Poole is confident he’ll work out a new contract agreement with the team, Marc J. Spears of ESPN tweets. Poole added he’s looking forward to those negotiations progressing when Golden State returns from Toyko in early October.

Poole may have faith that something can be worked out, but it’s still possible the sides won’t agree to a deal in the coming weeks. Should that happen, Poole would become a restricted free agent in 2023. The sides have until October 17 to reach a rookie scale extension.

Poole played a significant role in the Warriors’ championship campaign last year, averaging 18.5 points on 45% shooting during the regular season. The 23-year-old also averaged 17.0 points per game during the playoffs, shooting 51% from the floor and 39% from three-point range.

There are some other notes from the Western Conference tonight:

Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups must improve the team’s defense this season, Aaron J. Fentress writes for The Oregonian. Portland ranked 29th in defensive rating last season, but the team has the personnel to improve that ranking this season. The Blazers could start a group of Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Josh Hart, Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic, with Gary Payton II, Nassir Little, Justise Winslow and others coming off the bench.
Mike Singer of the Denver Post examines five storylines for the Nuggets entering training camp. Denver has a legitimate championship contender on paper, but the team must stay healthy and prove it can work together down the stretch. Unsurprisingly, the first storyline Singer looks at is the health of Jamal Murray, who suffered a torn ACL in 2021.
Jonathan Feigen (subscriber only) answers Rockets fans’ questions in his latest mailbag for the Houston Chronicle. Among the topics addressed is the coaching staff’s plan for incorporating No. 3 pick Jabari Smith and young center Alperen Sengun into the offense. Houston’s top two scorers last season, Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. combined to average 32.9 points per game, so it’s fair to assume they’ll still be the focal point offensively.

Northwest Notes: Gobert, Mitchell, Billups, Nurkic

September 3rd, 2022 at 8:36am CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly realizes it was a risk dealing so many draft picks and rotation players for Rudy Gobert but felt the club needed another impact player to get to the next level, he told Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on a podcast.

“We’re trying to redefine how the league views us,” Connelly said. “We knew we gave up a lot, but the hardest thing to find is elite talent and elite ‘happy’ talent is even harder to find.”

However, there will be a transition period. “It won’t be easy or seamless,” Connelly added. “I’m sure there will be some clunky moments initially. But we felt like we took a huge step forward with the acquisition of Rudy.”

We have more from the Northwest Division:

Donovan Mitchell thanked former Jazz coach Quin Snyder and Utah fans in an Instagram post as he waits for the blockbuster deal with the Cavaliers to become official. “Thank you for the memories and the incredible times… you guys watched me grow up on and off the floor… Coach Quin thank you for giving me the opportunity and trusting me to lead this team for the past 5 years‼️”
Grading the impending deal, Sarah Todd of the Deseret News gives the Jazz a B-plus and the Cavs a B. Todd notes the Jazz accomplished their goal of trying to get younger and to come away with some assets for future use. There’s also the possibility of Mitchell or some of Cleveland’s other stars eventually bolting in free agency, which would make those unprotected picks and pick swaps even more valuable.
Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups is at the EuroBasket tournament in Germany and feels it’s important to show support for his players, such as Bosnia’s Jusuf Nurkic, he told Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops.net. “I love to see guys go play on their national teams,” Billups said. “Because you’re playing the right way. You’re playing with a purpose and obviously because of that experience you’ll be in shape.”

International Notes: Brown, Basketball Without Borders, World Cup

August 26th, 2022 at 3:13pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Former NBA wing Anthony Brown has agreed to terms on a deal with Russian club Unics Kazan, writes Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. A former EuroLeague club, Unics Kazan now competes in the VTB United League.

After being selected with the No. 34 pick by the Lakers in 2015 out of Stanford, Brown bounced the NBA and G League for several seasons. He suited up for the Lakers and their NBAGL affiliate, at the time called the Los Angeles D-Fenders (now the South Bay Lakers), the Magic and their affiliate team the Erie BayHawks/Lakeland Magic, the Timberwolves and their NBAGL club the Iowa Wolves, and the Pelicans. In 41 total NBA games, the 29-year-old has averaged 3.9 PPG and 2.5 RPG across 18.6 MPG.

Brown first headed overseas in 2018, and has since suited up for teams in Serbia, France, Spain, Turkey and Israel. While playing for Maccabi Rishon LeZion in Israel Super League competition last season, the 6’7″ swingman posted averages of 16.0 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.4 APG and 1.0 SPG, with a shooting line of .465/.396/.821.

Here are more international basketball odds and ends:

Several NBA players and coaches will head overseas to take part in a Basketball Without Borders camp set for Cairo, Egypt, per a league press release. The event will run from this Sunday, August 28, through next Wednesday, August 31. Sixty-four of the best boys and girls hailing from 26 African nations, aged 18 and under, will travel to the camp. Jazz center Udoka Azubuike, Magic center Mohamed Bamba, Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon and forward Grant Williams, and retired Hall of Fame center Dikembe Mutombo will be among the camp’s coaches, with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Pelicans head coach Willie Green, Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr., Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch, Bucks associate head coach Charles Lee, and Hornets athletic trainer Quinton Sawyer also participating. The camp’s roster of directors will be pretty star-studded as well, led by Raptors president Masai Ujiri, Cavaliers GM Mike Gansey, and Clippers scout Lance Blanks.
With almost exactly one year to go before the 2023 FIBA World Cup tips off, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press checks in on USA Basketball as the organization ramps up its preparation for the event. The first games in next year’s competition are scheduled to be played on August 25, 2023. Fielding a lineup that features G League and international-caliber American players, Team USA currently has a 6-1 record in the World Cup qualifiers. Next year, Steve Kerr will coach Team USA, featuring a likely-star studded roster. This year, that task falls to former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen. “We’re learning a lot because the NBA game has changed over the last seven or eight years, too,” Sean Ford, the U.S. men’s national team director, said. “There’s much more shotmaking. It’s just unbelievable, incredible the amount of 3-point shots that are taken, the freedom of movement, the flow of the game. But the international game has stayed the physical way.”
Former Thunder swingman Terrance Ferguson has made the jump to overseas play, signing on with Polish team GTK Gliwice. Get full details here.

Blazers Notes: Offseason, Nurkic, Simons, Billups

April 12th, 2022 at 4:03pm CST by Luke Adams

While they finished the season with only the NBA’s sixth-worst record, no team tanked harder down the stretch than the Trail Blazers, who were playing without most of their veteran starters. After shutting down center Jusuf Nurkic at the All-Star break, Portland went 2-21 the rest of the way, with a net rating of -21.3, by far the league’s worst mark during that stretch.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, general manager Joe Cronin said he felt “uncomfortable” about how the Blazers’ season ended, according to Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com. Cronin said the team “didn’t want to lose ball games,” but was more focused on developing its young players than competing for a playoff spot.

“We had to take a step backwards in order to move forward,” Cronin said. “We’ve positioned ourselves to where I think we’ve got some great opportunities. We have a really intriguing core: Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Josh Hart, Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Justise Winslow. Potentially two lottery picks, numerous cap exceptions, a bunch of cap flexibility. We are determined to get better, to be competitive as quickly as possible and we’re super confident in our ability to do that.”

Here’s more on the Blazers:

Although Cronin listed them as part of Portland’s core, Jusuf Nurkic (unrestricted) and Anfernee Simons (restricted) will both be free agents this summer. Cronin’s comments on Monday strongly suggest the Blazers want to re-sign both players. The general manager called Nurkic a player “we would definitely want to build around” and said the team plans to be “proactive” with Simons’ free agency, per Holdahl.
The Blazers will have at least one pick in this year’s draft lottery and could have a second if the Pelicans miss the playoffs and don’t move into the top four. As Holdahl relays, Cronin’s goal with Portland’s first-rounder is to “maximize the pick,” which could mean either drafting a player or using it in a trade. “I’m going to spend the next two, three, four weeks diving into the game film and really evaluating this draft and particularly assessing value to what that pick is,” Cronin said. “So then you compare that to what’s available in the (trade) marketplace and then you make a decision. If we decide the player at that pick is much more valuable than what we can get in the marketplace, we do that direction. If it’s the opposite, we go the other direction.”
The Blazers are confident that head coach Chauncey Billups will be an asset when it comes to recruiting free agents, writes Jason Quick of The Athletic. “He’s just so inspiring, even in a 30-minute meeting. It’s just easy to buy in with him,” Cronin said.
Josh Hart has only been a Blazer for a couple months, but he said this week that if a player calls him to ask about Billups this summer, he’ll have nothing but praise for Portland’s head coach. “I would say he’s great,” Hart said, according to Quick. “He’s a players’ coach, someone who does a great job of building you up, coaching you up, but a good balance in holding you accountable. And off the court, he cares about you as a person. That’s a big thing, something that gets overlooked sometimes.”

Blazers Notes: Lillard, McCollum, Bledsoe, Free Agents, Luxury Tax, Cronin

February 10th, 2022 at 10:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Damian Lillard is unlikely to play again this season as he recovers from abdominal surgery, Sean Highkin of the Bleacher Report tweets.

As Highkin relays, Trail Blazers interim general manager Joe Cronin indicated there’s little reason for Lillard to suit up for the retooling club, even though his recovery is going well. If that’s the case, Lillard’s season ended on New Year’s Eve. He appeared in 29 games this season, averaging 24.0 PPG and 7.3 APG.

Lillard has been consulted on the team’s trades over the past week and the blueprint for the future.

“Damian has been great. He communicates with (head coach) Chauncey (Billups) and I constantly,” Cronin said, per Highkin (Twitter link). “He’s fully caught up with what our plans are and were and is very integral to what our plans are.”

Several other interesting tidbits came out of Portland’s press conference. Here are some of the other highlights:

Discussing the trade that sent CJ McCollum to the Pelicans, Cronin said, “It was really important to us that CJ separated from us on good terms, and I think we did that” (Twitter link).
Eric Bledsoe, who was acquired from the Clippers in the deal that sent Norman Powell and Robert Covington to L.A., won’t be bought out, according to Cronin. Bledsoe’s $19.4MM contract for next season is only partially guaranteed for $3.9MM, so Portland can decide on his future in the offseason. (Twitter link).
Despite blowing up the roster, Cronin believes the team can attract free agents. “I’m confident that we can be competitive with free agents. With Chauncey Billups, Damian Lillard and myself, we can get into meetings and we’re not afraid to go after players.” (Twitter link).
The front office felt the team could no longer compete for a title with the previous roster, according to Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com. “It had become evident to us that the roster had plateaued,” Cronin said. “It was a team that was built to fit a specific coaching style and a style of play that we didn’t feel was conducive to the way Chauncey and myself wanted to play. With that, we were capped out, we were looking at a team that would have been in the luxury tax by $15 million next season with not many ways to improve.”
Luxury tax concerns were a major focus in each of Portland’s trades, particularly the blockbuster with the Clippers. “The deal was important for us because it got us out of the luxury tax this year, which completely reset our repeater clock, meaning we don’t go back in, even if we’re in the tax in future seasons, until at least 2025,” Cronin said. “And the trade also gave us a bunch of leverage in the next deals that we needed to make where teams would no longer hold getting us out of the luxury tax as a part of the negotiation. So that was a good deal for us.”
President of business operations Dewayne Hankins said Cronin is a serious candidate for the permanent GM position, Highkin tweets. “Ownership is still in the process of an equitable search. Joe is obviously a candidate for it, and he has the keys to do what he needs to do.”

Trail Blazers Notes: Billups, Lillard, Simons, Powell, Elleby

January 15th, 2022 at 5:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Chauncey Billups‘ first season as an NBA head coach hasn’t been anything like he anticipated, writes Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. Portland is reeling with a 16-25 record amid a series of injuries and players in the health and safety protocols that has left Billups with a constantly changing lineup.

Six rotation players were missing from Thursday’s loss at Denver, although the situation should begin to improve with the expected return of CJ McCollum on Monday. The Blazers also had to deal with 0ffcourt turmoil as Chris McGown resigned as president and CEO and Neil Olshey was fired as president of basketball operations following an investigation into workplace conditions.

“This year has been unbelievable,” Billups said before Thursday’s game. “We’re 40 games in and we’ve been really in flux a lot, from internally to the team to the COVID to the injured. I mean, it’s just been crazy. So, it’s making me a better coach. I don’t know who I’m going to have every game I come out and play. So, I got to kind of rearrange things. It really is making me a ton better.”

There’s more from Portland:

Damian Lillard put off surgery for as long as he could, but it became too difficult to keep playing through the pain caused by abdominal tendinopathy, per Casey Holdahl of NBA.com. Lillard rested for a month after the Olympics with the hope that it would help his condition, but he said the discomfort returned early in training camp. He underwent surgery this week and will be re-evaluated in five to six weeks. “I know (surgery) is ultimately going to be what’s best for the team, too,” Lillard said. “I’d rather be selfish for the team, what I see for our organization and where I want it to go. It makes no sense to keep doing it the way we was doing it. It’s like, all right, take a step back to take how many steps forward. It’s just what had to happen.”
While he’s out of action, Lillard is working with the team’s younger players, including Anfernee Simons, who has excelled since taking over Lillard’s starting spot, Holdahl adds. “Ant is like my protege, he’s been under my wing,” Lillard said. “We train together in the summer, I’m always talking to him, I’m always in his ear, we’re always texting and stuff like that because I’ve always believed in him to the highest power.”
Norman Powell has formed a similar relationship with CJ Elleby, notes Jason Quick of The Athletic. Elleby has used what he learned from Powell to become a reliable rotation player while the Blazers are short-handed.

COVID-19 Updates: Magic, Trail Blazers, Rockets, Pacers

January 2nd, 2022 at 2:39pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Here are the latest updates on players and coaches entering and exiting the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols:

Four Magic players have cleared the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols and will suit up for Orlando against the Celtics. The team has announced (Twitter link) that center Mohamed Bamba, shooting guard Mychal Mulder, swingman Terrence Ross and point guard Hassani Gravett are all now available.
Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who has been unavailable since December 27, has exited the NBA’s coronavirus protocols, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Portland lead assistant Scott Brooks, who had been serving in Billups’s stead as acting head coach, has entered COVID-19 protocols, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Hardship signee Cameron McGriff has entered the protocols, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter). Combo guard Anfernee Simons has left protocols after just three days, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. The 13-22 Trail Blazers could certainly use all the help they can get, and the return of the 6’3″ guard will help shore up a team still missing seven players to health and safety protocols, with McGriff now replacing Simons in coronavirus protocols.
Rockets wing Garrison Mathews has cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Houston rewarded Mathews for a solid performance early in the 2021/22 season by converting his two-way contract into a fresh four-year, $8MM deal last month.
Pacers small forwards Caris LeVert and T.J. Warren, plus center Goga Bitadze, have entered the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Warren has been dealing with a major foot injury since the start of 2020/21, and has only played in four games over the past two seasons. Today’s news brings Indiana’s total count for players in protocols to eight.
After exiting the protocols on Friday, Pistons guard Cory Joseph has re-entered them, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News.

COVID-19 Updates: Wizards, Billups, Thunder, Hornets, Raptors, More

December 27th, 2021 at 3:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards now have five players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, according to head coach Wes Unseld Jr., who told reporters today that Anthony Gill and Thomas Bryant are the latest players to enter the protocols (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington).

Bryant is coming off an ACL tear and has yet to play this season, so being in the protocols won’t affect his availability. However, Gill will no longer be an option in the short term for the Wizards after appearing in eight of the team’s last 11 games.

Here are more COVID-19 updates from around the NBA:

Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has entered the COVID-19 protocols, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links), who reports that assistant Scott Brooks is expected to become Portland’s acting head coach as long as Billups is unavailable.
Aleksej Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl of the Thunder have entered the health and safety protocols, according to the team (Twitter link via Wojnarowski). Aaron Wiggins also briefly entered the protocols, but has since been listed as available, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City now has four players in the protocols.
The Hornets announced some good news and some bad news on Monday. While Cody Martin has exited the protocols and has been cleared to play on Monday vs. Houston, rookie Scottie Lewis is now in the protocols, according to the team (Twitter link).
Three Raptors players – Pascal Siakam, Khem Birch, and Gary Trent Jr. – have exited the protocols and are listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game vs. Philadelphia as they go through a reconditioning period, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Toronto still has seven players in the protocols, but may finally be trending in the right direction.
Celtics forward Grant Williams boarded a flight to Minnesota earlier today and expects to play tonight vs. the Wolves, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). Williams has been in the health and safety protocols since December 17.
Although Ziaire Williams remains on the shelf due to an ankle sprain, he’s no longer listed in the protocols in the Grizzlies‘ latest injury report, suggesting he has been cleared.

Blazers Notes: Billups, Cronin, Lillard, Struggles, Zeller

December 19th, 2021 at 2:47pm CST by Rory Maher

Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and interim GM Joe Cronin have an interesting shared history, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic. Billups and Cronin were high school opponents in 1994, when they competed for the Colorado Class 6A state championship.

Billups was the star of George Washington High and led his team to a 71-67 victory over Cronin’s Horizon High. Billups had 31 points and nine assists in the title game, while Cronin had 22 points and 15 rebounds in defeat.

After Cronin joined the Blazers as an intern in 2006, he was quickly promoted to scouting assistant, and later assistant director of scouting and salary cap analyst. While Billups was playing in the NBA, he noticed Cronin’s name in Portland’s front office department and was dying to know if it was the same person he’d competed against many years before, per Quick.

“I was 10 years into my NBA career, and I was looking at the front offices around the league, and I see Joe Cronin’s name,” Billups remembered. “And I wondered to myself: Is that the Joe Cronin? So I started asking questions. And I wanted to see a picture. I wanted to see if this was actually Joe.”

However, Cronin was always on the road scouting, so Billups never got confirmation that it was the same person he knew from high school until he interviewed for the head coaching job over the summer.

“When this opportunity came up, and I was talking to Neil [Olshey], I was like: ‘Where is Joe? I need to see Joe. I need to make sure this is the same dude,'” Billups said.

Billups finally saw Cronin on a Zoom interview and recognized him immediately, 27 years later, Quick relays.

Here’s more from Portland:

Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated takes a close look at the relationship between Billups and star point guard Damian Lillard. “We’re forming a bond more so than anything else, it’s just like we always sit and talk over everything. And that’s something that’s fun to have,” Billups said.
Lillard gave a speech to the Blazers last Monday imploring them not give up on the season, Quick writes for The Athletic. “This is the moment a lot of teams choose to just pack it in and say, you know, it’s tough, we are this many games under .500 and we haven’t been playing great … and they just fold and become one of those bottom teams,” Lillard said he told the team. “And I just said that’s not who we are … it’s not the situation we want to be in, but we dig. We dig out and find a way, and we are going to do that once again.”
In a separate article, Quick explores what has gone wrong for the Blazers this season and how they can try to climb out of the hole. They currently have a 12-18 record, 11th in the West.
Backup center Cody Zeller has suffered a small right patellar fracture (broken kneecap), the team announced on Dec. 11. In the release, the Blazers said he’ll be reevaluated in one week, but an update on his recovery timeline has yet to be posted. Zeller is having a solid season for Portland, averaging 5.1 PPG and 4.6 RPG in 24 games (13.3 MPG).

Joe Cronin Will Be Given Chance At Blazers’ GM Job

December 10th, 2021 at 12:03pm CST by Arthur Hill

At a potentially crucial stage for the Trail Blazers, interim general manager Joe Cronin will be given the opportunity to earn his position on a permanent basis, writes Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian.

At a press conference Thursday, new president of business operations Dewayne Hankins said the organization is in the “first quarter” of its GM search and there’s no timeline to fill the role. Hankins said franchise chair Jody Allen and vice chair Bert Kolde will give Cronin the freedom to handle all the typical GM duties, but his primary mission will be to reform the roster to contend for a title.

“Ownership has been very upfront with me and they’ve told me that they believe in me and obviously by giving me this role, they trust me to transition this organization,” Cronin said. “So they haven’t made many declarations other than, ‘This is a nice venue for you to be able to do good work, and you’ll be evaluated,’ and I do have a chance. They told me, ‘You’ll have an opportunity. This is going to be a fair opportunity to prove yourself.'”

Cronin, who took over as interim GM after Neil Olshey was fired last week, said he has been working with coach Chauncey Billups to identify players around the league who might be available before the February 10 trade deadline. The slumping Blazers may have to shake up their roster soon after dropping four straight games and sliding to 11th place in the Western Conference.

Cronin explained to reporters that he will talk to other GMs about potential deals, but won’t finalize anything without approval from Allen and Kolde.

“The way I’ve kind of approached this is, I’m going to get the deal to the one-yard line, and then I’m going to take it to Jody and Bert, and then they make the final call,” Cronin said. “They’ll have our recommendations as to what to do. So, it’s pretty standard that way in the regard of there is a clearinghouse you have to go through. But my understanding is yes, go out, do your job, find deals, participate as if you are the GM.”

Trade rumors have surrounded the franchise for months, particularly involving star guard Damian Lillard. However, Lillard made a statement this week that he remains committed to staying in Portland and isn’t looking for a deal. Backcourt partner CJ McCollum is also seen as a potential trade candidate, along with Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkic, who both have expiring contracts.

Billups, who also spoke at the press conference, said he wants a team that plays smart and shows competitive fire. He has criticized his players on numerous occasions for their effort following losses.

“Our roster is our roster and we’ve got some really talented players,” Billups said. “And when we’re playing well, we’re playing together, we’re pretty damn good. We’ve proven that already this year. And then we can be pretty bad too.”