Chancey Billups: Mr. Big Shot

Age ain’t nothing but a number. This certainly holds true for 12 year veteran Chauncey Billups who is headed to his 7th straight conference finals appearance. That’s right. I said seven. He holds himself in good company as only Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar have ever accomplished this amazing feat.

So what makes Chauncey so reliable year after year? He doesn’t have Chris Paul’s killer crossover; he doesn’t have Derrick Rose’s speed, and he doesn’t have Deron Williams’ vision. But what he does have is a basketball IQ and leadership mentality that is second to none among NBA point guards.

This season we are witnessing exactly how valuable Billups’ basketball IQ and leadership are to the Denver Nuggets. Billups has completely transformed this team and has led them to a franchise record of 54 wins. But it's not the regular season where Billups’s impact and basketball IQ will be felt. After all, the Nuggets won 50 games last season, so 54 wins is not that much more. But lets take a look at last years playoff run (which was nonexistent) versus this years playoff run. Last year, the Nuggets got completely embarrassed by the Lakers in the first round. Lakers 4 - Nuggets 0. This year, they're 8-2 in the playoffs, winning the majority of their games convincingly. And the two games they lost were very close. Before Billups, the Nuggets lacked maturity - when things got tougher in the playoffs, they couldn't handle it. They shut down, and they lost their cool. This year, it's the Nuggets who have executed. That's no accident - that's Billups's influence.

The Nuggets and Lakers will be an exciting matchup with a much different outcome than last year. If I were the Lakers, I’d brace myself for a tough series. The Nuggets have the firepower, defense, and front line that will cause the Lakers significant problems. Oh yeah, and if that’s not enough, they have a world-class point guard and floor general in Chauncey Billups.

Nuggets in 6.