Blazers' Chauncey Billups Shreds Defensive Player of the Year's... Defense

Portland coach Chauncey Billups takes a shot at one of the league's supposed top defenders.

Apr 7, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups reacts to game action against the Boston Celtics during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups will enter his fourth season at the helm. While his time in Portland hasn't been pretty, the hope is that he and his young team turn things around sooner rather than later.

This season brings little hope, but we will see how they eventually grow as the season progresses. The Trail Blazers don't have much going on at the moment, but that doesn't mean members of the team and coaching staff are staying silent. Billups recently turned heads when he appeared on the "Sheed & Tyler" podcast and took a shot at four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.

Billups was blunt when speaking on Gobert. While he said he is a great defender, he did say that some information about him may be misleading.

"My first year coaching, I was with the Clippers, and we played Utah, and we literally like, he, don't get me wrong, he's a great defender, but he's not as versatile as like the Ben Wallace's, so he can be played off the floor with some of this spacing," Billups said. "With Rudy, we attacked him the whole series. He's a great defensive player, don't get me wrong, but you don't just attack great defensive players, right? You go away from him, get him out of the play, so, like, that's the difference in today's game, but like yeah, he's great at the rim, he plays hard, he can block shots and stuff like that, but in space, it's trouble and pick and rolls you just go after him, but he is a good defensive player."

Billups started his coaching career with the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2020-21 season. The Clippers faced the Jazz in the second round of the playoffs, and Los Angeles used the perfect recipe to do just that. The Clippers played a lineup of five solid shooters on offense, allowing them to attack Utah's perimeter defense, which meant that Gobert had to guard all over the floor, not just the paint.

Gobert is still a fine defender, but it's clear that his impact is not the same in the playoffs when it matters most.

The Trail Blazers will play the Timberwolves four times this season and three times in less than a week. Billups will look for ways to implement that type of play to run Gobert out of the court.

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