Taylor one of the top 5 surprises of the summer

[Captain Morgan]

Jeff Taylor, Charlotte Bobcats

The Las Vegas Summer League showcases the fine line between fringe players with guaranteed contracts and those still fighting for a roster spot. But that muddle of similarly capable end-of-the-rotation types only makes it that much more obvious when a clear-cut NBA player is on the court. Taylor, the 31st pick in 2012, is just that. In Charlotte’s first four games, the 6-7 swingman pressured opponents off the dribble, leveraged his athleticism on break-outs and fared surprisingly well as a primary offensive option in a half-court setting.

Although merely an average perimeter shooter, Taylor looked surprisingly comfortable driving into traffic for someone whose offense came largely on spot-up jumpers and fast breaks last season. His free rein worked to great effect for the Bobcats, as Taylor has run the two-man game effectively with No. 4 pick Cody Zeller and made the most out of isolations in averaging 20.3 points.

Taylor won’t soon command this much creative responsibility for the first-team Bobcats, but being able to work more effectively off the bounce (and finish drives in a crowd) brings him that much closer to being a quality two-way player. He’ll still need to follow through on his summer-league efforts and prove he can score more effectively against actual NBA defenders on a regular basis. But after his Vegas showing, Taylor, who already looked like a decent prospect, is a nice get for Charlotte.

 

 

http://nba.si.com/2013/07/20/las-vegas-summer-league-surprises-thomas-robinson-jeff-taylor/?sct=uk_t11_a5

 

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

He was a guy who was I surprised got off to a slow start last season.

Nice to see him work hard on his dribble pull up shot...that seperates role players to possible top 3-4 team scorring option.

[chubs2496]

I love Taylor. Prolly my favorite player on the team besides kemba or zeller now

[Captain Morgan]

I love Taylor. Prolly my favorite player on the team besides kemba or zeller now

 

 

 

me too...we have to get him minutes

[Wolfcop]

If we don't re-sign GH he will get a ton of minutes.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

I think his showing and improvement kind of devalues Gerald a bit for the Bobcats in terms of negotiating price range.

Getting a sign and trade for GH and having JT as the starting two might be a better fit for the team bc he is more of a stretch shooter than slasher.

However the team will be much better with JT coming off the bench to spell MKG and GH. Thats a plenty minutes for him.

Hate keeping dead weight of Ben Gordon who just fell off the map of what he was when he got that contract from the Bulls? Or Pistons?

[Wolfcop]

I would not lose much sleep if JT has to be a starter. I have a feeling he is about to break out. And, like you said, having him on the floor as a 3-ball threat would really help our offense. 

[Jakob]

Am I the only one that thought early in the season that JT would be better than MKG? I feel like he got into a small slump and the coaches took his playing time down.

[Niner National]

Did he dominate the summer circuit last year too?

[Montie_0123]

Hey he's earned it he has played well this summer hopefully he keep getting better.

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

I don't think Taylor was as much as a surprise as Zeller.

If you watched JT at Vanderbilt then you know what he is capable of.

On the other hand, Zeller is showing things that he didn't even do at IU.

[chubs2496]

I don't think Taylor was as much as a surprise as Zeller.

If you watched JT at Vanderbilt then you know what he is capable of.

On the other hand, Zeller is showing things that he didn't even do at IU.

Yeah I really like zeller and his game so far. What really scares me is those blocked shots. I know of Atleast 3-4 shots he was blocked in the memphis game. That's super scary to me

[carolina-chuck]

Yea watching this Summer League, I clearly thought Taylor was the no.2 overall pick and MKG the no.31 pick in the 2012 Draft.

[Herbert The Love Bug]

I have no doubt that he is better or at least will be quite a bit better than Henderson