Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups revealed that he is "proud" of how the NBA operates in terms of hiring minority coaches compared to the NFL.
"I'm really just kind of so proud of our league, to be honest with you," Billups said prior to Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers. "I think we're light-years ahead of where any other league is. I'm really proud of it, and I think a lot of it has to do with our players and our union, they've been pretty aggressive about what needs to happen."
Billups is one of six Black head coaches that was hired in the NBA's last round head-coaching vacancies during this past offseason. The Trail Blazers coach weighed in on the league's hiring process following former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores' lawsuit against NFL alleging racially-motivated hiring practices.
The Dolphins fired Flores last month despite the fact that he nearly led the franchise to the playoffs. The New York Giants had scheduled an interview with Flores for the team's head-coaching vacancy and Flores accepted that invitation. Shortly after that, Flores got a text message from New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who informed Flores that the Giants already decided to hire former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll instead.
In Flores' lawsuit against the NFL, he called the interview process a "sham," and saying that he was just interviewed to satisfy the league's Rooney Rule.
Billups stated that he is not the biggest fan of the Rooney Rule and it hasn't made the strides that many thought it would when it was introduced in 2003.
"I'll be honest with you: I'm not -- it probably sounds crazy -- but I'm not really a big fan of the Rooney Rule," Billups added. "I think they're just making you interview a Black candidate, but if that Black candidate don't really have a chance, don't interview him.
"So, I think it just gives you a check-the-box in the situation, and I don't think that's fair. But for some reason they thought that that rule was going to be the great equalizer and it's not. It's not. So I'm not crazy about that rule and a couple other things in the NFL, but I'm blessed to be in the NBA."
Currently, the NFL has just one Black head coach in Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin while the NBA has 14 Black head coaches.