<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AUBURN HILLS, MICH. - Chauncey Billups, who didn't prove himself in the NBA until his fifth team (Minnesota) and only lately has become a star with his sixth (Detroit), could be considered something of a patron saint for players who need more than one chance. New Timberwolves guard Marcus Banks, like Billups, started his career with Boston and never gained traction there. Now he'll try again with Minnesota, and possibly stick with the Wolves longer than Billups' two seasons. "I think teams give up on guys too fast," Banks said before his team's game against Detroit on Wednesday night. "They draft them for what they've done in college. But when you come in young, there's a lot you have to learn. You basically have to have the right coach who's willing to sit down and teach you. Because you have the physical ability." Billups took another step toward first-time NBA All-Star status Wednesday when he was named Eastern Conference player of the month for January. He averaged 20.5 points and 8.7 assists. Banks hopes he doesn't knock around as long as Billups did, but he gives the Detroit point guard credit for never losing faith. "You do start to doubt yourself after you don't play a lot," said Banks, the No. 13 pick by the Celtics in 2003. "You think, 'Am I really fit for this?' or 'Am I going to be the player I was in college?' But you have to stay patient and use the summers to get better." Two sides of the story Wolves VP of basketball operations Kevin McHale sounded exasperated with Pistons coach Flip Saunders the other day, for what he said was less-than-full disclosure on the reasons Billups was allowed to leave the Wolves as a free agent in 2002. McHale felt that Saunders -- who wasn't sold on Billups' ability to run an offense back then -- blamed him and owner Glen Taylor for not making an offer to match Detroit's $36 million bid. But Saunders, without saying too much about his assessment of Billups' play back then, has defended the decision to let him go on financial grounds. And he did it again Wednesday night. "I am not washing my hands of anything," Saunders said. "We had a player who at that time was the third best point guard in the league [Terrell Brandon], and we were paying him over $10 million, and Chauncey didn't want to be a shooting guard. I couldn't guarantee Chauncey minutes. I told Chauncey that I would give him a chance to win the job in training camp, but Chauncey went a different rout."</div> Source
