On the verge of signing Billups, Mitchell said, Saunders sought counsel from Timberwolves players such as Mitchell, point guard Terrell Brandon and All-Star Kevin Garnett. Mitchell, Brandon and Garnett were confident that the newcomer would do well in Minneapolis, and Billups and Garnett were close friends dating back to their AAU days. The Timberwolves signed Billups to a three-year contract for the salary cap exception, paying $2.25 million in the first year. “Flip was like, ‘They say he’s selfish. They say he’s this, they say he’s that,’ ” Mitchell recalled. “And I said, ‘Flip, I don’t know him. But why don’t you give him a chance?’ So, when he got here, Chauncey told me that when he was in Boston, Toronto and Denver, they gave up on him as a point guard and they just told him just come in and try to score. So that’s what he did. “And then when he came to Minnesota, I said, ‘Dude, if you really want to learn how to play the position, and if you really want to change how people think of you, you see that guy right there, Terrell Brandon, watch everything he does and talk to him. He’s a pure point guard …’ Chauncey told me, ‘I want to play the position. No one has ever taught me the position.’ ”