So often the NBA storyline of the day can be summarized as “never being happy with what you’ve got.”
The Miami Heat roster featured two of the four best players in the world last season, along with an All Star at Power Forward, and much of the rhetoric revolved around how bad Mario Chalmers was. The Boston Celtics have Rajon freaking Rondo, and they have been rumored to be a team in need of Chris Paul. Dwight Howard is a worldwide superstar with endorsement deals anywhere he wants, but Orlando is too small a market for him.
Continuing with this theme currently is the New York Knickerbockers. During the nine seasons from 2002 to 2010, they were unable to finish the year with 40 wins or more on the plus-side of the ledger. Isiah Thomas also helped make them a laughingstock for much of that period as well.
Then last season they ended up acquiring Carmelo Anthony. Amare’ Stoudemire proved worth the off-season hoopla, and excelled in New York City during his first year. The Knicks made the playoffs. They won 42 games. Now they can’t just play this one season out without talking about how great it would be to exchange Chauncey Billups for CP3.
The same Chauncey Billups who’s veteran leadership, championship pedigree, and basketball playing ability – even at 35 – would help them win this season. The last one of which he’s contractually obligated to be there.
Chauncey isn’t too pleased about this either, and I don’t blame the guy.
This from Howard Beck of The New York Times:
Although a deal is only a remote possibility, it would surely involve Billups, who plays the same position (point guard) and who is one of the Knicks’ few valued assets.
“It wouldn’t make me happy,” Billups said Friday in a phone interview from his Denver home. “Because for me, at this juncture in my career, I just want to win.”
I want to win another championship,” he said. “I think we got some good pieces in New York. I felt like we were making that move to be possibly one of those top teams. I don’t want to play for no team that’s rebuilding.”
What Billups brings to the Knicks locker room is easily overlooked. He can and will be a calming influence, and he’s also a leader that both Carmelo and Amare’ can and should respect. The Knicks can easily win over 50 games this season with Chauncey at the PG spot – he doesn’t hurt you at all. If they did win 51 games or more, that would also be the first time the Knicks have done so since the 1996-97 campaign.
So just play this season out, Knicks, and enjoy it. Win a bunch of games, get into the playoffs and who knows what could happen. Jason Kidd was the starting PG on the team who won the NBA Title last season, and he’s old too. Then next season Chauncey comes off the books, and you can go figure out how to get Chris Paul then and live happily ever after.
