The Trail Blazers had two options for handling Chauncey Billups’s candidacy for their head-coaching position. One was to hire somebody else. The second was to hire Billups, then explain that while they feel secure in their vetting of the 1997 sexual assault allegation against Billups, they understand that some fans have questions and concerns and might not want Billups, and they respect that. The Blazers created and then chose a third option: hire Billups and tell everybody to shut up.
The Blazers did not say those exact words, of course. But they came shamefully close. Billups said the incident shaped his life, but when somebody asked him how, the Blazers’ PR staff shut down the question.