Preseason Hoops: Isaiah Taylor
[caption id="attachment_22029" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Isaiah Taylor. (Will Gallagher/IT)[/caption]
Background: Isaiah Taylor
● 6-foot-1, 170-lb Point Guard
● The Village School (Houston, TX) via Hayward, CA
● Recruited by Rob Lanier
● Ranked as a 3* recruit, nationally
● Committed on January 4, 2013
● Averaged 12.7 pts, 3.3 rbs, 4.0 asts, 2.3 tos and 1.1 stls per game on 39/26/75% shooting as a freshman.
Strengths
Perhaps no one aspect of Texas’ year, last season, as adequately defines their resurgence to prominence as the emergence of freshman point guard, Isaiah Taylor.
It’s no secret that Rick Barnes’ led teams essentially must have a high level point guard to function capably on offense, and have one they did in the tall, slender point guard from Houston via the Oakland, CA area.
From his first game as Longhorn (a 17-point, 3-rebound, 2-assist win over eventual NCAA tournament team Mercer), Taylor expressed himself as a playmaker teams would have to deal with. He was fast. He was fearless. He was unfazed in his positivity. At his best, he was as fun to watch as any player in the country.
As much as anything, Taylor brought hope to a program that was grasping for it.
• Speed
Taylor plays at a pace only surpassed by TJ Ford at Texas over the last 15 years. He is what many people (writer included) had hoped Kabongo would be. Taylor excels at setting up the ball screen game with great patience and via the hesitation dribble (compare this to Felix who struggles with his timing and you have a tangible example of the difference between 2012-13 and 2013-14).
It’s that change of speed ability that makes him so lethal because he’s also very good at turning the corner against the hedge, which makes his willingness to attack the rim that much more lethal.
• Length and flexibility
Taylor’s body is ideal for a point guard but it extends beyond just his 6’1” frame. Isaiah has flexible hips and shoulders which allow for him to be aggressive in how he attacks the hedge, dribbles in traffic and can contort his body when finishing at the rim.
Taylor’s long arms also help in his extension as a defender (he became much more comfortable in guarding off the ball – the toughest aspect of learning to defend in college – as the season continued). He used that length to create more opportunities for turning offense to defense (17 of his 37 steals on the season came in the last 10 games of the year). And he’s got the quickness and length to be a solid rebounder for a point guard which helps Texas by getting the ball in the hands of their fastest player as they want to move quickly in transition.
• Intangibles
Both for himself and of himself Taylor brings a quality to the Longhorns that means more than his numbers. The amount of pressure a high level point guard can take off his team is difficult to quantify. Isaiah has the ability to turn the corner and attack the glass seemingly at will, which opens up scoring opportunities for himself (as a finisher) and others (on kick outs, dump offs and offensive rebounding).
That means easy points. And easy points make life easier on a team. Especially when Barnes is your coach.
Weaknesses
It would be easy to anoint Taylor as a special player given the turnaround of his team last year. And, to his credit, he has some special qualities.
However, he also has some significant issues that must be addressed as we head into the season if we’re going to be a team that truly contends as opposed to simply having another nice season, record wise.
• All-around games
Taylor put together some excellent performances last year, but rarely did he have a complete game where he was able to both score and create scoring for his teammates on the floor. Case in point, over the entire season, only six times in 35 games did Taylor contribute 10 or more points AND six or more assists. Not surprisingly, Texas was 5-1 in those games.
Now, if ten points and six assists seems like a high bar to have to hit, realize that, as freshmen, TJ Ford averaged 10.8 points and 8.3 assists and DJ Augustin averaged 14.4 points and 6.7 assists, meaning their averages for the season would have been some of Isaiah's very best games. Taylor, for all the good he did, averaged 4.0 assists last year. Not bad by any means, but extrapolated out over a season that’s, at a minimum, 301 less points than TJ helped create and 189 less points than DJ helped create.
Apples to apples? Not exactly. But Taylor simply was not at the level of either TJ or DJ last year.
Bigger numbers as a creator and more efficient scoring will be key towards Taylor taking the kind of step Longhorn fans hope for from him.
• Shooting percentages
It wasn’t surprising when Taylor struggled from beyond the arc (5-19 / 26% for the season), but shooting 39% on field goals inside the arc is not good, even for a player who only had four games with more than 14 field goal attempts last season.
Those numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story when you consider that oftentimes Isaiah has created points simply by getting to the rim and drawing the help defender (allowing Ridley/Ibeh/Holmes/Lammert to crash the second chance opportunities). Still, he could raise his shooting percentage up by five points and still be average.
The big question mark will be his three point shooting. And, similarly to Demarcus Holland, it’s not simply about his shooting percentage as it is his willingness to take that shot when it’s open. Hell, he shot as well, percentage wise, last year as TJ did in his Player of the Year season at Texas.
But 19 attempts isn’t going to cut it. Taylor has to both be in the 31-34% range while putting up between 65-80 threes for the season. In many cases, it’s more important that he shoots than it necessarily is that he makes them.
How to Best Utilize Taylor
The blueprint is there. Taylor can exceed…excel in the screen and role game.
Still, Texas saw issues surrounding Isaiah’s effectiveness in a similar manner to times when other UT point guards have had issues. Namely, when you surround a non-shooter with other non-shooters, particularly at the guard spot, a system is created that actively works against Isaiah’s strengths as a point guard.
Now, the good news for Taylor is that the lineup he figures to see the most action inside of has two capable shooters inside of it, Holmes and Turner. Both Turner and Holmes will be threats on step backs, slips and rolls. It will also help that Holland is a natural weakside player which will force his defender to travel a long ways to come as the help defender (it should also accentuate Holland’s ability to finish at the rim as a back door/cut mover). It will also help that Ridley’s understanding of screen angles is terrific to go along with his excellent hands.
Otherwise, you set him free and let him run on every possession.
Which we will.
The Endgame
I’ll go ahead and say it, Taylor wasn’t as good as some of the hype surrounding his season (not taking into consideration his high school hype, mind you) said he was.
It was Jekkyl and Hyde, honestly. In the loss at KState he shot 5-14 from the field and had four turnovers to one assist. In the loss at Kansas he shot 1-14 from the field. In the loss OU he shot 2-8. In the loss at Tech, he shot 1-10. In the NCAA loss he shot 8-22.
Well, that’s half the story. He was also arguably the best player on the floor in moments of each of those games.
Still, the difference between him and TJ, and him and DJ, was considerable. He is not at that level. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be really, really good.
I think he will be.
Best Case: 14.5 pts, 4 rbs, 6.5 asts, 1.5 stls on 45/30/75 shooting in 33 mpg.
Worst Case: 11.5 pts, 3 rb, 4.5 asts, 1 stl on 38/22/70 shooting in 28 mpg.
Isaiah Taylor. (Will Gallagher/IT)[/caption]
Background: Isaiah Taylor
● 6-foot-1, 170-lb Point Guard
● The Village School (Houston, TX) via Hayward, CA
● Recruited by Rob Lanier
● Ranked as a 3* recruit, nationally
● Committed on January 4, 2013
● Averaged 12.7 pts, 3.3 rbs, 4.0 asts, 2.3 tos and 1.1 stls per game on 39/26/75% shooting as a freshman.
Strengths
Perhaps no one aspect of Texas’ year, last season, as adequately defines their resurgence to prominence as the emergence of freshman point guard, Isaiah Taylor.
It’s no secret that Rick Barnes’ led teams essentially must have a high level point guard to function capably on offense, and have one they did in the tall, slender point guard from Houston via the Oakland, CA area.
From his first game as Longhorn (a 17-point, 3-rebound, 2-assist win over eventual NCAA tournament team Mercer), Taylor expressed himself as a playmaker teams would have to deal with. He was fast. He was fearless. He was unfazed in his positivity. At his best, he was as fun to watch as any player in the country.
As much as anything, Taylor brought hope to a program that was grasping for it.
• Speed
Taylor plays at a pace only surpassed by TJ Ford at Texas over the last 15 years. He is what many people (writer included) had hoped Kabongo would be. Taylor excels at setting up the ball screen game with great patience and via the hesitation dribble (compare this to Felix who struggles with his timing and you have a tangible example of the difference between 2012-13 and 2013-14).
It’s that change of speed ability that makes him so lethal because he’s also very good at turning the corner against the hedge, which makes his willingness to attack the rim that much more lethal.
• Length and flexibility
Taylor’s body is ideal for a point guard but it extends beyond just his 6’1” frame. Isaiah has flexible hips and shoulders which allow for him to be aggressive in how he attacks the hedge, dribbles in traffic and can contort his body when finishing at the rim.
Taylor’s long arms also help in his extension as a defender (he became much more comfortable in guarding off the ball – the toughest aspect of learning to defend in college – as the season continued). He used that length to create more opportunities for turning offense to defense (17 of his 37 steals on the season came in the last 10 games of the year). And he’s got the quickness and length to be a solid rebounder for a point guard which helps Texas by getting the ball in the hands of their fastest player as they want to move quickly in transition.
• Intangibles
Both for himself and of himself Taylor brings a quality to the Longhorns that means more than his numbers. The amount of pressure a high level point guard can take off his team is difficult to quantify. Isaiah has the ability to turn the corner and attack the glass seemingly at will, which opens up scoring opportunities for himself (as a finisher) and others (on kick outs, dump offs and offensive rebounding).
That means easy points. And easy points make life easier on a team. Especially when Barnes is your coach.
Weaknesses
It would be easy to anoint Taylor as a special player given the turnaround of his team last year. And, to his credit, he has some special qualities.
However, he also has some significant issues that must be addressed as we head into the season if we’re going to be a team that truly contends as opposed to simply having another nice season, record wise.
• All-around games
Taylor put together some excellent performances last year, but rarely did he have a complete game where he was able to both score and create scoring for his teammates on the floor. Case in point, over the entire season, only six times in 35 games did Taylor contribute 10 or more points AND six or more assists. Not surprisingly, Texas was 5-1 in those games.
Now, if ten points and six assists seems like a high bar to have to hit, realize that, as freshmen, TJ Ford averaged 10.8 points and 8.3 assists and DJ Augustin averaged 14.4 points and 6.7 assists, meaning their averages for the season would have been some of Isaiah's very best games. Taylor, for all the good he did, averaged 4.0 assists last year. Not bad by any means, but extrapolated out over a season that’s, at a minimum, 301 less points than TJ helped create and 189 less points than DJ helped create.
Apples to apples? Not exactly. But Taylor simply was not at the level of either TJ or DJ last year.
Bigger numbers as a creator and more efficient scoring will be key towards Taylor taking the kind of step Longhorn fans hope for from him.
• Shooting percentages
It wasn’t surprising when Taylor struggled from beyond the arc (5-19 / 26% for the season), but shooting 39% on field goals inside the arc is not good, even for a player who only had four games with more than 14 field goal attempts last season.
Those numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story when you consider that oftentimes Isaiah has created points simply by getting to the rim and drawing the help defender (allowing Ridley/Ibeh/Holmes/Lammert to crash the second chance opportunities). Still, he could raise his shooting percentage up by five points and still be average.
The big question mark will be his three point shooting. And, similarly to Demarcus Holland, it’s not simply about his shooting percentage as it is his willingness to take that shot when it’s open. Hell, he shot as well, percentage wise, last year as TJ did in his Player of the Year season at Texas.
But 19 attempts isn’t going to cut it. Taylor has to both be in the 31-34% range while putting up between 65-80 threes for the season. In many cases, it’s more important that he shoots than it necessarily is that he makes them.
How to Best Utilize Taylor
The blueprint is there. Taylor can exceed…excel in the screen and role game.
Still, Texas saw issues surrounding Isaiah’s effectiveness in a similar manner to times when other UT point guards have had issues. Namely, when you surround a non-shooter with other non-shooters, particularly at the guard spot, a system is created that actively works against Isaiah’s strengths as a point guard.
Now, the good news for Taylor is that the lineup he figures to see the most action inside of has two capable shooters inside of it, Holmes and Turner. Both Turner and Holmes will be threats on step backs, slips and rolls. It will also help that Holland is a natural weakside player which will force his defender to travel a long ways to come as the help defender (it should also accentuate Holland’s ability to finish at the rim as a back door/cut mover). It will also help that Ridley’s understanding of screen angles is terrific to go along with his excellent hands.
Otherwise, you set him free and let him run on every possession.
Which we will.
The Endgame
I’ll go ahead and say it, Taylor wasn’t as good as some of the hype surrounding his season (not taking into consideration his high school hype, mind you) said he was.
It was Jekkyl and Hyde, honestly. In the loss at KState he shot 5-14 from the field and had four turnovers to one assist. In the loss at Kansas he shot 1-14 from the field. In the loss OU he shot 2-8. In the loss at Tech, he shot 1-10. In the NCAA loss he shot 8-22.
Well, that’s half the story. He was also arguably the best player on the floor in moments of each of those games.
Still, the difference between him and TJ, and him and DJ, was considerable. He is not at that level. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be really, really good.
I think he will be.
Best Case: 14.5 pts, 4 rbs, 6.5 asts, 1.5 stls on 45/30/75 shooting in 33 mpg.
Worst Case: 11.5 pts, 3 rb, 4.5 asts, 1 stl on 38/22/70 shooting in 28 mpg.
