Chauncey Billups gave Jrue Holiday some advice on how to handle Celtics trade
After he was traded twice during the offseason, Holiday had a chat with Billups about how to handle it.
Jrue Holiday’s stint as a Portland Trailblazer was brief, but it was enough time for him to have a conversation with Blazers coach Chauncey Billups about how to handle an unexpected trade.
“It was a little tough spot for him, getting traded,” Billups told reporters, per MassLive’s Souichi Terada. “Kind of being blindsided by that. I’ve been there. So just being able to talk with him like that because I know him. And it was for important for me that a good person like him, who’s been great on every team and every community, for him to be treated properly.”
The Blazers acquired Holiday in a three-team deal with the Bucks and Suns that landed Damian Lillard in Milwaukee. Then, Portland flipped Billups to the Celtics for Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III and a pair of first-round picks.
Billups knows what it’s like to spent a short amount of time with an organization before being traded. The Celtics traded him at the trade deadline during his rookie season after drafting him No. 3 overall.
“You can be very emotional in a situation like that where you’re blindsided,” Billups said. “You say some things you can’t take back and act a way that you can’t take back. And also, whenever you get to the place where you’re going, just be who you are. Don’t show that hurt or that emotion you just have to go through. Because wherever you show up, that’s going to be how they judge you.”
Holiday said he appreciated the conversation and felt that Billups was being real with him.
“It meant a lot,” Holiday told Jay King of The Athletic. “Being able to see a coach that has my best interests (in mind). And you could see it and you could hear it, which a lot of times maybe some players don’t get a chance to see that from a coach. So he definitely had my best interest (at heart) from the beginning. And he just always looked out for me.”
Billups played for four teams before finding a home with the Detroit Pistons. He won a title there and established himself as a multi-time All-Star.
Holiday already had an NBA championship and several All-Defensive first team selections before joining the Celtics. He’s been in the league since 2009.
But, it still helped to listen to someone who knows what it’s like to be traded more than once.
“The biggest thing I think is not a lot of people have actually been through that, that can talk through that,” Billups said. “So wanted to hear him out, understanding that I know how feels, I know where he’s at in his career. He’s not like 25. It was actually a really good conversation that we were able to have. Obviously I didn’t know where it would end up. Our intention was to make sure he was going to be a great position, a great situation.”
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