KEY QUOTES FROM NOV. 6 BILLUPS PRESS CONFERENCE:

Nuggets Head Coach George Karl:
“On behalf of Kroenke Sports, we’d like to introduce Chauncey Billups, who’s been here before. From the standpoint of the coaching staff and the basketball team, it’s a very unique opportunity to bring in a player who is an All-NBA-type player back to his city, where he is loved and respected. He hangs out with us in the summer time, gives us all types of grief about not winning championships, so now we give you grief to win a championship. Chauncey, welcome to Denver and we’re looking forward to having a lot of fun wins and hopefully some of those Eastern Conference and Western Conference battles that you had in Detroit.”

Nuggets Guard Chauncey Billups:
“First, I just want to say that I am extremely happy to be home. It’s a dream for me to be coming back home in a time of my career where I’ve really established who I’ve always wanted to be. The time that I was here before this, I was still trying to find myself in my career. It’s a little different now, I’ve done that, I’m a different player now; same person, different player. I look forward to trying to lead the charge and do the best I can, and trying to one day bring a championship to this town. Everybody knows that I have a lot of pride with Denver, and being able to now have that ‘Denver’ across my chest just makes me feel good; I’m happy about that, very happy about that.”

Nuggets Head Coach George Karl:
“I think from a coaching standpoint, since we made the A.I. trade and the experiment, we have lacked an orchestrator of the team, a leader of the team, a guy that makes good decisions for the team. I remember the two years that I was [not coaching], I was in Detroit hanging out when they won the championship with Larry Brown. Chauncey and I talked then and it was incredible. I don’t know what the word is, but his "dignity" to the game; the respect that he has to every game he plays. From a coaching standpoint, we have a leader, an orchestrator, we have a guy that can defend, a guy that can help us space the court. We also have a lot of young players that need that guidance and need that direction.

"Our next step has been to win in the playoffs and anybody who has been in the Eastern Conference championships six years in a row, knows how to win in the playoffs.

"I think it’s the beginning of a new, refreshing experiment of having a point guard. I remember my first coaching job was in Great Falls, Montana, when I was coaching in the CBA. I had a junior college coach who was my assistant coach, he’s about 65 years old, and we were talking about who we should get in to run the team. He said, ‘Coach, go get a point guard. Go get the best point guard and you’ll win a lot of games.’ That’s kind of been my forte and my belief, and I think I have one of the best in the NBA now; and I think it’s going to be a great run.”

Billups On When He Found Out About the Trade:
“I found out the other day when I was in Charlotte. I found out that day from my agent Andy [Miller] who I work so closely with. Whether it’s good or bad, he’s going to let me know what’s going on at all times, and I love him for that. But that’s when I found out.

"When you’re somewhere for so long and you’ve experienced the kind of success that we had, it’s going to be kind of bittersweet. Those guys on that team are not just my friends, I feel like they’re my brothers; I’ve been with them for so long, been through so many wars. But on the other hand, I was just happy because I’m coming home. To play at home in front of my mom and dad, my grandparents, my friends and family, and just everybody again; being able to play in front of them at a different stage in my life and my career just makes me extremely happy."

Billups On If He Has Spoken With Antonio McDyess:
“Dice is one of my brothers, like I said, and I have had some conversations with Dice. I don’t want people to get him confused, because I heard a few people say that he doesn’t like Denver or he didn’t like Denver. Dice loves Denver; I think you all know that, he chose to come back here twice. You don’t come back to a city twice on your on will if you don’t like that city. He loves Denver, he loves the organization, and things like that. He’s in a position where he has a decision to make. He’s in the latter part of his career and he’s tired of moving, he’s tired of being in these kinds of situations. So it’s up to him and I’m going to support him, whichever way he goes. I would love to have [him], he means a lot to me. When I was here the first time, he was one of the guys that really taught me a lot and helped me through my struggles. I would love to be here and play with [him] again, but I’m going to let him make that decision on his own.”

Billups On How He Can Help the Team:
“I think that I can have a great effect on most of the young guys on this team. This team is talented, very talented; they can score the ball with anybody in the league. I think defensively they have a number of shot-blockers, so I’ll be able to pressure guys and feed them to the baseline to the big dogs, to block shots and then get out on the break. There’s a lot of potential on this team. One of the things that I’ve seen just watching the team before the trade and last night is that a lot of times some of the players lack self-discipline out there, as far as bad shot selection and turning the ball over. I think it’s really a thin line when you want to run and gun, because you still have to take care of the ball and get stops; it’s hard, it’s extremely hard. I’ve played in slow-down system for the last five or six years, so I’m excited to show people that I can play in any system.”

Billups On If He is Concerned About Winning Over Teammates:
"That’s not something that you try to do. I’m coming to work and I’m coming to win; if guys want to win, they’re going to fall in line. That’s all I play for, that’s the only reason I play, is to win. I think a lot of the guys that are here know that; I know them personally. There’s really not anybody on the team that I don’t know. So I don’t think that’s something that you come in and try to do; you come in and try to win games and then they’ll respect you as you go on. You really can’t force or push that. I’m older now, I’m more responsible. And things like that, I don’t see it as too much pressure; I’m coming in and doing something that I’ve always done since I’ve been playing the game. It’s not like I’m trying to recreate something or do something that I haven’t done before, so I feel comfortable with my role and what I’m going to try and do for the team.”

Billups On If He is Home for Good:
“I hope so, my wife was talking the last few days and we hope this is our last move. I’m always going to be a Denver boy. I’m going to be here and give every single thing that I have to this team and to this organization, as I did in Detroit. I gave my heart and soul to that city and to that organization, and I intend on doing the exact same thing with this organization.”

Billups On How Long He Wants to Keep Playing:
“As long as I am healthy and I am able to be effective out there; I want to play. I’m not going to put an age on that, because you never know from year-to-year how your body is going to feel, God forbid anything happens. My game is not a game that is speed or jumping. My game is methodical; it’s being a good shooter, it’s making good decisions. So, with that being said, I can play a long time if I am healthy. I’m not going to lose a step, lose some off of my vertical; I haven’t dunked in 10 years!”

Billups On How Big of a Factor His Shoulder Injury Was During His First Stint in Denver:
“That was a disappointing time for me. My first year was the lockout year and then the following year we had brought in some good players. We had a lot of anticipation for a good season. I think I played in maybe eight games, tore my shoulder up and I was out for the year, and that was my free agent season. That was tough, but those kinds of experiences really shaped me in to the person and player that I am now.”

Billups On Why He Chose to Wear #7:
“It’s funny, because my favorite number has always been number four; that’s gone, K-Mart (Kenyon Martin) has that. Then I wore number one (in Detroit), because Joe Dumars' number four was retired. Over the last few days while I was sitting back packing in Detroit, Eric Sebastian (Director, Media Relations) and Sparky (Gonzales, Equipment Manager) kept calling me, asking me what number I was going to wear and I didn’t know. As I continued to think, it just came to me, and I just started thinking about me coming home and what a wonderful opportunity it could be. I thought about how John Elway ended his career and the legacy that he left on this city; it just created a lot of motivation and inspiration for me. So I said that I’m going to wear that number and try to wear it proud for a while, and hopefully we’ll get lucky and the same things can happen.”

Karl On What the Team Needs to Do Better:
“Our team right now is in an offensive funk. We pushed the line on the shot selection last night to the point where 10 or 15 shots were basically turnovers, even though it doesn’t go in the turnover column, the shot basically is a turnover. We can’t put that total responsibility on Chauncey coming in here and cleaning it up, everybody has to be more respectful to the team and be unselfish in their discipline to get good shots. I have to do a better job of orchestrating and helping the point guards orchestrate. We spent 75 percent of our camp on defense this year, I think that has shown, but the lack of offensive emphasis has also shown too.”

Karl On If He is a Better Coach Because of the Trade:
“When you’re 1-3, you’re looking to be anything better; but I think so. Just the feel of everything, the spirit of the trade, there is an energy to it. We didn’t fulfill what we wanted to do with a win [against Golden State] and make the energy even more. The team has kind of an inner-confidence right now and they know that Chauncey is a great player. We haven’t put the pieces in the puzzle together, but it is definitely going to be a lot easier with an all-star point guard, an NBA first-team point guard. As he says, he does it with a control and that is pretty classy.”