SAN FRANCISCO — The Portland Trail Blazers' Chauncey Billups, a rookie head coach 26 games into his tenure, helms a team that continues its multiyear trend of being a poor foundational defensive unit and has dealt with a rash of injuries that have contributed to a 11-15 record while losing seven of eight contests.
Most rookie NBA coaches would be slow to publicly critique their teams with sports trigger words. Billups — who played 17 years in the NBA as one of the steadiest point guards in his era and won an NBA title and Finals MVP honors — is a well-respected basketball mind who has turned down opportunities to start his NBA head coaching clock earlier and was offered, but turned down, a general manager post.