Chauncey Billups wants to return, but he's also thinking about retirement

After Chauncey Billups underwent a successful arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last week, the team announced that he would be re-evaluated in a few weeks. The expectation was that he'd return before the end of the season. But, in talking about it, Billups sounded like a proud 37 year old growing old of weathering the bleak 2013-2014 storm [via MLIVE]:

"It all kind of depends how this feels and how things are with the knee," he said. "If the knee is fine, then sure, absolutely, I would like to come back. If it's not, I don't want to come back and do this. It's tough to do this, especially on a team when we're not a winning team at this stage." Billups said he hopes to return but he has to "just kind of see."

"I'm not gonna rush back. I do just want to get it better. But I hope so," he said, when asked if the objective is to return this year.

The truth is that even before the injury, he was a cold shadow of his former self. Perhaps the Pistons could use his three-point shooting, but the career 39-percent three-point shooter is hitting threes at only a 29-percent clip this season (though he was shooting 33 percent before he supposedly injured the knee). Billups, savvy ol' vet, is surely aware that even if he comes back this season, he may be not be used as often as he'd like, and that may not be how he wants to go out either:

Billups ... yet seemed to yield to the possibility that his career could be over late Monday after the Pistons lost 104-96 to the Golden State Warriors.

"Father Time is undefeated, man," Billups said.

Asked if that means he could lose the inevitable fight, Billups didn't bother playing it coy.

"My gas light is on," he said.

We're all running low on gas this season, and Billups needs a front office jacket.