Matt
10-04-2006, 08:55 AM
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"Be cool, baby"
ROUNDUP: Billups will focus on the team and not his contract
October 4, 2006
BY KRISTA JAHNKE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
All season, there will be whispers and worries.
Next summer, will Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent? If so, will he follow in Ben Wallace's footsteps and leave Detroit for greener pastures?
Answers won't come until July, when Billups can officially make that decision.
And he doesn't think fans should expect much more discussion about the topic until then. He'd rather talk and think about getting the Pistons back to the NBA Finals.
"Right now, my focus is not on my next contract at all," Billups said. "I'm just trying to duplicate what we did last year and get there at the end, as a team. Personally, I never really shoot for those kind of things anyway."
Billups has dealt with contract years before. In 2001-02, he played his final season for Minnesota knowing he'd be shopping for a new home the following summer. That season, he started 54 games and made a statement in the playoffs, when he averaged 22 points and 5.7 assists.
The Timberwolves lost that opening-round series, but Pistons president Joe Dumars rewarded Billups with a full-time starting job and a six-year deal, with the final season as a player option.
If Billups sticks with his contract and picks up his option year, he will make $6.8 million next season. That would keep him locked in as the second-lowest paid starter.
That's an unlikely scenario. Billups placed fifth in the MVP voting and was an All-Star last season.
He won the NBA Finals MVP award in 2004, as the Pistons won the championship trophy. It's safe to say he's no longer underrated.
It's much more realistic to expect Billups to become an unrestricted free agent, test the market and see what the Pistons will pay to keep his services.
And ultimately, coach Flip Saunders believes, that will come down to winning and losing.
"Those guys understand," Saunders said, "Chauncey especially, you win you're going to get paid, or you'll get your contract. It's all about winning. That's the main thing."
That's fine with Billups. "I don't change anything," he said. "I'm a wins-and-losses guy. If my stats have to go up for us to be better, then they will. If they've got to come down a little bit, then they will. But I'm the same guy I've always been."
Gym rat: Antonio McDyess looks larger this season. His hair is longer, for one thing. But there's also something decidedly puffier about the Pistons forward.
"It's his arms," Saunders said. "That's the first thing I noticed."
McDyess' biceps have grown thanks to a summer of weight training.
"He hit the iron hard this summer," Billups said. "I guess he thinks he's a five (a center) or something."
Saunders said McDyess might be carrying a little extra weigh, too. He doesn't run much in the summer, given his history of knee trouble.
"But he'll work it off," Saunders said.
Public invited: The Pistons will open their Saturday morning practice to the public. The free event begins at 9 a.m. with a one-hour kids clinic. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and practice begins at 10:30. After practice, the players will work the box office, where preseason and season tickets are on sale.
Kids interested in the clinic can preregister by sending their name, address, phone number and age to pistonsclinic@palacenet.com.
L.A. Lakers: Coach Phil Jackson had right hip replacement surgery and is expected to be released from a hospital today. Team spokesman John Black said there is no timetable for the 61-year-old coach's return to training camp.
Memphis: Christian Laettner isn't planning a comeback with the Grizzlies yet. Brian Davis, Laettner's business partner who has an agreement to buy the team, said in a statement that the former Duke star will hold off on resuming his career. Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley announced an agreement Monday to sell his majority share of the Memphis franchise to a group of investors led by Davis.
Sacramento: The Kings signed veteran forward Maurice Taylor, who spent the past 1 1/2 years with the New York Knicks, averaging 6.3 points and 3.4 rebounds last season. Kings coach Eric Musselman expects to use Taylor, a former star at Michigan, as a backup center behind Brad Miller.
Contact KRISTA JAHNKE at 313-223-4493 or kjahnke@freepress.com. Free Press news services contributed.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061004/SPORTS03/610040382/1051
"Be cool, baby"
ROUNDUP: Billups will focus on the team and not his contract
October 4, 2006
BY KRISTA JAHNKE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
All season, there will be whispers and worries.
Next summer, will Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent? If so, will he follow in Ben Wallace's footsteps and leave Detroit for greener pastures?
Answers won't come until July, when Billups can officially make that decision.
And he doesn't think fans should expect much more discussion about the topic until then. He'd rather talk and think about getting the Pistons back to the NBA Finals.
"Right now, my focus is not on my next contract at all," Billups said. "I'm just trying to duplicate what we did last year and get there at the end, as a team. Personally, I never really shoot for those kind of things anyway."
Billups has dealt with contract years before. In 2001-02, he played his final season for Minnesota knowing he'd be shopping for a new home the following summer. That season, he started 54 games and made a statement in the playoffs, when he averaged 22 points and 5.7 assists.
The Timberwolves lost that opening-round series, but Pistons president Joe Dumars rewarded Billups with a full-time starting job and a six-year deal, with the final season as a player option.
If Billups sticks with his contract and picks up his option year, he will make $6.8 million next season. That would keep him locked in as the second-lowest paid starter.
That's an unlikely scenario. Billups placed fifth in the MVP voting and was an All-Star last season.
He won the NBA Finals MVP award in 2004, as the Pistons won the championship trophy. It's safe to say he's no longer underrated.
It's much more realistic to expect Billups to become an unrestricted free agent, test the market and see what the Pistons will pay to keep his services.
And ultimately, coach Flip Saunders believes, that will come down to winning and losing.
"Those guys understand," Saunders said, "Chauncey especially, you win you're going to get paid, or you'll get your contract. It's all about winning. That's the main thing."
That's fine with Billups. "I don't change anything," he said. "I'm a wins-and-losses guy. If my stats have to go up for us to be better, then they will. If they've got to come down a little bit, then they will. But I'm the same guy I've always been."
Gym rat: Antonio McDyess looks larger this season. His hair is longer, for one thing. But there's also something decidedly puffier about the Pistons forward.
"It's his arms," Saunders said. "That's the first thing I noticed."
McDyess' biceps have grown thanks to a summer of weight training.
"He hit the iron hard this summer," Billups said. "I guess he thinks he's a five (a center) or something."
Saunders said McDyess might be carrying a little extra weigh, too. He doesn't run much in the summer, given his history of knee trouble.
"But he'll work it off," Saunders said.
Public invited: The Pistons will open their Saturday morning practice to the public. The free event begins at 9 a.m. with a one-hour kids clinic. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and practice begins at 10:30. After practice, the players will work the box office, where preseason and season tickets are on sale.
Kids interested in the clinic can preregister by sending their name, address, phone number and age to pistonsclinic@palacenet.com.
L.A. Lakers: Coach Phil Jackson had right hip replacement surgery and is expected to be released from a hospital today. Team spokesman John Black said there is no timetable for the 61-year-old coach's return to training camp.
Memphis: Christian Laettner isn't planning a comeback with the Grizzlies yet. Brian Davis, Laettner's business partner who has an agreement to buy the team, said in a statement that the former Duke star will hold off on resuming his career. Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley announced an agreement Monday to sell his majority share of the Memphis franchise to a group of investors led by Davis.
Sacramento: The Kings signed veteran forward Maurice Taylor, who spent the past 1 1/2 years with the New York Knicks, averaging 6.3 points and 3.4 rebounds last season. Kings coach Eric Musselman expects to use Taylor, a former star at Michigan, as a backup center behind Brad Miller.
Contact KRISTA JAHNKE at 313-223-4493 or kjahnke@freepress.com. Free Press news services contributed.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061004/SPORTS03/610040382/1051