Billups Goes Off; Tired Of Treatment He's Been Through

For Chauncey Billups, things have not been going good for the 34-year-old veteran lately. Billups was amnesty-waived just recently by the New York Knicks for them to clear cap space for other players.

Billups went off, as he has been tired of the treatment that he has been through for all throughout his career.

Here are some quotes Billups has to say, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

“I’ m tired of being the good guy,” Billups told Yahoo! Sports by phone on Saturday afternoon. “I’m tired of being viewed as the guy. After a while, you just kind of get taken advantage of in these situations. I’ve been known as a leader, and I am a leader, but a leader can be as disruptive as he can be productive, especially when you carry a strong voice and people rally around you. This is about me now. This is about me, and teams should know that right now.”

“I just don’t deserve the treatment that I’ve continually gotten,” Billups said. “Historically, these things never happen to the supposed great players and good guys. They continually happen to me, and it gets old. Listen, I feel I’ve been blessed in the game, and I’ve been given back, but these things start to wear on you. But there’s not another guy in history who keeps dealing with this, getting thrown into these things to make the money right. I really believe it’s because people take my kindness and professionalism for weakness. They think I’ll be OK with this. I won’t be OK with this. I’ve saved my money. I may just retire if I don’t get my freedom here.

“I want my freedom. My goal is to control my own destiny. And as you’ve seen in my career, I’ve never been in a position to do that. I know some teams out there are saying, ‘Oh, Chauncey will be great in mentoring’ and I’m tired of that. I’ve got a few good years left to play, and I’m not trying to come in and sit on the bench, or be a mentor. I’m not going to be that guy. I want to go somewhere and win. I want to choose.”

Billups has done a lot in his career. He helped the Detroit Pistons become a legit contender, and helped get them the 2004 NBA Finals title over the Los Angeles Lakers. He then took his talents to Denver to play with the Nuggets via trade and helped them become strong too, pairing up well with Carmelo Anthony. Then, just last season, Billups and Melo teamed up with Amare Stoudemire to create a strong Knicks team.

But after this recent news, Billups is done with it. He can be picked up on the amnesty waiver wire, but he doesn't want to. He wants to choose wherever he goes, and that can happen once he goes unclaimed.

Billups wants it his way now, and I can see it. It's truly understandable once you consider where this guy has been through.

Yahoo! Sports says that the Miami Heat can be a viable option. They already made some big deals with Shane Battier and Eddy Curry signed along with Mario Chalmers re-signed. Miami can get a solid starting point guard in Billups to create a Finals-contending line-up to tip off on Christmas.

Hopefully it happens, but we'll see where Billups is headed off to. We know one thing: he chooses.