Blazers' Chauncey Billups Needs to Embrace the Tank

Now, it behooves the Trail Blazers to concentrate on going 0-3 down the home stretch of the season and maximizing their lottery odds ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft.

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The 32-46 Spurs, 35-43 Phoenix Suns, and whichever two of the East's play-in tournament teams get eliminated before the playoffs (the 38-40 Orlando Magic, 37-41 Atlanta Hawks, 36-42 Chicago Bulls, and 36-43 Miami Heat are the four clubs in question) are all scarily catchable by record for the Trail Blazers as of this writing.

Anything the Trail Blazers can do to "create" roster injuries and throw games would behoove them to explore. Portland needs to optimize its draft luck. The poorer it finishes, the better its chances of securing a top pick via said lottery become.

But there may be a fly in the ointment.

For Billups, keeping the team competitive is likely a top priority.

Billups is finishing up the final guaranteed year of the five-season deal he agreed to with Portland in 2021, when Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum were still on the club's roster. The Trail Blazers possess a team option on Billups' 2025-26 season.

On paper, the Hall of Fame former Detroit Pistons Finals MVP point guard has posted a disappointing record during his first-ever head coaching gig.

Billups has posted a 116-209 cumulative record over that time. The fact that he's still employed by playoff-bound now-former West head coaches Michael Malone and Taylor Jenkins are not is a bit of a shock, although the Trail Blazers' goals and personnel are not exactly oriented towards contemporary success.

Any future employer for Billups will have to take into context that he guided two ill-conceived rosters around Lillard in 2021-23, which eventually shut down the nine-time All-Star point guard and pivoted towards late-season tanks, and has been stewarding rosters designed to lose for the past two seasons. Portland has gone 21-16 since January 19, and has posted a top-five defense during that span.

Billups' bona fides in player development look pretty secure, as evinced by the club's midseason turnaround. He needs to buckle down and lose these impending matchups against the Utah Jazz, Golden State Warriors, and Los Angeles Lakers.

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