You can make a pretty impressive roster out of current NBA coaches -- head coaches and assistants -- that were former players.
There are a few talented big men, including Hall of Famer Tim Duncan (Spurs assistant coach), his former teammate, Tiago Splitter (Nets assistant) and four-time All-Star Vin Baker (Bucks assistant). There is also some decent representation in the forward positions, including Luke Walton (Kings head coach), Monty Williams (Suns head coach) and Darvin Ham (Bucks assistant).
But the point guard position is the one which is represented by an absolutely loaded group of NBA coaches. You've got former All-Stars in Doc Rivers (Clippers head coach) and Sam Cassell (Clippers assistant). You've got Hall of Famers in Jason Kidd (Lakers assistant), Maurice Cheeks (Thunder assistant) and new Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash. And the list goes on.
And that group of former point guards who dominated the NBA could get even deeper -- it makes sense, considering they were the "floor generals" and had to lead their team on and off the court -- with the news that five-time All-Star Chauncey Billups is ready to pursue a head coaching gig.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, Billups has long considered the idea of pursuing a coaching position, but is now apparently "fully invested" in searching for a legitimate opportunity. Interested teams have already begun looking into him as a candidate, according to Haynes.
As soon as he announced his retirement, there were murmurs regarding the candidacy of the high-IQ and very professional point guard in a front office role, per Terry Foster of The Detroit News. Billups certainly pondered this option, as well as that of becoming a coach.
“Probably my last two or three years is when I really started thinking about, ‘OK, this is my last year, so what am I going to do?’” Billups told Kendra Andrews earlier this year, regarding his post-retirement plans. “I started to prepare myself for three different avenues. One was being a coach, one was working in a front office and the third was TV. Basketball is my first love, so I knew I wanted to stay in the game in some capacity.”
However, Billups instead chose to join ESPN in an analyst role the year after his retirement, fearing he'd miss too much time as an active participant in his daughters' childhoods, and eventually became a game analyst during Clippers broadcasts.
With Nash now firmly entrenched in the Nets organization and with several other teams looking to fill their head coach vacancy, Billups could add coaching to his resume before too long.
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