GLENDALE, Ariz. — Portland Trail Blazers coach and former Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups lives by the saying, “If it ain’t hard, it ain’t hard.” This phrase was stitched into his Adidas game shoes during his 17-year NBA profession.

Billups can be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday has been officially announced before the NCAA Men’s Final Four games. He said his journey from Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood to the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., wasn’t easy and at one point was fraught with uncertainty.

Billups was chosen third overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the University of Colorado’s Boston Celtics. Then-coach Ricardo Patton remembered Billups as a young man who wanted to achieve the league.

“He was hungry early on. I think he set some lofty goals for himself at a very young age,” Patton said. Some players just need to get into the league. Chauncey never wanted to simply get there. He desired to help the team succeed and reach the pinnacle of the championship game. He wanted to depart his mark, his mark.”

Billups was the first overall draft pick under Rick Pitino in Boston. The Celtics traded him midway through his rookie season to the Toronto Raptors. The transition from Colorado to the league was not smooth.

Billups had turn into accustomed to dominating talent in his area, but joining a league with larger and smarter talent proved to be an issue. The former shutout spent the early years of his NBA profession as a journeyman, playing for 4 teams over five seasons and trying to seek out his way in the league.

“My fight just happened. It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” Billups said. “I worked hard. I put everything I could into it. I just wasn’t ready. It wasn’t like the coach hated it or anything, I just wasn’t quite ready. I needed work. I had to go back to the drawing board… I was performing poorly results and they had a lot of big, difficult expectations placed on me that I didn’t meet, so whatever they took as truth.”

Amid uncertainty and increasing talk of being a draft bust, Billups identified weaknesses in his game. He worked along with his longtime coach Joe Abunassar to enhance his grip and decision-making, and likewise worked on ways to create space to shoot. The presence of experienced leaders Terrell Brandon and Sam Mitchell while Billups was with the Minnesota Timberwolves helped lay the foundation for the rest of his profession.

“Those guys got into me, so it wasn’t just me and my coach. So many people were trying to get me to do this,” Billups said. “That’s one of the reasons I was able to make this change.”

When Billups signed with the Detroit Pistons for the 2002-03 season, it finally worked. The former journeyman established himself as a starter and his shooting skills earned him the nickname “Mr. A giant deal.”

“When I got to Detroit, I was finally ready to lead and understand the game (and) understand how to play the position,” Billups said. “I used to be ready then. Once I got there, I just never looked back. That was the end. I figured it out.”

Patton believed that in Detroit, Billups had a lineup that matched the hunger he had seen in the teenage Colorado product nearly a decade earlier.

“One of the things I remember, or I remember him saying, was that there were players on the team that were hungry, players that maybe were struggling in other areas or with other teams,” Patton said. “They had a group of players who were all on the same page in terms of going out to prove they were worthy.”

In his first season with the Pistons, Billups recorded a brand new career-high of 16.2 points. Being part of a Pistons roster consistent with Billups’ personality, he believes the blue-collar mentality in the city is ingrained in the team.

“Let’s go to work. We’ve done everything we can, (then) we’re going home. There’s no glitz, no shine, no nothing,” Billups said. “Well, that’s what Detroit is all about; that’s what Detroit is all about this city (and) the fan base. It was just the perfect mix. That’s who Ben Wallace was as our leader when I got there, that’s who I am. So it was just a perfect marriage.”

The highlight of his profession got here during his sophomore 12 months when the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in the NBA Finals to win their third NBA championship. This was Billups’ first and only NBA title, and he was named NBA Finals MVP.

“I was very proud that I wanted to show people the chip that I always played with, but I was very proud that I wanted to show people who I could be, so I wanted to win the championship,” Billups said. “I didn’t even care about Finals MVP, I just wanted to be able to lead my team to prove not only to myself but to the whole world that I would be who I said I would be. So that’s what it was for me.”

Billups’ induction makes him the second Pistons player from the 2004 championship team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Ben Wallace, who was a member of the class of 2021. Billups is also joined by Vince Carter, a member of the 1998 NBA draft class. , players Seimone Augustus, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Dick Barnett and Michele Timms; coaches Charles Smith, Harley Redin and Bo Ryan; broadcaster/coach Doug Collins; and owner Herb Simon.

In the six years since he became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2018, this was Billups’ first 12 months as a finalist. He had been following the process for the past few years, but was never quite sure whether he would turn into a member of the Hall of Fame. Billup’s confidence grew when he became a finalist this 12 months. His introduction got here as no surprise to Patton.

“There was certainly no question in the minds of people who watched him play that he deserved to be a Hall of Famer,” Patton said.

After the results were announced in Glendale, Billups planned to fly to Boston to rejoin the Trail Blazers for Saturday’s game against the Celtics in the city where his skilled profession began. In the 27 years since he joined the league, he has amassed a protracted list of life lessons that he has passed on to his players.

“It’s something I actually have to show them backwards. For example, a man will start going through a difficult period, he’ll fight, or this is occurring, or this is occurring. That’s after I can talk over with them a couple of bit of my journey because I do not discuss myself as a player,” Billups said.

“This is my team and I promised myself that when I take over (and) start coaching, I will never talk about myself and what I have done. Anyway, I’m not that type of person. But I think what I went through is very valuable in certain situations when these guys go through it, and that’s part of why I wanted to do it, because I know I have so much and I’ve been through so much. very much that I can help so many of these guys. So I just pick my spots and when I try to give them that. I know it can help them.”

During his 17 seasons in the NBA, from 1997 to 2014, Billups was a five-time All-Star, a two-time All-NBA Defensive Team member and a three-time All-NBA Player. He played in 1,043 games with the Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks and LA Clippers, ending with profession averages of 15.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists.

“We will not win a third NBA championship without Chauncey’s leadership,” former Pistons guard and Hall of Famer Joe Dumars said in an announcement. “When the ball was in his hands, you just knew he was going to make the right play.”

Billups said all the things he’s completed in sports has been by playing the right way.

“I wasn’t chasing stats, otherwise I’m going to get 35, average 25 and 10,” Billups said. “I wasn’t that player. Most people don’t think they will achieve their goals, earn a living, get this and that if they only play the right way.

“When I say ‘play the right way’, I’m playing for my team. I didn’t play to get the All-Star game (or) on the cover. I played to win and make my teammates better. By doing this, I achieved All-Star status. Playing this way, I won the championship. Now I’ve made the Hall of Famer play this way. Whether it got me into the Hall of Fame or not, I just found solace in playing that way.”