Going from 29th place (114 points against 100 possessions) to 6th at the start of the season (107.6) in the ranking of the best defenses in the League, the Blazers have simultaneously emerged from the soft underbelly of the Western Conference, and are currently first of their conference and among the three best results of this beginning of the season.
At the heart of this reversal of the situation, which remains to be confirmed, there is recruitment, but also the work of Chauncey Billups which is beginning to bear fruit. With a frank and direct philosophy, like what allowed him to reach the peak of his career as a player for Detroit in the early 2000s.
” He is very good. In this league, if you always present the same configuration to your opponent, you are going to be taken down”, explains Damian Lillard in The Athletic. “It’s something that has worked in our favor so far. We played “small ball”, we did the zone, we did the all-terrain press, the all-terrain zone, we did double takes… We were able to mix the options well so that we have become unpredictable. »
“If we have two or three guys who get through, I’m not the type to drown the fish”
Against San Antonio, Chauncey Billups got it right again by inserting the smaller, but more mobile and more responsive Drew Eubanks in place of the incumbent, Jusuf Nurkic, for the end of the match. In addition, he opted for a zone defense. Results ? Spurs only scored four points in the last four minutes of the game!
Badly engaged at the start of the last quarter, the Blazers still got out of a nice mess, for their tenth victory of the season (in fourteen attempts), the best start for the franchise since 2018.
“It’s something that I do according to the feeling of the moment. Nurk had started the match with difficulty… It’s never personal. I will always do what is best for the team at the moment. And then Drew had given us very good minutes, on both ends of the field. His speed on the screens gives us advantages. Everything he did was great, and has been since the start of the season, to be honest. »
Coach close to his players, and in particular his backs, Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons, with whom he can share his immense personal experience, Chauncey Billups gradually got his bearings last season, preparing for the sequel in a season of admitted “tanking”.
Today, we feel this strong bond that unites the Blazers to their coach. A coach who does not hesitate to back them in the bacon if necessary. But it’s for their own good!
“I’m not a guy who makes big speeches, but I’ll tell you what’s going on frankly”, slams Chauncey Billups. “There were several halves where I had to force myself and raise my voice. If we have two or three guys who get through, I’m not the type to drown the fish with phrases like ‘we have to do better on the defense of outside shots’. No, I’ll say who! I will give the names and I will talk about them explicitly. It pays off in the long run for guys. I’m not going to cover anything, because we all see it. I’ll say, ‘it’s you, you and you!’ »
“I like that it goes straight to the point”
Anfernee Simons can confirm, he who is having his best season with more than 22 points on average (plus 4 assists and 3 rebounds): “He’s on my back 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he smiles. “But I told him, that’s what I want. I will never take criticism the wrong way. »
For his part, Damian Lillard also appreciates the frankness of his coach, who does not hesitate to point the finger at his stars, that is to say Damian Lillard in person. The leader was up to the defensive challenge launched by Chauncey Billups against the Spurs, going against Keita Bates-Diop in particular.
“I like that he goes straight to the point. It never feels like it’s the end of the world or that we’re not playing well but it’s going to be okay. No, he is after us and he shows us examples of what he is saying. And we move on. »
The word circulates constantly in the corridors of NBA halls: “accountability” which can be translated as “responsibility”, but above all in the sense of assuming one’s responsibilities and making the players responsible. It is this term that Chauncey Billups uses more often than not to keep the pressure on his troops.
Like his own journey as a player, he knows how important it is to defend well to aim high. This is his almost daily message to the Blazers. A message received 5/5 so far!
“It doesn’t matter if he’s your best player or a two-way player. They hired me as a coach and I’m going to treat everyone the same. I know most [des coachs] don’t have the guts to do it but I do, because I’ve always appreciated my coaches being honest with me. That’s what gets the best out of the players. I won a title like that. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Damian Lillard | 9 | 35.8 | 46.0 | 37.9 | 86.4 | 1.0 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 6.6 | 4.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 27.9 |
| Anfernee Simons | 12 | 35.9 | 42.2 | 37.6 | 86.0 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.9 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 22.3 |
| Jerami Grant | 13 | 35.8 | 50.6 | 49.3 | 75.0 | 1.0 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 21.3 |
| Jusuf Nurkic | 11 | 28.1 | 49.1 | 54.5 | 85.3 | 3.0 | 7.6 | 10.6 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 12.6 |
| Shaedon Sharpe | 13 | 21.0 | 53.3 | 46.7 | 69.2 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 9.3 |
| Josh Hart | 14 | 36.2 | 42.6 | 30.4 | 68.3 | 1.6 | 6.9 | 8.6 | 4.4 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 8.6 |
| Justise Winslow | 11 | 26.7 | 39.3 | 25.0 | 66.7 | 1.7 | 3.1 | 4.8 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 7.9 |
| Keon Johnson | 6 | 17.7 | 35.6 | 34.8 | 33.3 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 7.0 |
| Nassir Little | 14 | 15.2 | 52.4 | 43.3 | 64.3 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 6.3 |
| Drew Eubanks | 14 | 18.6 | 70.2 | 0.0 | 70.0 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 5.7 |
| Trendon Watford | 6 | 17.1 | 47.6 | 0.0 | 90.0 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 4.8 |
| Jabari Walker | 8 | 9.0 | 52.9 | 20.0 | 66.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| Greg Brown III | 4 | 5.5 | 71.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
| John Butler | 1 | 9.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
