Chauncey Billups says Ty Lawson no leader, Nuggets need to trade him

They’re trying, Chauncey. They’re trying.

Turns out Chauncey Billups — the former NBA All-Star and Denver Nugget point guard, now an analyst with ESPN — is no Ty Lawson fan. Not that there are a lot of them in Denver right now. Billups was on 104.3 The Fan in Denver Thursday and said it was time for the Nuggets to move on from the Lawson era (hat tip Eye on Basketball for the transcription):

I mean, well, one, Ty, he has not demonstrated what you want from the leader of your team and a guy who they’ve handed the keys to. He’s not demonstrated the kind of leadership that you want. And you have a young kid named [Emmanuel] Mudiay coming in who I think has a chance to be a star in this league. Right now the best player on the team is Ty Lawson. As a young player in the league, you come in 19-20 years old, you oftentimes try to emulate some of the actions on the floor and off the floor of the best player because that’s one day what you want to be. So I think just from the standpoint of the welfare of Mudiay and the well-being and the growth of Mudiay, you have to get Ty Lawson and you have to move him along.

The point about wanting good examples for Emmanuel Mudiay is a good one — and Lawson’s video after the Nuggets drafted Mudiay is a perfect example of why Denver would want to move him. Lawson had issues such as being late to a practice after the All-Star break, plus Denver had hoped he would be a leader and instead they had real chemistry issues with him in that role last year.

The problem is, Denver has tried to trade him. There just isn’t much of a market right now.

There were talks with the Dallas Mavericks, but those fizzled out, and Dallas now has Deron Williams in house. Denver has shopped Lawson around (as well as other players, they are ready for a roster shakeup) but have not found a deal worth their liking. The challenge is the league is deep with point guards right now so the options are limited — and the teams looking for point guards know that. It’s simple economics, there is more supply than demand.

But expect Denver to try hard to find Lawson a new home before the season starts. Something that would make Denver native Billups happy.