“The Blazers shutting down questions about Chauncey Billups’s sexual assault case is embarrassing”: Damian Lillard’s new head coach was saved by the Blazers PR team

Chauncey Billups isn’t allowed to answer any questions about his sexual assault case from 1997 at the Portland TrailBlazers press conference. 

The Portland Trailblazers have a rough past week so far as the entirety of the hubbub surrounded them has been muddled with rumors of a disgruntled superstar and their newest head coach’s questionable past. Damian Lillard and the Blazers failing to make noise yet again in the Playoffs led to the firing of longtime bench boss Terry Stotts and the subsequent hiring of Chauncey Billups. 

Billups was scooped up from Ty Lue’s coaching staff as he had shown to be a fine candidate along with the likes of Becky Hammon and Mike D’Antoni. Damian Lillard is also on record for having vouched for Chauncey Billups to take over for Stotts. This however, did not go over so well with Blazers fans as they questioned the integrity of Neil Olshey and his crew over the hire.

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This is because the 2004 NBA champ was previously involved in a sexual assault case back in 1997; a case that was settled out of court and no criminal charges were filed against anybody involved. 

Chauncey Billups and the Blazers PR team do not let Jason Quick get an answer to his question about the case. 

Neil Olshey and the Blazers introduced Chauncey Billups as the official head coach of 1977 champs at a press conference. Here, Jason Quick would ask Billups about how he believes the sexual assault allegations helped shape him as a person. Before Chauncey could say anything, a member of Portland’s PR team stopped him from answering the question.

Here is Trail Blazers PR shutting down a valid question from @jwquick about Billups and the 1997 sexual assault allegations.

This is embarassing. #RipCity https://t.co/F59r5TYn2Z pic.twitter.com/wE5WLwIssb

— Dylan Mickanen (@DylanMickanen) June 29, 2021

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NBA fans online were split on this matter. One faction of fans claimed Billups should publicly speak out about the case as it’s an inexcusable act that needs to be justified, if it even can be. The rest of the lot on social media believe that with the passage of time, perhaps he should be given a break and allowed to carry on with his life. 

Many have also pointed out that Neil Olshey was quick to shut down the question by signaling to the PR team that the query by Jason Quick was not allowed to be answered. He did so by drinking water, which according to fans, is the signal.