Priority No. 1 for incoming president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics is filling their newly vacated and coveted coaching position, and it seems like one former star could be among those garnering consideration.
ESPN’s NBA insider Brian Windhorst, while speaking on “The Jump” on Wednesday, acknowledged one specific candidate to keep an eye on — Chauncey Billups.
Billups, a longtime point guard in the league, served as an assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers during the 2020-21 season.
“… The good news is they (the Celtics) do have two young stars on their roster and so whoever gets this coaching job is going to have a great opportunity,” Windhorst said. “And the person I would say to keep an eye out for is Chauncey Billups. … Former Celtic, keep an eye on that one.”
Of course, this all comes after Stevens vacated his post as head coach to take over for Danny Ainge. Ainge, you probably heard, stepped down from his position as president of basketball operations Wednesday after serving at the post for nearly two decades. Stevens had served as the Celtics head coach for the past eight seasons.
Stevens expressed his excitement in starting the coaching search while speaking with reporters during a press conference Wednesday. Billups, for what it’s worth, had been rumored to be among the candidates by Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill, as well.
Other rumored candidates include Jason Kidd and Lloyd Pierce while Sam Cassell and Kara Lawson have garnered some praise from those who follow the team closely. Oddsmakers have Kidd and Pierce as the favorites, too.
Billups was drafted by the Celtics in 1997 before being traded to the Toronto Raptors as a rookie. He played for seven teams across 17 NBA seasons, finishing with the Detroit Pistons in 2013-14. He worked as an NBA analyst for a majority of time out of the league and got into coaching this past season under Tyronn Lue’s Clippers.
