Sporting News Article on Taylor, Trade Exception

Rockets Team Report
AUGUST 10, 2000

Michael Murphy
Houston Chronicle

With the Rockets squarely in the midst of rebuilding, they are looking for viable pieces wherever they can find them.

Right now that has apparently led them to Maurice Taylor, late of the Los Angeles Clippers. Team officials met with Taylor on Monday to pitch the Rockets to the 6-9 power forward.

Taylor will next move on to the Seattle, where he had a meeting set up with the SuperSonics.

The move is somewhat surprising since Taylor shot down an offer from the Raptors that was supposed to be a three-year, $17.5 million gig, reportedly in an effort to squeeze a few more dollars out of the organization.

Taylor's agent, David Falk, disputed that report, saying, "Mo's going to take less money and take the one-year exception."

Uhh . . . right.

Whatever, Taylor has done everything except list himself on e-bay in an effort to escape Clipperville.

The Bulls, the Knicks, Indiana and Toronto had all shown varying degrees of interest, but Taylor had seemed most interested in grabbing the dwindling stack of cash on John Gabriel's desk in Orlando -- the remnants of the stockpile that was supposed to go to Tim Duncan.

Taylor, in true Clipper form, even went so far as to announce his intention to sign with the Magic, who apparently had no clue as to what Taylor was talking about.

Hello, Houston!

All the Rockets have to offer is a $2.25 million exception, but Taylor says he is willing to accept such a "meager" salary in order to play with the Rockets' young nucleus. Of course, the Clippers have a very young nucleus of budding stars, but that's beside the point.

And Taylor could be fishing for the Rockets' $4.5 million exception (more on that later), but he has yet to show a willingness to accommodate the Clippies with a sign-and-trade deal that would help his former team get over the hump talent-wise.

Taylor, 23, has averaged 14.8 points and 5.2 rebounds since coming out of Michigan three seasons ago. And he would be only the latest high draft pick (No. 14 in 1997) to bolt the Clippers.

He averaged a double-double last season -- 17.1 points and 17.1 complaints per game. Taylor, who averaged 6.5 rebounds last season, complained loud and long about his intention to flee the Clipper sweatshop.

PLAYER ANALYSIS

Well, since he's mulling the Rockets' hideous pinstripes (er, jetstreams), let's dissect Mr. Taylor.

Yes, the Rockets are looking for a power forward (if only Kenny Thomas was two inches taller . . .). And yes, Taylor is looking for a home now that his Clipper sentence has been commuted.

But is Houston really the place for the talented, but questionably motivated 6-9 "power" forward?

Taylor showed off his strength when he scored a career-high 31 points in (what else?) a 122-100 loss at Compaq Center on Dec. 30. But he also showed his most glaring weakness in that game, picking off a mere three rebounds. And it's not as if the Clippers were stocked with board-eating monsters.

And as if to prove that game was not a fluke, Taylor came back on Feb. 28 to duplicate that (de)feat on the boards, again plucking only three rebounds in a history-making (for the Rockets, anyway) 96-77 loss to the Rockets at the Staples Center.

A footnote to that game is the number of missed shots available -- 127 -- since the Rockets held the Clippers to a franchise-record low shooting percentage of 26.8, missing 71 of their 97 shots.

You'd think that out of those 71 bricks, perhaps a few more would have accidentally made it into the less-than-eager hands of Taylor. Especially when you consider that both Rockets' point guards outrebounded the 6-9, 260-pound Taylor (Steve Francis had four in 26 minutes and Moochie Norris managed six in 22 minutes).

That sums up Taylor, for whom the Mo in his name apparently refers to mo' discontent and not mo' rebounding and mo' defense.

But the guy can flat-out shoot the ball, and that's what the Rockets are seeking at the four spot. Jason Collier, the Rockets' first-round pick, is going to need time to learn the game at this level, so Taylor might be a good piece of the puzzle (a bargain-priced piece if he costs the Rockets just the exception).

Can Taylor fit into Rudy Tomjanovich's total-team philosophy? Tomjanovich's system, the NBA's version of communism, relies heavily on the willinness of the individual to sacrifice and trust in the whole of the team. Taylor hasn't shown the capacity to do that with the Clippers, but that may be more because of where he was than who he is.

Other players (Malik Sealy, Rodney Rogers, Lamond Murray and Ron Harper) have left the Clippers and become total team players, so maybe there's hope for Taylor.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Rockets have to decide what to do with their trade exception, the pieces of which they got in the deals with Portland (Scottie Pippen) and Vancouver (Steve Francis). The $4.5 million exception expires on October 1, and the Rockets have to decide whether to commit that money or let it expire.

While allowing such a tool to expire may sound strange, it is actually not unheard of. The Indiana Pacers, who had already locked up the core of their team by recommitting to Jalen Rose, Austin Croshere and Reggie Miller, decided to let theirs slide at midnight Tuesday.

The Rockets will most likely do likewise.

They are looking to get as far under the cap as possible next season, when Hakeem Olajuwon's contract comes off the cap, and committing trade-exception money to another player this year.

Look for the Rockets to move salary, not take it on.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/teams/rockets/20000810-p.html

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