High school
Billups attended Denver's George Washington High School, where he was a four-time All-State first team pick, Colorado Mr. Basketball three times, and Colorado Player of the Year as a sophomore and as a junior. He was selected to the 1995 McDonald's All-American Team but did not play due to a shoulder injury, an injury that he would have a problem with off and on throughout his early career.
College
Billups attended but did not graduate from the University of Colorado, having been drafted after his sophomore year. At Colorado, Billups averaged 18.5 points per game over his two seasons. In the 1996–97 season he was named to the Big 12 Conference First Team and the Basketball Times All-American First Team. That same year Billups led the Buffaloes to their first NCAA tournament victory in over thirty years, 80-62 over Indiana.
NBA career
Early years
Drafted third overall in the 1997 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, Billups was traded to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Kenny Anderson midway through his first season. Billups then played for the Denver Nuggets, who traded him to the Orlando Magic. He was on the injured list until season's end and never played a game for Orlando (he was included on the season-ending team photo, wearing jersey number 2).
Billups was signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves as a back-up to then Point guard Terrell Brandon. Billups replaced the injured Brandon and had a breakthrough 2001–02 season.
Detroit Pistons
In June 2002, Billups signed with the Detroit Pistons as a free agent to be the team's new starting point guard.[3] When he signed with the Pistons, he was forced to take the number 1 because number 4 was retired in honor of Joe Dumars. Billups quickly earned respect from Pistons fans and colleagues for his tenacious defense and clutch shooting. He helped Detroit win the 2004 NBA Finals over the Los Angeles Lakers, four games to one. He averaged 21 points and 5.2 assists per game during the series to earn the NBA Finals MVP Award.
The following season, Billups was named to the 2005 NBA Second All-Defensive Team, along with teammate Tayshaun Prince, while teammate and co-captain of the Pistons Ben Wallace took home the Defensive Player of the Year Award. The Pistons reached the NBA finals but lost to the San Antonio Spurs.
In 2006, Billups was co-captain of the team. Although he captained the Pistons to a franchise best 64–18 record, they failed to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time in three years. He also led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.
On July 11, 2007, Billups signed a $46 million, four-year contract with the Pistons (which includes a team option for a fifth year at $14 million).[4] He had been an unrestricted free agent for several days after he opted out of the previous contract, which he had signed in 2002.
During a game three playoff game against the Orlando Magic, Billups pulled a hamstring after going for a ball. He missed game four, but the Pistons defeated the Magic, 90–89, to take a 3–1 series lead when Tayshaun Prince hit the game-winning shot with 8.9 seconds left.
Through his six years with Detroit, Billups made six straight conference championship series, two NBA finals, and won an NBA Championship. He was an All-Star three times, made the all-NBA team twice and All-Defensive second team twice.
Return to Denver
On November 3, 2008, Billups was traded to the Denver Nuggets, along with Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb, for Allen Iverson.[5] Billups chose the number 7 jersey to honor Denver Broncosquarterback John Elway, since two of his other favorite numbers, 1 and 4, were already worn by J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin, respectively.[6] He played his first game of the Nuggets' 2008–09 seasonon November 7, 2008. He recorded 15 points, four rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes of play in a 108–105 Nuggets' home win.[7] He finished the season averaging 17.7 ppg, and 6.4 apg.
Along with Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets accomplished a great deal of franchise milestones. Their 54-28 record matched the most wins the franchise has gotten since their induction in the NBA, their 27-14 start was also a record for wins in the first half of a season. This also marked the first time in the franchise's history the team has gotten back-to-back 50-win seasons. They led the Northwest division for much of the season, eventually winning the division and placing for #2 in the Western Conference, matching the highest the team has ever been seeded for the playoffs. In the first round, they defeated the New Orleans Hornets in 5 games, which included a record-equaling 58-point margin victory. Billups also set a Nuggets franchise record with the most 3 pointers in a playoff game with 8, and his 19 3-pointers in total is also a Nuggets record for 3s made in a playoff series. Billups averaged 22.6 ppg, 7.4 apg, and 3.8 3PM in that series. In his first year with the Nuggets, Billups led them back to the NBA Conference Finals for the first time since 1985. This was Billups' 7th straight conference finals. He joined Magic Johnson, Michael Cooper, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kurt Rambis as the only players to accomplish this feat since the Boston Celtics of the 1950s and 1960s led by Bill Russell.
For the 2009-10 season, Billups reverted to wearing No. 1, the same number he wore with the Detroit Pistons. Teammate J.R. Smith, who had previously worn No. 1 since being acquired by the Nuggets in 2006, changed to the No. 5 jersey.[8] On November 27, 2009, in the Nuggets' 128-125 win over the New York Knicks, Billups scored 32 points while teammate Carmelo Anthony scored 50. This made them the only third duo in NBA history to score at least 30 and 50 points respectively. On February 5, 2010, Billups set a career high in points with a 39 point performance in a road win over the Los Angeles Lakers with 27 of them coming from 9 three-pointers.
New York Knicks
Despite publicly professing his desire to finish his career in hometown Denver and retire as a Nugget, Billups was traded to the New York Knicks on February 22, 2011[9]—"collateral damage," as more than one sportswriter put it, from Carmelo Anthony's desire to play in New York and the Nuggets' desire to ship Anthony out before he became a free agent.[10]
All-star appearances
In 2006, Billups was selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game as a reserve for the Eastern Conference, along with former teammates Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace. Pistons head coach Flip Saunders coached the Eastern Conference squad and put all four Pistons in the game when the east was falling behind; they were able to get the Eastern All-Star team back in the game.
During the 2006 NBA All-Star Weekend, Billups participated in the Three-point Shootout contest. He was eliminated in the first round of the contest after scoring 12 points.
In the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, Billups was chosen as a reserve, along with teammate Richard Hamilton, for the Eastern Conference, despite an injury that kept Billups out of five games early on in the season. Billups also took part in the Shooting Stars Competition alongside former Piston and Detroit Shock head coach Bill Laimbeer and Shock star Swin Cash. Team Detroit won the competition with Billups hitting the final half-court shot.
Billups was selected to play as a reserve in the 2008 NBA All-Star Game, along with teammates Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace, an injury replacement. Billups was the only Nugget to be selected to the 2009 NBA All-Star Game.
Billups was chosen as the replacement by David Stern for injured New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game.[11]
Statistics
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Regular season
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | Boston | 51 | 44 | 25.4 | .390 | .339 | .817 | 2.2 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 11.1 |
| 1997–98 | Toronto | 29 | 26 | 31.7 | .349 | .316 | .919 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 11.3 |
| 1998–99 | Denver | 45 | 41 | 33.1 | .386 | .362 | .913 | 2.1 | 3.8 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 13.9 |
| 1999–00 | Denver | 13 | 5 | 23.5 | .337 | .171 | .841 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 8.6 |
| 2000–01 | Minnesota | 77 | 33 | 23.2 | .422 | .376 | .842 | 2.1 | 3.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 9.3 |
| 2001–02 | Minnesota | 82 | 54 | 28.7 | .423 | .394 | .885 | 2.8 | 5.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 12.5 |
| 2002–03 | Detroit | 74 | 74 | 31.4 | .421 | .392 | .878 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 16.2 |
| 2003–04 | Detroit | 78 | 78 | 35.4 | .394 | .388 | .878 | 3.5 | 5.7 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 16.9 |
| 2004–05 | Detroit | 80 | 80 | 35.8 | .442 | .426 | .898 | 3.4 | 5.8 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 16.5 |
| 2005–06 | Detroit | 81 | 81 | 36.1 | .418 | .433 | .894 | 3.1 | 8.6 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 18.5 |
| 2006–07 | Detroit | 70 | 70 | 36.2 | .427 | .345 | .883 | 3.4 | 7.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 17.0 |
| 2007–08 | Detroit | 78 | 78 | 32.3 | .448 | .401 | .918 | 2.7 | 6.8 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 17.0 |
| 2008–09 | Detroit | 2 | 2 | 35.0 | .333 | .286 | .918 | 5.0 | 7.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 12.5 |
| 2008–09 | Denver | 77 | 77 | 35.3 | .420 | .410 | .900 | 3.0 | 6.4 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 17.9 |
| 2009–10 | Denver | 73 | 73 | 34.1 | .418 | .386 | .910 | 3.1 | 5.6 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 19.5 |
| Career | 910 | 816 | 32.3 | .416 | .388 | .892 | 3.0 | 5.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 15.4 | |
| All-Star | 5 | 0 | 19.0 | .455 | .320 | .750 | 2.2 | 5.0 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 10.2 |
Playoffs
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | Minnesota | 3 | 0 | 8.7 | .167 | .000 | 1.000 | 1.7 | .7 | .0 | .0 | 1.0 |
| 2001–02 | Minnesota | 3 | 3 | 44.7 | .451 | .400 | .700 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 1.0 | .3 | 22.0 |
| 2002–03 | Detroit | 14 | 14 | 34.6 | .374 | .310 | .933 | 3.4 | 4.7 | .6 | .1 | 18.0 |
| 2003–04 | Detroit | 23 | 23 | 38.3 | .385 | .346 | .890 | 3.0 | 5.9 | 1.4 | .1 | 16.4 |
| 2004–05 | Detroit | 25 | 25 | 39.4 | .428 | .349 | .893 | 4.3 | 6.5 | 1.0 | .2 | 18.7 |
| 2005–06 | Detroit | 18 | 18 | 39.2 | .406 | .340 | .905 | 3.4 | 6.5 | 1.2 | .1 | 17.9 |
| 2006–07 | Detroit | 16 | 16 | 40.6 | .435 | .389 | .832 | 3.3 | 5.7 | 1.2 | .1 | 18.6 |
| 2007–08 | Detroit | 15 | 15 | 32.0 | .401 | .375 | .832 | 2.9 | 5.5 | .8 | .1 | 16.1 |
| 2008–09 | Denver | 16 | 16 | 38.7 | .457 | .468 | .906 | 3.8 | 6.8 | 1.2 | .2 | 20.6 |
| 2009–10 | Denver | 6 | 6 | 34.5 | .446 | .355 | .881 | 2.3 | 6.3 | 1.0 | .5 | 20.6 |
| Career | 139 | 136 | 37.2 | .414 | .367 | .881 | 3.4 | 5.9 | 1.1 | .2 | 17.8 |
