All of a sudden Terry Taylor is a dad to an almost one-year-old daughter, is playing overseas for the first time and is loving every minute of it.
It has been quite the 12 months for Terry Taylor with him becoming a dad for the first time and this being his first season overseas ending up at the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL, and he's fully embraced it all.
While Taylor was at college at Austin Peay State University, he knew he wanted to play basketball professionally, but he had never seriously considered options of doing that beyond the United States.
And since graduating, his career followed that path with NBA stints with the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls and Sacramento Kings over the past three seasons including playing in the G League with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Windy City Bulls and more recently the Stockton Kings.
However, his whole mindset and outlook has changed over the past year after he and partner Brena welcomed their first child, daughter Teal, into the world last February and now the chance with the Bullets opened up after a brief first overseas stint in China.
Taylor arrived in Brisbane back at the start of the December to step into the void as a power forward following the season-ending knee injury to Casey Prather. It's been a learning and growing experience for the 26-year-old ever since.
BEING A LEADER INSTANTLY
While Taylor is only 26 years of age and in his first season internationally and just a fifth season professionally since graduating from college, he's trying to use his leadership and experience on an increasingly youthful Bullets team.
With the experience and leadership on the sidelines in the form of Prather, Sam McDaniel, Tyrell Harrison and Lamar Patterson, Taylor has done his best to fill that void and show the way for his younger teammates while also trying to learn his new team and the league in general.
"It's been challenging and a little frustrating, and I can't say it's been a seamless transition, but you know what I'm saying, at the end of the day I'm just trying to pull into the younger guys like Tristan (Devers), Cal (Dalton) and Jensen (Bradtke) at times about just being ready," Taylor said.
"And even Jacob Holt, this is his first year overseas too and just trying to show them to stay level headed, not be afraid of the moment and take your shots, and be aggressive and go out there and have fun.
"I want them to know I've got their back no matter what and I'm always trying to be a positive reinforcement for them because time in and time out they hear enough people get on them.
"Everybody wants to hear something positive every now and then, so I try to give them that and tell them to keep going and that I'm here with you. Things might not have been the greatest for us, but I'm happy to be here and feel blessed that I got to meet these guys and be part of this program, team and organisation."
ADJUSTING TO THE NBL
Only as recently as five years ago when Taylor was looking ahead to what he saw his professional career looking like, playing overseas was never on his radar and now he admits to it being a challenge having to fit in mid-season.
Not only has Taylor had to get familiar with his team and teammates quickly during the season, but he's also playing FIBA basketball for the first time, playing and living in Australia for the first time, and then it hasn’t been easy on the court.
With players constantly in and out through injury since Taylor's arrival, it's been difficult to build continuity. He has played in just one win so far in his 11 games, but he's fitting in well culturally and with producing 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds.
"The NBL stylistically has been different and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it to a sense just with things like there being three seconds in the key and they let a bit more stuff go off the ball, and then just the pace," Taylor said.
"It's a pretty fast game and teams want to get up and they like to pressure so I think that's been an adjustment period for me, but I've slowly got used to it and am starting to find my spots and my mark, and I think it's been good overall for me.
"Ideally I would like to be helping Brisbane compete for a championship, but that's not how things are working right now and we've had the injury bug, coaching change, different line-ups and what not.
"But at the end of the day, we still have to go out there and play, and make the right decisions and just put out a good product that our fans can be proud of."
BEING A DAD
Away from the basketball, the last 12 months has been a life changing one for Taylor as well following the birth of daughter Teal. He couldn’t be more proud what life as a dad has been like so far with partner Brena.
"It's the most rewarding thing and I tell my partner all the time that I was made to be a girl dad and it's just been the most fun time I've had, and it's almost been for a whole year now," Taylor said.
"I love every bit of it and she actually learned to crawl when she got to Australia, and she's learning to stand up now and hold herself up so she might be walking by the time she leaves Australia. She's been a good time."
BRINGING FAMILY DOWN UNDER
Considering Taylor had never played overseas before and with the young family of three still finding their feet, he couldn’t have imagined making the move to Australia without Brena and Teal joining him after that stop in China.
He feels like on the next stop overseas he might now be better equipped to handle it if he had to do it alone, but he couldn’t be more thankful for having his family joining him in Brisbane this time around.
"It's actually been great and I always tried to emphasise that at least for my first time going overseas I would like for them to be there with me just so I can get familiar with it," he said.
"Then I know that I can come back anywhere overseas even to Australia and be by myself just in case she got homesick or wanted to stay home with her family. It was just big for them to come and I'm grateful that I've had this opportunity to get to enjoy being here in Brisbane."
TEAMMATES AS NEW DADS TOO
Another aspect of joining the Bullets that's helped Taylor settle in with his new teammates is that he's certainly not alone as a new dad.
While they still do have a focus on basketball as a group, being able to connect as new fathers has all helped them have that common bond which Taylor has enjoyed too.
"They talk during the games and what not, but for the most part it's great having teammates with young kids too because we can all relate to each other, and we just tell each other stories," Taylor said.
"Like right now we're in the middle of a slump, but we can always talk about our kids and it'll make us happy and cheer us up, and give us some extra motivation for a game.
"It's been great to know that there is other teammates that has young kids because I just came from a team in the State where nobody had a kid except for two of my teammates so it's kinda refreshing and different."
FIRST INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Aside from the lack of winning he's been part of so far, now that Taylor has had an overall positive experience in his first attempt playing overseas coming to Brisbane from China, he's more than open to it in the future whether it's back with the Bullets or elsewhere.
"It's just gotta make sense you know what I'm saying and I'd need to have a pre-season with everybody and it would just depend on who's coming back and the coaching situation, and what not," Taylor said.
"It's all gotta make sense but I am more than open to coming back and I've enjoyed my time here in Brisbane.
"It's a beautiful city and I love all the guys here, they're great people and I don't have a single complaint about anything here.
"It's just a matter of if we can get it done, then I'm all for it, but if not I am forever grateful that Australia and Brisbane was my first experience overseas."
LOOKING AHEAD
Taylor only has to look at his own Bullets team and see his coach Darryl McDonald or teammates like Prather and Patterson for examples of players who initially come to Australia as imports and then never want to leave.
Taylor is someone that never wanted to think beyond having a long career in the NBA and that's perfectly understandable, and ultimately his goal to get back to, but he also now knows there's a whole world of opportunities out there.
"When I was younger back around 21, 22, I was opposed to the idea because I just felt like I only wanted to play in the NBA, but the older I've got and more I've realised that there's good opportunities here in Australia or in Europe or what not, I have to make the best decision for myself financially and playing-wise," Taylor said.
"I'm all for it now and I used to be against it, but as I started getting older, I started realising things don't just happen the way you want them too all the time. I had my shot in the NBA and I pray that it's going to come again, but if it doesn't, I can make a nice career around the world.
"I'm 26 and I've still got a decade or more of good basketball left in me so I want to use that and if overseas is the one for me, then that's OK, and I'm just going to be grateful for whatever I've got and for every opportunity that comes my way."