Chauncey Billups ESPN Interview | 2025 NBA Summer League | July 15, 2025 | Portland Trail Blazers

Chauncey Billups ESPN Interview | 2025 NBA Summer League | July 15, 2025 | Portland Trail Blazers

Look at the Bellagio here in town in Las Vegas. Night has fallen on day six. Mark Jones courtside with Mr. Big Shot. Johny Phillips of course and Cory Alexander. Coach, good to see you, man. Do you still have a payroll number? Hey man, y’all people working me good, man. Chanty, you know, coming into the arena here at the pavilion today in Las Vegas, saw about 70 or 80 people with Chinese flags. Yeah. Yeah. Chinese pictures of Yang Hansen and kind of feel like we’re on to something with this with this young man from China. What do you think of his play so far? Because it seems to have at least justified some of the hype around him. I first of all, I think he’s doing a really good job. Secondly, y’all finally seeing what we saw, you know, like we took him and everybody had a lot to say, you know, about the pick, but we didn’t. All we cared about is we thought he was an incredible prospect that was going to fit in perfectly with our team. And I think he showed that he’s he’s doing a really good job with that. Tons, I was at the draft when he was announced as a 16th pick and he was at the draft, walked out of the stands and no one knew who he was at that point, but you had spent time with him obviously before then. What did you see? Was it the passing that really stood out the most to you that the fact that you could possibly run offense through him or what was it that said that made you get on board with saying, “Hey, this is our guy. This is who we need to go after?” You know, there were several things. one, his passing obviously stands out and anytime you can have a good passer on your team, he’s a good connector. Everybody loves playing with a great passer. Um, but not only that, he was very competitive. He was physical. You know, he set good screens. He you you got to understand as a big man, there’s going to be a collision on every play. Either you’re going to be the one going to it or you going to be, you know, he’s the one that goes to the collision. And that’s something that you can’t teach passing and field. That’s also something that you can’t really teach. So the the things that you can’t teach when they can do that is incredible because I know what I can teach. So I just felt good about it. I really did. Chanty, we had a great moment where he had a chance to display his personality after the three. He gave it the the three in your mouth, Sy. um he really seems to have connected with his teammates despite the possibility of maybe a little cultural differences and language barriers, you know, and that’s just think about it. You know, he he’s still kind of learning and getting more comfortable with the language. Um he’s How do you guys handle that? Do you have a translator for Of course. Translator sitting right behind you on the end of the bench right right bench right now. His name is Chris. Um he’s doing a phenomenal job. But, you know, we’ll have our own, you know, people to have English classes for him. And we we of course we have an entire agenda for him, you know, to speed him up, but he’s doing a really good job with all of those things. That’s great. Congratulations to you signing a four-year extension, I believe, to stay in Portland as the head coach. And, you know, I didn’t know this was the path for you. We talked about this long ago when you were doing TV and you made the decision to get into this coaching. Of course, everything that you’ve done throughout your lifetime, you’ve excelled at. Have you enjoyed this side of it and mentoring these young men? Man, I love it, CA. I really do, man. I love teaching, you know. It was just so many guys along the way for me that taught me, that helped me, and coaching is just teaching, you know, and um I really do. These guys are so talented, they’re so good, they’re so skilled. Um, but I think it’s really important in particular when they come into the league, it’s it’s important what they learn right away. Um, and it it’s going to set the tone for the rest of your career. Yeah. You know, um, so I love it. I love coaching. I love teaching and, um, to your point, early on, I didn’t know that this was going to be the route for me either, but I just I just felt called to do it, man. And I just love it. You you’ve experienced seismic change since you first lined up on the sidelines. I mean, Dame Lillard was part of the team when you first came aboard and things have really turned over in a somewhat significant way. One of the guys out here that you drafted, uh, Caleb Love, uh, comes in as an older rookie. Uh, how does that benefit him? What have you seen out of that so far? Well, you look, you can see how comfortable he looks out there. You know, he he’s had he’s got a lot of experience. He’s played in a lot of incredibly uh, big games in college. Those things really matter, you know. Um, I’m one that I I believe in. You know, rookies that come in a little bit older. I mean, you look at what Tummani Kamar has done for us, right? Came in a little older is is already one of the best defenders in in the in the entire world. So, um, I love it. Caleb knew your nickname, too, Mr. Big Shot. As he should. He didn’t He didn’t have to YouTube it or Google it. As he should. He He He’s old enough to know that. I know, but you never know with these young cats, man. So, 19 year olds, they don’t really know it. to your point, Caleb, you know, at his age, he knows it. All right, JoJ, let me let me say this, and I’ve known Caleb Love since he was probably 14 years old. The person that I would have told you then, and really for the last 10 years that he reminds me of is this guy beside me, okay? And both of them are the coolest dudes in the room. No matter what happens, whatever profession it is, they’re going to be the coolest guy in the room. But Caleb has a very similar personality to Chanty. They’re not rahrah guys, but lead by example. and both players that other guys want to follow. Even though I was appreciate even though I was the older guy. You you was the semi older, but you was I thought you was the coolest dude on our team. Now you’re giving me We used to We used to have that battle all the time. Yes, we did. One of the big uh transactions you guys made was being able to get Drew Holiday coming in. What does uh Drew bring outside of the obvious? We’re going to keep you. Can we keep you for one more second? I’ll be right here, man. He ain’t got nothing else to do. Jones, you been hanging out with us. He’s trying to get the gold watch from ESPN like always. Back after this. Welcome back everyone to Las Vegas and the Pavilion. There’s a look at the depth chart for the Trailblazers. Drew Holiday acquired in that deal with the Celtics. Anthony Simons going the other way. Let’s start with Drew. That’s where we ended things off. What what one variable does he bring that you guys figure to benefit from the most? Experience. You know, that’s the one thing a young team doesn’t have is experience. And it’s tough to get that unless you bring it in like that. And obviously, this is a guy who’s won championships. He’s, in my opinion, going to be a Hall of Famer. what he can give Scoot Henderson, Shaden, Tummani, Danny, all of our young, talented guys, even our centers, what he can give them are things that I can’t give them. I can try as good as I can, but you need a guy actually in a jersey that can do that, you know. So, I’m I’m I’m super excited about Drew. And he’s not like a old player. He can still go out there and dominate and and and do what he has to do, which I love. Now, of course, I’ve been able to do this through text, but also got to congratulate my young fella inducted into the Hall of Fame. So, so again, you know, and and Jonesy, this is the thing, and I don’t think many people know this, he had a struggle for his first couple of years. I remember at the NBA, and it wasn’t necessarily play as much as it was injuries, the shoulder, multiple shoulder injuries that took him off the floor. We end up trading you out of Denver to Orlando. You couldn’t even play at the time. you bet on yourself going to Minnesota and coming off the bench become became that sixman, but then of course it was the Pistons that really went out there and saw what he could be moving forward. When you look back at that journey, how much of that helps you share with these young people, somebody special like Scoop who hasn’t hit that all-star level his first two years yet? Well, you know, the biggest thing, CA, is is I think that’s one of my one of the gifts that I have is I actually can relate to every single guy on that team. Guy at the end of the bench not playing, the six-man guy, the star of the team, the role player. Like, I’ve been every single one of those guys. And, you know, I never actually talk to my team. I never do the like when I was playing or this is what I did. I never do that. But when our guys go through certain things, I have I can tell them how I feel. I know how it feels, you know. So, that relatability is is been has been the key for me, you know, being able to meet them right right where they’re at at all times. Shaden Sharp really had a strong season overall when you look at the big picture, especially the second half. Uh what’s the next step for him? Um just consistency. you know, he’s also he struggled with some injuries, but you talk about uber talent, right? Shaden is uh he’s as talented as anybody. You know, he’s starting to really guard the ball now and defend and use both sides of the ball. Um if he can reach his potential, I mean, it’s going to be scary. Yeah, [Applause] [Music] that’s the kind of defense you want to see from them, right? They scrapping. I believe it was two years ago your team won the summer league championship. Was that that was the case? Couple years ago. It was a couple years ago you guys won it and we talked about how would that defense translate moving forward and of course that’s where it starts with every organization. It starts on the defensive end first with the trend now where everyone is picking up 94 ft. this is that something we’ll see more so from the trailblazers and and again to me that trend really started in the 2021 finals when Drew Holiday started picking up Chris Paul 94 ft and that changed the series after Phoenix was up two zero in that series. Is that something we see from you guys moving forward? Well um most of the world and even you now that I hear this question never I didn’t really see us play last year but that’s what we do. We pick up full court every single time. Tum Tummani Kamara is maybe one of the best in the league at picking a guy up full. I mean, in the end, that’s what we do already. And to y’all’s point, like when you have a young team and you’re trying to build and you’re trying to, you know, get your culture together and your identity together, like you start there on the defensive end. And all of our guys know that’s where we hang our hat. Offensively, we’ll just get better. Offense is fun. Everybody can play offense. That’s the easy thing to do. So we we going to hang our hat on the defensive side of the ball and offensively we just play fast and share the ball. How would you characterize Donovan Klingan’s biggest improvement from game one to game 82? Oh man, it’s been incredible. I think the education that he was able to get, you know, playing so many games this year. Um understanding how to play a shoot against a shooting five or a athletic five or, you know, he he he’s seen it all. He really is. He’s seen he really has seen it all. So, the jump that he’s making this summer, I’m really excited about, too. Do we see some uh some too big action with Hansen and Dobin, perhaps? Um, some teams going to I’m not sure. I’m going to have to see uh I’m going to have to see these guys play together and play a little bit more, but it it would be so new. Hey, I got to ask you with Young Hansen playing as well as he has, do you have your passport ready for a trip to China or something? Oh, I I’ll be ready. I’ll be ready, right? I’ll be ready, baby. I played over there a couple times. It ain’t his first time going over there. They going to love the big fella when you do take him back over and get an opportunity to play in front of his home country, especially if he’s knocking down threes like this. Hey, Cory, guess who the most scrutinized NBA coach in China will be? Oh, no question about it. I tell you what though, if they know like I know that he will have his fan base there as well. one of the best people that I’ve ever been to be associated with in this game. I’ve referred to him as a little brother. He’s not that much younger, but you still your little brother, but part of the greatest five alive. We still got a little a little salt and pepper on us right now with a lot of fire in the furnace. Still a lot of fire left. Chanty, thanks a lot for appreciate y’all. Appreciate y’all. We’ll be back in just a moment. Love, baby. [Music]

Chauncey Billups joins the broadcast booth during Game 3 in Las Vegas.

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