where does chauncey rank amongst the greatest nba point guards?

I remember he did something similar a couple of years ago against Dallas. He didn’t dunk the ball but he did a 360 in the air after the catch and laid it in. I was at the game, sitting about 10 rows behind the basket. It was nice!

and when i got home i promptly turned espn on to see if it made the top plays list

That puts him ahead of Nash and Kidd in my opinion. I am an anti stat guy though. Nash and Kidd put up big numbers but don’t win, enough said.

I would put Thomas, Magic, and Stockton ahead of him for modern day players. I am not too sure about old timers though as I am in the camp that most old timers couldn’t hold a candle to the players of today. Todays players are absolute freaks and the best athletes in the world. Old timers were competing with American born players almost exclusively and the weight room wasn’t nearly as important.

So, I am sure there are old timers out there that deserve spots ahead of Billups so I cannot accurately rank him all time. However, I can say that is the 4th best point guard in modern times. 7 straight conference finals appearances with 2 different teams, a championship, an NBA finals MVP, and his clutch performances rank him there for me.

And Billups is the best PG ever on the team I rooted for (26 years in PDX and 8 in Denver), so in my mind that puts him ahead of Terry Porter (best PG Blazers history) and clearly better than Rod Strickland. By definition, better than Junior Harrington as well.

Lever was a good basketball player but not really in Billups’ class while the Nugs pace and NBA style inflated his #‘s. Billups’ eff in scoring is pretty impressive – the mix between the the high FTA, high FT% and high 3FGA high 3FGA% is pretty uncommon. Over the last 8 years he is perhaps the most unusual 3pointer/FT shooter in the league. Leadership skills and wanting / taking big shots are also present which adds to his value.

Having said all that, for peak year he is no better than top 20-40 (this is probably his peak year) as guys like KJ, Michael Ray, Gus Willaims had a higher peak; but for overall career I would put in the 10-20 range:

Cousy, The Big O, Tiny, Frazier, Stock, Thomas, Kidd, Payton. Probably Timmy Hardaway and AI.

Nash is up for discussion . .much better offensive but Billups’ D means you don’t have a gaping hole of that end even when you are forced to switch.

So that puts him in the 10-20 range with:
Checks, Cassell, Lenny Wilkins, Terry Porter, Mark Jackson, John Lucas, Derick Harper . . seems about right to me depending on how you feel about all those long lived, productive PGs.

Future: D Williams, D Rose, and possibly Paul are likely to pass him.

Tim Hardaway doesn’t deserve mention alongside Billups.

Still . . if a player is thought of as one of the 2 or 3 best guards in league for 9 straight years . . that has meaning. For nine straight years Payton was viewed as one of the best three PGs in the league (Kidd had a similiar run). Even today in Billups best year, it is still not clear that he is better than Paul / Williams or for that matter Rondo / Nash / Parker / Rose (although I think he has had the second best season of any PG this year behind Williams).

If you don’t believe, go watch the tape of Seattle vs MJ in finals or Kidd vs Boston in the 2002 ECF. Those guys were really, really, good for a long time. Doesn’t make Billups chopped liver, but you ain’t being fair to them.

You can have a different opinion, but just bcs you say something is so, doesn’t make is so. Find something to support your argument.

Joelsopinion:
The question was where does Billups rank in all-time gaurds and you have to consider the environment those players played in. The question wasn’t could Billups dominant Cousy (‘cause I think he could), but that doesn’t mean he had a better career than Cooze.

And I disagree . .

1) Lever’s peak years last only ~6 years long, wherein CB is at 10 a counting

2) Lever was a high vol player but not a high eff player and honestly, I was never worried he would beat me when he played for the other team (’cause I was raised in PDX and the Blazers drafted and traded him), now Billups is player you have account for as far as controlling and dominanting the game in the fourth quarter against the quality teams.

3) Statistically despite playing in a faster, less defensive era, Lever’s stats don’t compare favorably to Billups, he shot worse, shot less, got to the line less (and shot a lot poorer from the line), they had similiar assist rates. He did get a ton of steals and rebounded very well (but part of that was by design . .if your lining up Blair and Danny at center, your gaurds are going to find a few balls). Remember that TR Dunn was also one of the best rebounding gaurds in the NBA.

4) Since those Nugs played so fast ~107 poss per team per game compared to ~95 team per game . . there was 20-25 more rebounds in play and more shots, more assists, more steals, more everything. Lever was a good, perhaps great basketball player but not in CB’s class.

You could argue that his peak in 1986-1990 (18pts, 9reb, 7ass, 2.5sts) was better than Billups peak and maybe that is true, but as far as career accomplishments, I think CB is well in front of him.