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DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said NBA players and coaches have to be mindful of conversations they have with people outside their organizations that may have gambling implications.
“It’s a scary situation,” Bickerstaff said Sunday before Detroit’s home opener against the Boston Celtics. “The information that our guys have, just natural things that happen through a shootaround or through a practice that might be a casual conversation at home or wherever it may be, that information has been monetized now. You have to be extremely careful. We’ve had a ton of conversations about our guys about that, and just how sensitive it is.
“When you get in bed with sports betting and gambling, there’s a lot of things that come with it,” Bickerstaff added. “All money ain’t good money.”
The NBA’s gambling scandal has been a hot topic in Detroit, where Chauncey Billups helped the Pistons win the 2004 title as NBA Finals MVP and had the most successful stint of his Basketball Hall of Fame career.
Billups, who was placed as leave as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was one of 31 people arrested last week on charges of participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes poker games with ties to three Mafia families.
He also matches the credentials of someone described only as Co-Conspirator 8 in an indictment detailing how some people gave bettors inside information on player health statuses.
The 49-year-old Billups was arrested at his home in Oregon before dawn last Thursday, just hours after the Trail Blazers lost their season opener at home to Minnesota.
“He is a friend of mine. I’ve known him since I was in seventh grade,” Bickerstaff said. “I care about him immensely, and I hate to see what he’s going through right now. As a friend, as a human, I am here to support him and be there for him in any way that he needs me to be.
“I think everyone needs to allow due process to happen, and then obviously judgments can be made. You feel for anyone you’ve known and have a relationship with and know his family well. I know he’s going through it. It’s a difficult time for him.”
Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier were among those arrested last Thursday for what federal law enforcement officials described as their involvement in various illicit gambling activities.
Billups appeared before a judge in Oregon and was released from custody on conditions. His attorney, Chris Heywood, denied the allegations and called his client a “man of integrity,” in a statement last week evening.
“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom,” Heywood said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
