Blazers' Chauncey Billups calls out 'soft' team with 'loser' take

11/11/2024 01:29 PM

Since trading away Damian Lillard before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Portland Trail Blazers haven’t been all that competitive in the Western Conference. This organization finished with a 21-61 record last season, their worst since the 2005-06 season when they also won just 21 games. So far, the 2024-25 season hasn’t been much different for Portland, as they find themselves 3-8 through the first 11 games. To make matters worse, Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups is already fed up with the effort he is receiving from his roster, especially after losing by 45 points on Sunday night against the Memphis Grizzlies.

After losing their third straight game, Billups sounded off on the Blazers’ effort and urgency, calling out his team for their lack of fight and will to win.

“It was just f*****g embarrassing, to be honest with you,” Billups relayed to reporters when opening his postgame remarks. “We were soft as hell the whole game. Nobody really fought. It was just embarrassing for everybody. That's just not who we are. There's no excuse for that. You have a lot of rough nights in this league, obviously. But I don't even care. This wasn't even that. Guys showed up because they had to be here, but they didn't want to play. They didn't want to actually work. That's embarrassing.

“It's unfortunate that we had to go out there in front of our fans that paid their hard-earned money to come see their favorite team play. And you show up and do that. It was embarrassing, man. It was embarrassing.”

Chauncey Billups sounds off on Blazers’ lack of effort

Aside from Jerami Grant scoring 20 points, this loss to the Grizzlies was a complete and utter disaster for the Blazers from the very start. They trailed 31-17 after the first quarter, and as a team, Portland shot just 34.0 percent from the floor and 9.5 percent from three-point range, hitting only four of their 42 attempts from long range.

As Billups said, it simply looked like his team didn’t want to be in the arena and playing basketball against Memphis. In terms of how the Blazers move on from this game, Billups kept things brief and real with his message to the team following this 45-point loss.

“I told them that anybody that sleeps well tonight, you're a loser. It's that simple,” Portland’s head coach continued. “You sleep well after this one, you're a loser. That’s how I feel, and I mean what I say. We’ll move on.”

This is not the first time that Billups has publicly called out his team this season, as he did so after a loss to the Golden State Warriors, stating that none of his players played well in that game.

Bad shooting nights and bad games happen over the course of the 82-game season. Even the Boston Celtics ended up having tough losses in which they failed to score at a high level last season, and they ultimately went on to win the 2024 NBA Finals. Every team is susceptible to having off nights, but it was the way and manner in which the Blazers lost to the Grizzlies that had Billups irate.

A total of 24 turnovers, most of which could’ve easily been avoided, led to 29 points for Memphis. It was the constant rushed shots and not moving the ball to open guys on the perimeter that drove Billups insane. Quite frankly, the product that the Blazers put together was nothing better than what a G League team could’ve done against the Grizzlies, which is why the Trail Blazers head coach was furious with his team.

At the end of the day, all the Blazers and Billups can do is move on. While this loss stings, it is certainly not their worst loss since Billups took over on the sidelines in 2021. This is a learning lesson for Portland, and if there is one thing we can count on, it is for Billups to have his team ready to go moving forward.

“We've lost by more points than this. But it's how. We're laying down and caving in. At the end of the day, that's on me. I'm the leader in this. This is our team, but I'm the head of this. I take that very personally. I don't have one bone of that in my body. That's on me. I've got to be better.

“I'll have them a little more prepared next time."

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