<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Chauncey Billups is in Maui, enjoying sun-drenched beaches and Hawaiian cuisine. It's his last gasp at time off before he returns to Detroit to prove Pistons players had more to do with consecutive NBA Finals runs than the public was willing to admit. He misses former coach Larry Brown and welcomes new coach Flip Saunders. Soon, however, Billups will meet with teammates and pass along the message that Brown is not the only reason the Pistons are an elite team. "Larry is great and made a difference on our team," Billups sad. "But I think we were great before he got here. We may have made the Finals the year before Larry got here, but I was injured. He came into a good situation and he made us better. It is going to be our chance to show we have a great team." Under Brown, the Pistons won the 2004 NBA title before returning to the Finals this year. They lost to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games. But Brown and the Pistons parted ways. He was hired as coach of the New York Knicks just days after Saunders accepted the Pistons' job. "I like Flip because Flip is an offensive-minded coach," said Billups, who played for Saunders in Minnesota. "He believes you have to execute on offense and play hard on the other end. When I heard he was going to be the next coach, I was excited because I know he would fit in very well with our team. "And no matter who the coach is, we are going to be defensive-minded because we have guys who instinctively play great defense. "We have struggled to score at times. We were scoring 80-85 points in a game, and that makes it tough to win unless you have guys who are great defensive players and we have that." Billups was a backup point guard on Saunders' Timberwolves teams from 2000-02. He disputes reports of a rocky relationship. But Brown and Billups often clashed during the transformation that turned Billups into an elite point guard. Billups complained about Brown's heavy hand, but he learned, got better and ended up being named MVP of the 2004 Finals. "I am definitely going to miss him." Billups said. "Everybody knows me and him had some rough times together because he is so tough on point guards. "I got better because of him. I can't say anything different. He was restrictive at times, but he gave me a lot of freedom. At the same time, he knew I had to give the team some of this and some of that. And I learned a lot because of him and his teachings. "Now I can take some of that and do it on my own." </div> Source
