TRAGEDY: Boston celtics coach is very angry and announces reason for his immediate resignation…
Jrue Holiday never suited up for the Portland Trail Blazers, but he spent some time with their personnel, like Chauncey Billups, before the Boston Celtics acquired him.
After the Milwaukee Bucks traded Holiday to Portland for Damian Lillard, he and Billups discussed the best next step. Billups revealed their earnest conversation before Portland traded him to Boston to The Athletic’s Jay King.
“I had a conversation — a long, good conversation with him — just about I know it was a little tough spot for him, being traded, kind of being blindsided by that,” Billups told King in a March 12 story. “I’ve been there before. So just being able to rap with him like that because I know him. And it was important for me that a good person like him, who’s been great on every team and every community that he’s lived in, for him to be treated properly and be put in a great position and a great spot.”
Billups himself knows the feeling. He started his NBA career with the Celtics, but they traded him mid-season to the Raptors in his rookie year. Holiday praised Billups for his understanding.
“It meant a lot,” Holiday told King. “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.”