Chauncey Billups isn’t worried about his Denver Nuggets not picking up any big-name players this offseason. But he is worried about a teammate who hasn’t exactly been helping his name lately.
With that in mind, Billups will fly Sunday to Las Vegas, where embattled guard JR Smith has relocated. Billups will spent the final three weeks of August working out with and mentoring Smith.
“We’ve got some talking to do,’’ Billups said in an interview with HoopsHype.com.
Smith last month spent 24 days in jail after pleading guilty to reckless driving in connection with a 2007 automobile accident in which a friend, Andre Bell, died.
More controversy surfaced after his release. The Denver Post reported there were posts on Smith’s Twitter page written in a way commonly associated with the Bloods street gang. It was reported that Smith, who since has shut down his Twitter page, wrote words with a “C’’ that were replaced with a “K’’ and, if the word contained both those letters, the “C’’ was removed.
“JR’s a work in progress,’’ Billups said. “I’m happy and proud of the progress that he’s made. But the latest thing with the Twitter. That’s immaturity. It’s immature. Those are mistakes that we’ve got to stop him from making. We’ve got to spend some time.’’
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/tom...ith-an-assist/