Taylor Playing For the Future

Stefan Bondy profiles the newest Net and the first Brooklyn Net, Tyshawn Taylor. Taken at #41, Taylor was as ranked as high as the mid-20's on some mocks, including the Nets' internal mock. One reason why - lingering doubts about his maturity that plagued him throughout his four years at Kansas.

As a sophomore, Taylor posted threats to his Facebook account, and then carried them out by fighting a football player. Then later, he was suspended by Kansas Coach Bill Self for violating (unspecified) team rules. By his senior year, those issues were history, but his other issue, on-court consistency, still plagued him.

"I’m not the same 18-, 19-year-old kid I was in college. I’m older," said Taylor, who found himself living with his mother in a battered women’s shelter in Florida at age 8. "I’m going to keep growing. I’m going to keep maturing. That was just a time in my life when I was young and immature, and I’m not anymore."

• Brooklyn Nets see promise in once-maligned N.J. product Tyshawn Taylor - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News