The Education of Jermaine Taylor

Rockets' rookie learning on the go

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - Jermaine Taylor is learning.

Every minute of every practice. Every second of every scrimmage. And every moment of every game. Each presents an opportunity for him to absorb and digest new lessons and right now Taylor is taking it all in with the gusto of a starving man whose appetite simply cannot be sated. Sure, he’s been playing basketball all his life but, in a way, he now finds himself playing a brand new game.

You see, for as far back as he can remember, Taylor has been asked to put his teammates on his sculpted shoulders and carry the load offensively and, more often that not, he has risen to meet that challenge. During his senior year at the University of Central Florida, Taylor ranked third in the nation in scoring while averaging 26.2 points per game; all while facing the full force of each opponent’s singular focus toward shutting him down. He left UCF as the school’s career scoring leader at the Division I level and Conference USA’s Player of the Year.

Yet neither of those tremendous achievements will have any bearing on whether he succeeds in Houston. The rules and responsibilities are different now. So, too, is the challenge which awaits him. No longer is he being asked to carry the load. There’s a new role to learn and a new style to embrace. And while some might find such a stark departure from their comfort zone off-putting, Taylor welcomes this new opportunity with open arms.

“It’s actually like a relief,” he says. “Ever since I’ve been playing basketball, that’s how it’s been – I’ve always been the main guy having to do everything. Now I’ve got guys around me who are better than me, so it’s like a whole bunch of pressure’s been taken off me. I don’t have to go out and score for us to win and in college that’s just how it was. Here, I’m a lot more free and relaxed and I think it’s going to work out good for me.”

As with any adjustment period, there have been ups and downs as Taylor adapts to a new role, not to mention the superior caliber of competition offered in the NBA. He admits to being underwhelmed by his own summer league performance, attributing what he considered to be a substandard showing to a lack of both confidence and comfort. But he’s growing in those areas every day and even though he hasn’t yet had a true breakthrough performance this preseason, the Rockets’ coaching staff knows it’s only a matter of time.

“Jermaine’s doing well,” says Assistant Coach R.J. Adelman. “He has a ton of talent. I think he’s a little behind in some areas but I think that’s just because of his college experience. All they asked him to do was score. He was getting to the rim and exerting so much energy for them because he had to carry the load, so maybe he rested on defense and didn’t have to share the ball or run any kind of a motion offense. So I think a lot of this is new to him. But he’s trying to learn and he’s incredibly receptive; if you tell him something, he’ll ask questions if he doesn’t get it.

“You watch his tape and he’s such a gifted scorer. He’s got a gift for not only getting to the rim but finishing while receiving contact. He’ll get to the line, he’ll finish plays and he’ll get a ton of and-1s in this league. Sometimes he falls in love with the jump shot but we’re not harping on that right now. We just want him to play basketball. Once he gets comfortable and knows what we’re doing, he’ll start finding his spots to where he can attack, then he’ll stop thinking and that’s when we’ll really see him start to make a turn.”

The offense will come eventually; it’s only a matter of time. No one doubts that, which probably explains why Taylor says the toughest transition for him thus far has actually been on the defensive end of the court.

“Defending on ball screens has been tough,” he concedes. “It’s something I’m not really used to doing but they do it a lot here. I’m just trying to get the right positioning down while trying to fight over screens and learning how to read them. It’s coming but I haven’t gotten it yet. Shane (Battier) is working with me as well as the other guys and coaches, and I have all the confidence that I will get there."

He certainly has all the necessary tools. A gifted football player in high school, Taylor’s upper body looks as if it’s been lifted from the cover of a men’s fitness magazine. Strength, then, is clearly not an issue. Combine that with his god-given quickness and pterodactyl-like wingspan, and the only thing preventing him from being a plus-defender is the absence of the wiles and wisdom which come with experience.

“Right now he’s struggling moving laterally,” says Adelman, “but I think that’s because he over-commits; he gets into people when he doesn’t have to. He needs to learn to bend a little bit but not break – the kind of thing Shane’s so good at.

“I don’t think rookies realize the adjustment it is at the NBA level, with all the rotations you have to master defensively. What they do at first is they react to everything. And when you do that you’re going to be a step slow and a step behind. You have to see the play that’s happening and see where it’s going – that’s the adjustment. I think the biggest adjustment rookies have is on the defensive end with team defensive concepts – when you double the post or trap the pick-and-roll – all five guys are involved, so you’ve got to be able to read situations and that takes time.”

Just 22 years old, time is not an issue for Taylor right now - as long as he uses it wisely, of course, which is why every minute on the court has become so precious. Each one offers a new lesson and you’d better believe he’s paying attention. “I’m trying to do everything I’m asked and learn the system and defensive schemes, so I’m just watching, looking and learning,” he says.

Sooner or later, it will all start to click.

And when it does, watch out.

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