Ex-Cyclone Taylor D-veloping new path to NBA

June 2, 2008

By Gary Parrish

CBSSports.com Senior Writer

I have found hope for Derrick Caracter.

His name is Mike Taylor, and he was on the third court at The Milk House in the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex last week, shooting jumper after jumper long after most of the other participants at the NBA Pre-Draft Camp had abandoned the gym for their room at the glamorous Hyatt Grand Cypress.

He was working, diligently and hard. And it was the first time I had seen Taylor since the day I figured I had seen him for the last time. You know, that day last July when he was dismissed from Iowa State and by extension the consciousness of college basketball and college basketball writers.

"I thought I was finished," Taylor said. "Far as the NBA, I thought it was over."

But it wasn't.

That's the remarkable thing.

And why Caracter should pay attention.

Taylor signed with the Idaho Stampede and averaged 14.5 points per game this past season. He was a key component of the D-League champions. But because he left Iowa State after last year's NBA Draft and thus wasn't eligible to be selected in 2007, Taylor is available for this month's NBA Draft, which is why he was invited to the NBA Pre-Draft Camp in Orlando despite already being a professional. And guess what: He looked like a professional, like a guy completely comfortable in the setting, like a guy who understood what to do and when to do it.

"Mike Taylor is the best player here," read the text message from a coach in the stands watching Thursday night as Taylor got 24 points on 12 shots. "This is going to start a trend of guys leaving early and going to the D-League to prepare, I think."

Which brings me back to Caracter, that knucklehead from Louisville.

Once considered the best player his age, Caracter has spent the past few years wasting more talent than Amy Winehouse while former classmates Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Kevin Durant, Thaddeus Young, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Darrell Arthur, Ty Lawson, D.J. Augustin and Russell Westbrook -- just to name a few -- have flourished. It has been sad to watch from a distance and impossible to deal with up close, proof being how Louisville coach Rick Pitino basically pushed Caracter out of the Cardinals program, his value as a player no longer high enough to make his off-the-court issues worth the headache.

The smart money has Caracter finished as a legitimate prospect.

If you're betting, bet that way.

But it should be noted that for all Caracter's problems, Taylor's issues were probably greater considering he was repeatedly arrested (for theft, criminal mischief, etc.) while at Iowa State. That's what led to his dismissal.

But rather than disappear forever as a relevant basketball player, Taylor landed in the D-League, seemingly matured, avoided trouble and reinvented himself as a serious prospect before showing up at the Pre-Draft Camp looking better prepared than anybody.

Credit his 39 games in the D-League as the reason.

"In the D-League you get used to playing the NBA style and you get used to playing against a higher-caliber player, guys who have been in the professional game or overseas," Taylor explained. "You're playing against a higher-caliber player than just a regular college player, and it helped me a lot at the Pre-Draft Camp, just the familiarity with everything we did.”

"All the drills we went through are drills I'm familiar with. All the sets we did were basically the sets we had in Idaho. So everything was familiar, from the biggest things to the littlest things, like defending the sets we were going through.”

"The drills at the Pre-Draft Camp were like a walkthrough before a game in the D-League. I've defended those plays and sets every day in the D-League. So I didn't have to worry about whether I should be in this spot or that spot or memorize the plays like the other guys did. I already knew them. That helped."

And it showed.

"Just being around somebody like (veteran point guard) Randy Livingston in Idaho and learning from him was a great thing for Mike," said Curtis Weathers, Taylor's former AAU coach.

"Plus, that's all he's been doing is playing basketball. He's spent more hours a week (than the average college player over the past year) shooting and learning. It's been his job. And I know for a fact that it helped him at the Pre-Draft Camp."

Consider that before the Pre-Draft Camp, Taylor said he had "a few" NBA teams interested.

Now, the number is around 15.

"The way I've gone about this is definitely unconventional," Taylor said. "I'm like the founder of this way to get to the NBA."

A regular Christopher Columbus, he is.

So if you're reading this, Derrick Caracter, it's clear you still have a chance.

Go to the D-League.

Grow up.

Stop being stupid.

Start being productive.

Put a Mike Taylor poster on your wall.

And try to follow his unconventional path, one step at a time.