Billups wins NBA's Citizenship Award

Don’t ask me why, but I was surprised to hear that Chauncey had won the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. When I think of him, his on court play doesn’t scream “Hey, I do all kinds of crazy stuff for charity!” However, after reading this article I feel like an idiot, plain and simple.

The past winners like KG, Nash, Reggie Miller, Dikembe, and David Robinson all seemed like obvious choices during the years they had won. When you read this article, it brings to light a whole other side of Billups that you wish you had known beforehand. The article lists at least 4 different organizations he deals with and each organization is different and is not strictly focused on basketball. Many of them involve bringing kids to games as part of the program, but the focus is not on athletics. Many of the organizations focus on academics, rather than making the next NBA superstar which I greatly admire.

Another interesting highlight from the article was the acknowledgement of Ron Artest as one of the five finalists for the award. We all know of the trouble Ron gets into on and sometimes even off the court, so to see his name as a finalist is a pretty big deal. He may lead a whacko personal life, but he still manages to find time to give back to his communities and to children. (Maybe he’s so busy with charities that he forgot to feed those dogs? Cheap shot! Not necessary I know!)

The point is that articles like these should happen more often. I think many of us get caught up in the game itself and the personalities we see from players on the court, when off the court they are completely different people. Obviously, you’d be a fool not to realize that, but I just feel at times we get so caught up in a hard foul or ejection that switches our mind completely into “He’s a horrible guy!” mode.

Congrats Chauncey!