Portland Trail Blazers: Is the clock ticking down on Chauncey Billups?
Judging Chauncey Billups in the second half
My original thought was this team doesn’t have the time for a head coach to go through growing pains. Basing the team off of a Damian Lillard-centered timeline, this is still the case. If Billups can’t squeeze effort and improvement out of this team post-trade deadline, how do we know he would be able to do that next season? NBA is full of first-year coaches that don’t last long when they can’t make their team play to expectations.
When Billups called out the starters so early in the season while specifically mentioning effort, I immediately thought of Nate Mcmillan’s final year in Portland. Despite McMillan’s faults, he was often able to keep the team at a high level of energy and effort. Once the team stopped showing the same drive, Portland Trail Blazers management made the change.
The primary difference between McMillan and Billups’ situations is that Billups is in his first year, and it seems that the issue could actually be the roster and not the coach. As of now, that’s still an unknown.
It’s why judging Billups after the trade deadline might be more fair and accurate. Any Portland Trail Blazers players who aren’t willing/able to improve on defense and/or give their best effort will be moved at the deadline.
Final thoughts
Even if the team ends up shutting Lillard down for the rest of the season due to his injury, there is still plenty to look for. The keys are a) how the rest of the roster responds to Billups and b) their ability to improve defensively. Making the playoffs without correcting those weaknesses is not a win.
Billups has to show that this current team can continue to build off of their recent five-game stretch. Do they have the defensive foundation to build a contender? If the team flounders post-trade deadline and resorts to playing as poorly as they did for the majority of the first half, Billups will be looking for a new job this summer. It’s even more true if the Blazers continue on the Lillard timeline.
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How would you evaluate the Portland Trail Blazers under Chauncey Billups? Let us know in the comments section below.