Grades: Blazers / Billups Press Conference
Earlier today, the Portland Trail Blazers held a press conference (see below via KGW’s YouTube Channel) introducing Chauncey Billups as the team’s new head coach.
There was never any doubt it was going to be an atypical presser. For weeks, many NBA fans and media members - both in Portland and around the NBA - were struggling with how to evaluate the credible allegations of rape made against Billups in 1997. For more information on this, I suggest this thoughtful piece by Gerald Bourguet of Fansided. We also talked about it in Ep. 32, and even more directly in Ep. 35 when Ashtyn Butuso of Flagrant Magazine joined us; and a little on the most recent episode of the Baseline Podcast with Stevie Cozens.
I also recognize this is a complicated issue, and until now have tried to focus more on the process of considering this stuff MORE than what one’s end opinion ought to be. To that point, I will awkwardly quote myself here:
It isn't possible to think through the Billups stuff without acknowledging how gender issues, race issues, our incarceration system, power issues, the trauma caused by abusers having visibility, cultural issues, and other important issues all weave together.
In short: it’s complicated. It’s hard for most of us to think through, let alone talk to each other about.
But talk about it, the Blazers must. Or at least had to talk about this ONE time.
So I figured I would grade both the Blazers as an organization (led by Neil Olshey), and Chauncey Billups, on how they did in two key areas: addressing the allegations, and on matters pertaining to basketball.
Olshey on allegations: F+
I’ll start with what went well: Olshey started the press conference addressing the allegations directly. This was the right move, as was saying that some things are bigger than basketball. Olshey also said that the Blazers went above and beyond their typical vetting process specifically to look into the allegations before offering Billups the job.
Those things deserve credit. They’re also the bare minimum… and just about everything else was fumbled.
Olshey mentioned in his opening comments that in the Blazers’ independent investigation, its findings corroborated Billups’ recollection that “nothing non-consensual happened.”
Seeing a man in a suit declaratively invalidate a woman’s claims of sexual assault is both exhausting and not surprising. And given what information is available, I don’t see how it’s possible to conclude this.
While I understand that parsing every word a person says isn’t always helpful, this isn’t the extemporaneous speech of a person walking down the street: it’s a highly crafted, vetted, written statement that carries the power not just of Olshey, but of the Trail Blazers organization.
It was wrong to say.
There are many other ways to convey that, in their view, the accusations against Billups were considered and they ultimately decided to hire him anyway; namely, they could have said there was no evidence that he committed that crime, if that’s what they thought. Whether it was intended or not, what Olshey said didn’t just suggest Billups did nothing wrong, but that what happened to the woman didn’t happen at all.
Later, Olshey was asked by AJ McCord of KOIN for more detail on the investigation itself; Olshey instead directed her to his opening statements rather than answer that part of the question. He was then asked again by Bleacher Report’s Sean Highkin to share more information about the investigation, and Olshey responded with, “That's proprietary, Sean. You're just going to have to take our word that we hired an experienced firm that led us to the results we already discussed.”
Uh… no? That’s not how this works.
I get that, even if you’re trying to build trust with people who are understandably concerned about a person you’re hiring, there might be things you can’t share about your decision-making or vetting… and for good reason. What you CAN do is share what some of those reasons are, why that information won’t be shared publicly, then sharing what you CAN about the process, the timing, its scope, and its depth.
What you DON’T say it, “take our word.” That’s not helpful.
Finally, Billups was asked by Jason Quick of the Athletic to expand on his thinking of how the incident helped shape him (see video below). Billups was prepared to answer. But the Blazers’ PR representative, with Olshey sipping from a water bottle and staring toward her, told Quick that the question had been “asked and answered” and that they would “be happy to move on.”
This was a really bad move on a few levels.
The issue is important. Everyone knew it would come up, maybe more than once. There may not be another opportunity to address it again. It's common to ask someone to expand their thinking in this context. And it was an open-ended question that would have allowed Billups to answer however he saw fit.
To that point: Billups was prepared to answer. He should have been allowed to. Blazers fans want to hear honesty and vulnerability from their players and coaches… heck, most of us appreciate those things from anyone.
By not allowing Billups to expand his thinking, it sent a signal that the Blazers don’t trust him, that they had no interest in hearing him expand his thoughts, and that tough questions will be shut down rather than addressed.
With all of that said, I decided to go with a F+ rather than anything lower, because yes, sometimes powerful people and organizations cannot do EVEN the bare minimum. I wanted to be fair that addressing the allegations directly, and doing it right away, was the right call. But nearly everything else about how Olshey handled the most important topic in the room was done poorly.
Olshey on basketball: C+
Starting again with the good: Olshey began by making a distinction between hiring an up-and-coming coach and betting on upside, or bringing in a known coaching quantity. While there is risk in hiring an inexperienced coach, the Blazers’ previous coaching leadership had a pretty hard ceiling. The inability or unwillingness for previous head coach Terry Stotts to adapt was a major contributing factor in why the Blazers lost in the first round this year to a team with less talent.
I’m OK with this approach, and Olshey articulated that clearly.
I also appreciated that Olshey actually DID take accountability, saying “that responsibility [for winning] falls on me,” that “…the roster may have even over-achieved a little bit based on [Dame’s] leadership,” and that “…it's on me to make Dame happy."
This may have understandably come as a shock to all of us who saw Olshey very deliberately throw Stotts under the bus in his last press conference, and that the Blazers’ inability to get further in the playoffs was “not a product of the roster.”
However, Olshey’s patronizing of Spurs assistant coach and finalist for the Blazers’ head coaching gig Becky Hammon was disrespectful at best. When asked by the AP’s Anne Peterson why Billups was hired with less experience than other coaches like Hammon, Olshey replied in part, “We obviously admire Becky. She did a great job. Making it as far as the owner in the process isn’t easy. She made it all the way to the ownership level, which is an endorsement.”
It’s hard to imagine a GM saying this about a male coaching candidate with seven years of experience as an assistant under one of the greatest coaches in the game. There is no universe in which Hammon needs an endorsement from Olshey on her bona fides. Her experience speaks for itself.
Olshey also didn’t get beyond platitudes as to why Billups, specifically, is the right up-and-coming candidate to lead the team. Saying that Billups has “…an elite basketball IQ, competitive fire, a champion” and is “renowned as one of the great leaders in the NBA” doesn’t help fans understand what the Blazers looked at, specifically, that told them Billups could be an effective NBA head coach. Maybe he could have expanded on how and when Billups has held players accountable, or what influence he had on the Clippers’ coaching strategy.
Sometimes the qualities of an effective player, or even an effective assistant coach, don’t translate into head coaching success. Understanding what the team is basing their hope of Billups’ success on would have been helpful.
And Olshey also continued the highly unlikely line that the Blazers were considering “over 20” coaches in their initial search, when all available reporting suggested that no more than a half dozen were in serious consideration. There’s nothing wrong with starting with a small pool of candidates for a profession where exactly 30 jobs exist. But pretending that Billups wasn’t high on or at the top of Olshey’s list from the start is unnecessary and disingenuous.
Overall, Olshey articulated reasonably well why Billups would be a good basketball fit, and him taking accountability for the roster was refreshing. But that was tempered by a lack of clarity, a lack of tact, and a lack of honesty that left me feeling like I was being sold something, rather than feeling like I had good reason to be convinced.
Billups on allegations: C+
I want to begin by saying that this is hard to grade, and I understand a lot of folks will disagree with it. That is healthy and okay, and I reserve the right to adjust my thinking on this as I learn more, as I do for any topic.
Also, my understanding is that Billups may not be allowed to share details of the allegations based on the terms of the settlement he reached with the accuser.
Billups did address the allegations directly, and right away. That was the right thing to do… and the absolute bare minimum.
Billups talked about how “not a day goes by that I don’t think about how every decision that we make has an impact on a person’s life.” And while his clarification went on to include things like the people he associated with and his circle of friends, it could also be an acknowledgement that the impact of decisions, any decision, can echo for a long time. He also talked about how that knowledge led to “healthy and tough” conversations with his family, and that “it's shaped me in some unbelievable ways.”
There was not an acknowledgement that when women say they were sexually assaulted, that we should believe them. There was not an acknowledgement of the permanent trauma experienced by those who have been abused or assaulted or raped.
There was no time spent by Billups on what may have been a difficult, but NECESSARY, line for him to walk publicly between acknowledgement of harm, and claiming he was not responsible for that specific harm in this specific case, if that was his claim.
Maybe he doesn’t think he needed to mention the harm done to women not only by abusers, but by society collectively when their claims are dismissed. Or maybe he through it was too tight of a needle to thread in a public press conference.
Whatever the reason, he didn’t touch on important issues that have many people understandably and deeply hurt, confused, and outraged by his hire. Whether he agrees with those views or not, they demanded acknowledgement, and they didn’t get any.
It’s also true that Billups appeared prepared to give another response about this issue when Quick was shut down by the Blazers’ PR representative. While I could be wrong, I want to acknowledge that some other insight, some other series of thoughts we hadn’t heard, may have been forthcoming. But because of a sideways glance from Olshey, we didn’t get to find out.
In all, there were topics that Billups absolutely should have addressed, even if he chose to do it in the abstract. He didn’t do that. But he did seem willing to share more when given the opportunity, and maybe in the future he will. That would help.
Billups on basketball: A-
A lot of the basketball stuff Billups talked about was both earnest, AND what the Blazers need to get better.
While Damian Lillard is an MVP candidate, there’s no denying that a coach who can a) hold their players accountable without losing the locker room, b) get Dame to buy in on defense, and c) have Dame play off-ball more a la Steph Curry may not only be good for the team, but good for Dame. That was really encouraging to hear.
And as I am someone who cares a LOT about the leadership side of coaching, hearing Billups talk explicitly about being comfortable with having people challenge his leadership in healthy ways was refreshing. Too often, leadership is seen as a permanent power imbalance in favor of the leader. As a supervisor, I learned about how giving up some of your own power at times, letting others make decisions, and allowing yourself to be critiqued is a giant part of creating a healthy work dynamic where respect is earned. Billups seems to get that.
He also talked about how much he cares about getting the opportunity: the phrase “dream job” came up more than once. He complimented the fanbase. And while one could question how much of a “storied franchise” Portland really is, it was a nice thing to say.
Billups also spoke specifically about defense. In part, he said, “The biggest improvement we can make is on the defensive end of the floor... have a defensive mindset, a defensive mentality... to be physical and to communicate... that's our first jump."
He’s not wrong. The Blazers’ offense will be fine, but you can’t be a legit contender without an upper-half defense at a minimum.
It would have been nice to hear more detail, same as it would have been when Olshey talked about his confidence in Billups. However, I give Billups more leeway here. He’s a first time head coach, and it’s understandable that he hasn’t worked through ideas and flexed talking points for a role that will now demand his availability for public comment at nearly all times. And unlike Olshey, he didn’t have the benefit of time in a given role to leverage the Blazers’ organization in crafting his answers since the ink had barely dried on his contact.
Some may find an A- too generous here. I get that. But when it came to the broad basketball-related themes of what Billups can offer, they fit well with the needs of the team. And it didn’t seem like he was trying too hard. He understands basketball and the importance of leadership as a coach, and it showed.
OVERALL GRADE: F
The Blazers failed this press conference. The most important parts were botched, at times because an organizational imperative to botch them. Both the decision-making before, and the performance during, inspired little to no confidence in this coaching process.
The bare minimum on the most important things is far from good enough.
This doesn’t mean Billups will be a bad coach, from a purely basketball standpoint. He might be good. He might be great!
But it’s frustrating that this press conference COULD have been an opportunity for a series of honest, if difficult and painful acknowledgements; of allowing any and all hard questions and responding in earnest; of taking the time to acknowledge WHY so many people spoke out, to the point that the entire press conference was shaped to try to contain and diffuse the collective emotional impact of this decision.
On the whole, I give this press conference an F for failing at the most critical parts in critical ways. It embarrassed the franchise, and left many people understandably frustrated, hurt, and spent.
Like Olshey himself said: some things are bigger than basketball.
