MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 1. All-NBA 1st Team: 0. 2nd Team: 1. 3rd Team: 2. All Star: 5. MVP: 0.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 0. 2nd Team: 2.
#5 Career FT%.
Career Averages: 15 PPG/ 3 RPG/ 5 APG/ 1 SPG/ .2 BPG/ .495 eFG%/ .894 FT%.
Best Season: 18/ 3/ 9/ .9/ .1/ .509/ .894 (2005-06).
Postseason Averages: 17 PPG/ 3 RPG/ 6 APG/ 1 SPG/ .2 BPG/ .485 eFG%/ .880 FT%.
Best Postseason: 21/ 4/ 7/ 1.3/ .3/ .569/ .906 (2009).
Championships: 1 (best player). Runner-ups: 1 (best player).
Why he's below Alonzo Mourning: Billups's prime was surprisingly short, not any longer than Mourning's was because his career got off to a slow start. Billups never matched Mourning's 1st Team All-NBA appearance or his 2nd place MVP finish.
Why he's above the rest: All right, I have to defend picking Billups over all the other players in the league, so here I go. Honestly, Billups doesn't feel right even to me, but in direct comparison, I can't find any player who I like better than him. On the other hand, are there any remaining players who were the best player on two Finals teams? Billups is better than any of the remaining volume scorers like Alex English, Carmelo Anthony, and Vince Carter because he's better on the defensive end, a better passer, a better shooter, and had more playoff success. He's better than the other remaining Finals MVPs like Tony Parker and Cedric Maxwell because he was better in the regular season than Parker and good for longer than Maxwell. He's better than the defensive stoppers like Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo because of his all-around game and Finals performance. He had better playoff performances and higher peaks than players who had long, consistently good careers like Pau Gasol and Shawn Marion.
The toughest players to compare him to are the ones who had peaks that were clearly higher than Billups's peak: Walt Bellamy, Tim Hardaway, Chris Webber, and Tracy McGrady. Billups was a better playoff performer than any of those four and a better shooter than all except Bellamy. And if you look at just his stats from his prime (the years he played with Detroit and Denver), his advanced stats suddenly look just as good as the primes of any of those players, along with many, many more playoff games. If you're picking a player for one season or a three-year run, maybe you'll want one of those. But my list is based on career accomplishments, and I wasn't able to find any player who can beat Billups in a head-to-head comparison.
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