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Chauncey Billups talks 2000s Detroit Pistons on The Vertical Podcast with Woj

By David Topham

Feb 10, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Chauncey Billups walks by Isiah Thomas during his halftime retirement ceremony in the game between the Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Nuggets won 103-92. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 10, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Chauncey Billups walks by Isiah Thomas during his halftime retirement ceremony in the game between the Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Nuggets won 103-92. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Detroit Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups recently joined Adrian Wojnarowski for an episode of “The Vertical Podcast with Woj” to talk Pistons, his unique career arc, and more.

Chauncey Billups joined Adrian Wojnarowski for a July 27th episode of “The Vertical Podcast with Woj.” I know that’s forever ago in terms of the news cycle, but I just got around to listening to it (I’ve been out of the loop the past two-plus weeks thanks to a move and a vacation).

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As ever, Billups was great with the microphone on. The 2004 NBA Finals MVP discussed everything from the Malice at the Palace, to Kevin Durant’s move to the Warriors, to how he helped Carmelo Anthony become a better leader. There was even an interesting segment where Wojnarowski made an apt career arc comparison between Billups and Kyle Lowry.

As you’d expect, Mr. Big Shot and Woj also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Detroit Pistons teams of the 2000s.

Here are three things Billups said about those teams that really stood out to me.

1. “What we did will never happen again, in the fashion that it happened.”

This was my favorite quote of the episode. When discussing the recent surge of super teams in the NBA, Billups shined a light on just how special the Pistons teams of the 2000s were.

Four members of the starting five — Billups, Ben Wallace, Richard Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace — weren’t drafted by Detroit. They were “a lot of throwaways” as Billups said, guys where true success at the NBA level wasn’t happening in other places.

Yet when they came together, it all meshed perfectly. They became the consummate team, made six straight Eastern Conference Finals together, won one ring, and became brothers in the process.

2. The starting five has a group text where they chat hoops and more

Billups also revealed that the former starting five of those great Pistons teams have a group text where they talk hoops, reminisce on the good times, and more. How delightful is that? What I’d give for a transcript of that group text’s history.

3. “There was never any fights on our team, there was never any dissension.”

Despite the fact that they “competed hard everyday,” Billups made a note that those Pistons teams never got into any fights and there was never any discord. “Not one time, not one practice.” “We got it,” Billups said, referring to how they understood the bigger picture and the true goal.

He also said that it was sort of a “team rule” that the players weren’t going to challenge the coach in public. If they needed to talk out issues, it was done in private, sometimes solo and somtimes with a small group of leaders. 

It’s no wonder that those teams were so successful if this is the case. It’s tough to keep your focus and chemistry in the midst of great success, but these teams were able to. These circumstances were probably a huge reason why.

Next: Detroit Pistons' 2016-2017 schedule released

Good stuff from Billups. He and Wojnarowski got into countless other topics, so I’d recommend that you listen to the podcast in its entirety if you are into that sort of thing. Here is the link to it.

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