There may not be a bigger testament to Mike Taylor’s worth than the emotional response elicited from fans and teammates upon hearing the news late Friday night. No one seemed more hurt by the news than Taylor’s best friend on the team, DeAndre Jordan, who briefly commented via Twitter. DeAndre is clearly upset (s.m.h means ’shaking my head’) that Taylor is no longer on the team, and as of right now he’s probably not the happiest Clipper.
If you’re able to take the emotion out of it, Taylor’s release becomes a little easier to understand. If the decision was based purely on basketball talent and raw potential alone, Taylor surely would have stayed over a few other Clippers. This move was purely a financial decision, as Taylor’s contract was non-guaranteed and saved the Clippers $736,420 dollars and a much desired roster space. Ricky Davis and Mark Madsen likely stayed because they would have had to been bought out, something that Sterling is likely not in favor of doing. In addition, both Davis and Madsen’s contracts expire this year, so their deals have additional trading value that Taylor’s did not. Lastly, by releasing Taylor the number of signed players goes down to 13, giving Dunleavy one extra spot to reach his standard 14 man roster.
In hindsight, it’s hard to expect more than what Taylor gave the Clippers last season. Taylor not only beat out veteran Jason Hart for the primary backup point guard role as a rookie, but he also performed admirably when Baron Davis went down late last season. He was prone to turnovers and off games, but the flashes of potential he showed largely outweighed the mistakes.
Perhaps the most confusing thing about Taylor being released has more to do with how he was acquired. Taylor was originally drafted last year by the Trailblazers, but the Clippers ended up acquiring Taylor for a 2009 second rounder. Dunleavy and company had to have known what they were getting themselves into by drafting a player out of the NBDL, as Taylor would obviously require great patience. Instead, despite his overall impressive performances, Taylor was given only his rookie season to develop . It’s hard to believe the theory that Taylor played his way out of a job by performing poorly in 5 summer league games, as his fate seemed to be decided long before.
The most troubling thing about Taylor’s release is the possible indication that the franchise isn’t as willing to be as patient with it’s young core as it probably should. Trading for draft picks with an eye towards the future is good; releasing them after a mostly successful year is not. You’d like to believe that management could have found a way to keep a 23 year old prospect amidst some of the dead weight on the current roster, regardless of the previously outlined circumstances. Before casting too much judgment though, let’s wait and see what is done with those expiring contracts and empty roster slot.
There is one thing this move definitely signifies: The Clippers aren’t done making moves quite yet.
18 Responses
just face it…the Clippers are the Clippers for a reason…
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Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Seriously. Unless they sign sessions this is a bad move. But the dunfather has been rolling this offseason. I’ll wait for the final moves.
But man does this suck. Taylor was a fan fave. I know he’ll go somewhere and produce
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Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 9:50 pm
I’m not too sad he is gone. it does save some money and opens up a roster spot that needs to be filled than b/u PG at the moment. The worrisome for me is echoed towards the end because having Dunleavy in control as coach & GM he knows he has to put up or shut up now or never (hopefully Sterling will fire him even with 1 year left on his contract and pull a Bill Fitch). Last year Dunleavy was apparently facing the gun and look at all the changes to the roster then with more than half of the team new. Sadly a good man in Elgin Baylor was hit and fired. Dunleavy likes big roster shake-ups when things don’t go right, all I know is he definitely can not use team chemistry as an excuse again this year the way he did last year, it’s his team alone.
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Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Of all the offseason moves this is the worst. As it was mentioned, the lack of patience is worrisome, especially for a player from the DL. So basically we gave up our #31 pick this year for…nothing. Not the end of the world, though it hurts me to see Taylor gone with some of the deadweight (R davis) still around. But hey, I guess $ talks.
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Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Losing Mike Taylor is like when we let “The Duke” Earl Boykins go. He was a fan fave and shorter than Sean Marks’ youngest boy but he doesn’t make or break the team now or in the future. Did anybody seriously see Mike Taylor as the starting PG next year, or the year after? There is so much clamor for Sessions, even before the release so why all the hurt feelings for a 3rd string PG?
on another note, lakers released Sun Yue, 6-9 back-up SG?
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Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Sorry, Mike Taylor was awful in general. When you talk about a 3-5 game stretch as his “upside”, then perspective comes into play.
I saw Mike Taylor last year in the summer league, and he did whatever he wanted. Like Roddy the Maverick this year — penetrate at will, shoot a high percentage, and create for teammates.
Unfortunately, Taylor was awful this summer — entitled with turnovers more frequent than positive plays. Not assists, just anything good. It’s about understanding your role. With a bunch of NBA rotation guys, be steady. Mclarney did that.
Instead, Taylor went for big play after big play, and came up short. I am sure he will play in the NBA again, and maybe with the Clips. But he played himself out of the Clipshow, and no tears should be shed for a Dominique All star.
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Posted on August 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Sorry, DJ, don’t agree with a number of things you’ve put here.
Firstly, flashes of potential largely outweighed his mistakes? Not really. Yes, he’s got hops. Yes, he and DJ developed a nice little play with the put the ball up for the alley oop when the backups were on the floor and yes, he’s damn quick. But he’s IQ for a PG was in doubt in my opinion. Didn’t make the rest of the players on the floor any better, didn’t give them good looks and turned the ball over far too often. I don’t think those flashes outweighed that.
And yes, the Summer League is a big part also. If you’ve got a player who should have progressed in his rookie year after getting some significant playing minutes (thanks to JH being useless), you’d expect him to start showing this progress in the Summer League. To play as badly as he did would have just made them realise he is expendable. If he had played really well in the summer league, do you think this would be the result. I don’t think so.
What would he have contributed this year though? Telfair is going to be our backup (unless there are any more moves made) and he’s still a young player. At some point, we’ve got to get away from this constant bringing on of yound players, realise our roster has already got enough very good young players to develop already as our core (Blake, Eric, Thornton, Telfair, DJ) and move forward with those.
It’s not a big loss, the biggest is the temporary downside on team chemistry but if we start winning with our current roster, that’ll soon be forgotten.
And it doesn’t matter that Mike may have contributed more than Madsen or RDavis. In this day of the economics based NBA, their expiring deals are far more important than a 3rd string PG who doesn’t seem to be pushing his potential.
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D.J. Foster Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I think that a player like Taylor requires a lot of patience. You’re right- he didn’t fully “get it” as a point guard, but I think that might have came with time.
I think Taylor could have contributed as a change of pace guard behind Baron and Telfair. Given Baron’s injury history, I think it’s important to have another guy who can fill in at point other than Bassy.
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ClipsUK Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Maybe it could have come with time but we are pushing forward now. If we didn’t have the “dead” contracts of Ricky and Madsen then maybe we could have kept him. By that I mean that whilst the are useful to us as expiring deals, their on-the-floor contributions are going to be minimal so we have 2 roster spots filled by them.
Really though, if he can hit 35 against the Knicks and then play like that in the SL, you’ve got to have serious doubts over him.
A change of pace is good if it raises the tempo but isn’t detrimental to the team in other ways I.e. Turnovers. I think Telfair can bring this and Mardy can cover as 3rd choice. Your thoughts on that idea?
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D.J. Foster Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Oh, I definitely had my doubts about him. I just thought it was a little early to be giving up on him considering his potential, but I understand why it had to be done.
I think Mardy is a crucial player on this team right now. He may be the best individual wing defender, and he offers some versatility because of his size. Playing him at point guard isn’t ideal, but for right now that looks like the most likely scenario.
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ClipsUK Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I agree but it doesn’t say a lot for our depth when Mardy is our best backup at the wings. He’s useful, like you said for his flexibility but that goes against him as we aren’t sure was his best role is so he’ll only get low minutes. Also cos he’s not that good ha ha ha
Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 5:41 am
I’m not that sad he is gone, for one he is just an undersized SG he can’t play point to save his life (except for throwing lobs and even I could do that with a bit of practice). Yes he was fun to watch but if you watched summer league you could see he can’t control a team and doesn’t know how to slow it down and set up an offense. This is not a pure economical move this is a move to open up a roster space so that we can bring back both Novak and Jones and maybe even bring in Sessions. And face it Taylor wasn’t going to get much playing time behind Baron,Telfair,and possibly Sessions. So we might as well let him develop else where. I really do hope for the best for him but unless he learns to slow down he won’t be going any where.
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Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 8:54 am
Taylor didn’t play his way out of the league this summer, he failed to play his way in. He gave his supporters within the team no ammunition with which to defend him.
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Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 10:35 am
Lets face it he was a nice back up PG at best not even good I honestly think Mardy Collins did a better job as a PG last year hopefully we bring in someone with more talent as for R. Davis and M. Madsen I hope they trade or cut or just dont play Madsen and Ricky could hopefully have a bounce back year for those of you who dont know and keep talking bad about him R. Davis could very easily be the difference on our team hes an Eddie House like player that when he gets hot he can end up with 20+pts in a game he wont average this the whole year but any games where he gets hot combined with the talen we already have and those games will be automatic W’s lets hope he can do that in about 8-10 games and we could easily be at around 49 wins by the end of the year.
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Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
Out topic
Check out SLAM presents the NBA’s Top 100 dunks of 2008-2009 on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ziyvWpY5Nc&feature=related (100-70)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=engthsem1XA&feature=related (69-47)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IHus-Ow-EE&feature=related (46-26)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ux-gjZS4fE&feature=related (1-25)
Guess who is No.1 dunk of the year
enjoy
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Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 am
Kevin I respect you opinion greatly and you’re a strong writer, but please this is ridiculous. Taylor was NOT that good a point guard an would have been out of the league (and will be even if he’s picked up) within 3-4 years. His defensive and leadership deficiences (sp) do not make up for his offensive skills. And let’s be clear, we’re still talking about a guard whose shooting touch was woefully inconsistent, even when he was able to start or receive more playing timewith Baron injured. The fact he has a track record from the NBDL is precisely why he was probably let go. Over two years if you haven’t seen substantial growth that tells you one big thing: this player isn’t going to change. I’m sure he’s a great guy — shoot, Luke Jackson seemed like a great guy — but that doesn’t mean he’s worth a roster spot on the team. Is this partially a financial decision? Sure, but are we talking about a player who was going to amount to even 3 more wins in a season? Honestly, I don’t think so. Much ado about nothing to me.
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Clipper Derrick Reply:
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
KA didn’t write this post. DJ did.
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Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:51 am
According to the NY Post today Sessions might sign with the Nicks
Last updated: 12:21 pm
August 3, 2009
Posted: 2:11 am
August 3, 2009
The Knicks’ tango with Ramon Sessions could wrap up tomorrow, according to his agent.
KNICKS BLOG
BACK PAGE: MARBURY’S INTERNET DISASTER
Chubby Wells, agent for the young Bucks point guard, told The Post yesterday Sessions could accept a Knicks offer either today or tomorrow.
“We’ve been playing footsie with the Knicks the last two weeks,” Wells said. “I’m sure we’ll clarify something in the next couple days with the Knicks or another team and figure out what’s going on.”
The Clippers, who waived guard Mike Taylor, are the other team
involved, but the Knicks appear to be the frontrunners because they are able to offer Sessions a starting role.
In a nutshell, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni is lobbying to sign
Sessions, 23, but team president Donnie Walsh is concerned a long-term deal starting at the mid-level exception of $5.8 million will compromise the Knicks’ 2010 salary cap space, even though free-agent forward David Lee could be headed for a one-year pact.
According to a source, Walsh wants to sign Sessions to a long-term deal starting at less than $5.8 million so that his 2010-2011 cap number will be less than $6 million. The source said a number of proposals have been discussed, including a one-year contract.
The Bucks, tapped out financially because of luxury-tax concerns and content with rookie point guard Brandon Jennings, are not expected to match an offer for Sessions, a former second-round pick.
The Knicks’ interest in un-retired point guard Jason Williams, whom they will work out this week, has no effect on the Sessions pursuit. Williams is a cheaper alternative if they can’t re-sign Nate Robinson for one year.
marc.berman@nypost.com
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Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
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