Chauncey is No. 15

As previously mentioned, my FanHouse colleague Tom Ziller is ranking the top 50 players in the NBA. Today, Chauncey Billups comes in at No. 15:

As we've established, few slashers keep their handle as tidy as Billups. Chauncey had a strong 56.6% shooting percentage around the basket. His strength allows him to succeed at the rim. But, of course, as we mentioned in the first sentence: he can hit the bomb. He takes a ton of threes (he's top 25 all-time in total makes and attempts) and he's at 38.5% for his career, good for #55 all-time. It's the perfect diversified offense for a guard: get lots of free throws, take most of your two-pointers around the rim, make a lot of threes. You avoid lower-percentage, lower-reward long twos which kill most teams while getting efficient production. (Speaking of efficient: Billups' True Shooting percentage has been 59% or higher in each of the past four seasons ... that's 50 points higher than that of the average NBA player.)

And of course, he's a point guard on one of the winningest teams of the decade. His assist numbers won't lead the league, but adjust for minutes and pace and he's up there with the finest distributors. His steal numbers are decent, but that's an insult to his excellent overall defensive skills. His strength's an asset here, too: he can corral opposing speedsters into the trap Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince create in the paint and cause problems for impending screen-rolls.