Lindsay Taylor
From Hoopedia
Lindsay Corine Taylor (born May 20, 1981 in Poway, California) is a former American collegiate and a professional basketball player who has played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), Ligue Feminine de Basketball (LFB), the Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) and most recently the Polish Women's League. In the WNBA she has played for three teams, the Houston Comets, the Phoenix Mercury and then for a brief period in 2006 that lasted only a few weeks she played for the Seattle Storm. Lindsay has played for the Turkish team, the Botasspor Adana on two separate occasions.
Before her departure from the WNBA, Taylor was stood as one of the league's tallest and heaviest players in it's history. At 6 feet and 8 inches tall, she was tied with Katie Feenstra and Maria Stepanova as the second tallest player in the WNBA. Only Margo Dydek, at 7ft 2in (2.18 m), is taller.
She has been playing for the Turkish team Botasspor Adana since early 2007.
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Early Life
Lindsay was born on Wednesday, May 20, 1981 in Poway, California, the daughter of Catherine and Bill Taylor. Lindsay Corine Taylor hails from a very tall family, her uncle, nicknamed "Tiny Ron" is seven feet tall. She also has a little brother.
She wears a size 17(US)/53(EUR) shoe (12 inches long). Her favorite color is green, as it is the same color of her eyes and her favorite food is baked potatoes. Her fave CD is Aphrodisiac by American singer Brandy. She Lists volleyball player Gabrielle Reece as her favorite athlete and Dirty Dancing as her favorite movie. Lindsay is interesting in teaching school after her basketball career and she also has an interest in government and politics. She majored in her religious studies.
Since playing in Turkey, Taylor started to read novels to pass the time. "I read a lot of romance novels like Nora Roberts, but I just finished Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now" which she described, "was really good."
She loves the outdoors and nature especially when the weather is hot. Lindsay describes herself, "I'm not good with electronics." and that she's "A little behind on the technology." She doesn't have a laptop and has only ever had two cellphones in her whole life. "I just got onto MySpace but still haven't figured it out."
According to Taylor, she wasn't involved in sports until she was 15 years old. She had originally planned on playing in her school's marching band when she first entered high school but her closest friends, who played basketball, convinced her to start playing the game and Taylor said she eventually found herself getting involved. She said she "Picked it up naturally." Lindsay has said If it wasn't for basketball her desires may have led her to a different career.
According to Mark French, her coach at UC Santa Barbara, Lindsay "has a way of making most situations humorous, even when she doesn't mean to. She will be the first to give you the most honest opinion and she will undoubtedly be the nicest person you will ever meet."
High School and College
Taylor attended Chandler High School in Chandler, Arizona, where she helped lead her team to two regional championships and as a senior to the Arizona State Championship. She averaged 19.2 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in her final year as a prepster. During a game in, her junior year she scored a career-best 31 points and grabbed 21 rebounds. She played for the Arizona Elite where she guided the team to the 17 Gold National Championships in 1998, just at the age of 17.
Taylor later became famous during her NCAA career at UC Santa Barbara, playing center for their women's team. She was (and still is) the tallest woman's basketball player in the school's history and attended the same classes as fellow WNBA players Kayte Christensen and Kristen Mann with whom she is good friends with. Taylor redshirted her first year, (1999-2000). In her first season, her Freshman Year (2000-01), Taylor capped an impressive rookie season by earning the Big West Freshman of the Year award, second team all-conference and All-Big West Tournament honors She was twice named Big West's Player of the Week, first on January 15 and again on January 29. Taylor scored 20 or more points three times, with her career high of 24 coming against Boise State on January 21, 2001 her field goal percentage in Big West Play of 65.0% was the highest percent in the conference and she later had 17 double-digit performances, including nine of her last 11 games and 13 of her final 16.
In her second season, sophomore year (2001-2002), she earned her second Big West All Conference Honors. Her third season, junior year (2002-2003) was capped by an honorable mention Associated Press All-American recognition, Big West Player of the Year honors and her second consecutive conference tournament MVP award. She also enjoyed a streak of 28-consecutive made free-throws during 2002-2003 campaign, Taylor's senior year (2003-2004), her UCSB Gaucho squad had their finest year in history. They received their 8th consecutive Big West Conference Title with a swashbuckling 27-7 and won the Big West Tournament in which Taylor won her third consecutive MVP award. The Gauchos upset Colorado and Houston to get to the NCAA Sweet 16 until losing to defending and eventual champion, Connecticut, which had WNBA teammate, Diana Taurasi. She notched her 1,000th point as a Gaucho at Illinois on February 13, 2003, and moved her score further up into 13th place on UCSB's career scoring list. She only needs 500 points to break the school's highest ever career scoring record, which is held by Kristi Rohr. On November 20, 2003 Lindsay scored a team-high of 12 points. Taylor was the only Gaucho player to be in double-figures and the only visiting player to make half her field goal tries and sunk four out of eight. Later on November 25, 2003 Lindsay scored a game-high of 23 points and became UCSB's record holder in career blocked shots and the school's all-time leader in career blocked shots with 181 points. On November 28 she scored a game-high 20 points as the Gauchos won a match to 4 to 1. Lindsey scored seven of her 20 points during the 19-4 second half run and extended the then nation's second longest home winning streak to 27 straight games. Later on December 16 she led all Gaucho players with a game high 23 points, grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and also matching her personal best of six blocked shots. On December 28 Lindsay finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double and 19th of her collegiate career.
Taylor has said one of her biggest developments in college was to build her strength up. Despite pulling down 7.3 rebounds per game, she counted rebounding as a weakness of hers and would continue to work hard on it to improve.
Taylor later won a Silver Medal as a member of the United States 2003 Pan American Games basketball team with fellow Guacho, Kristen Mann when they played off in the Dominican Republic against the home team. She was considered the best player in the game and her finest effort in the tournament was six-point, four-rebound performance in quarterfinal victory over their hosts the Dominicans.
Linssay graduated in 2004. Her collegiate career had many distinctions, such as the all-time leader in points 1,755, blocked shots 242, and field goal percentage, 558 in UC Santa Barbara history.
WNBA
The six foot eight inch tall (2.03 m) Taylor was one of the highly regarded rookies for the 2004 WNBA Draft. She was originally chosen by the Houston Comets but was subsequently traded to Phoenix Mercury alongside the higher-regarded Diana Taurasi. She was the second round (26th pick overall) in the 2004 WNBA Draft.
Her first game was against the Houston Comets on June 1 of that year. The center got a rousing ovation when she came off the bench for a few minutes in the first half. Just prior to the game, Lindsay was told "there was a chance" she'd see some action. And since her family attends every Mercury game, they were right there to see the UC Santa Barbara standout and get her first taste of pro competition. She attempted one field goal, which she missed. Unfortunately for the Mercury, soon after her first field goal attempt, she was injured during another play in that game. Despite this she played a career-high on what is considered her best game in the WNBA on June 27, 2004 against the Seattle Storm when 18 minutes in to the game she grabbed two rebounds and scored three points on a 3-point basket late in the game and blocked four shots in 17 minutes. The game as ended an 83-44 Phoenix victory.
Taylor remained on the injured list, but was expected to return later in her inaugural WNBA season. In total, she would appear in just five games and missing over twenty other matches during the 2004 season, seeing limited action in those games before being waived at the end of 2005 training camp.
On April 13, 2006, the Seattle Storm signed Taylor to a training camp contract. Noticeably her body had filled out and matured more, gaining several more pounds to her previous lean frame and she became far more physical on the court. Upon joining her new team she immediately became the team's tallest player, adding an extra three inches over then tallest team mate Lauren Jackson. Much was anticipated of Taylor and the powress she could bring. Storm Coach Anne Donovan, whom had favourably compared Lindsay to fellow WNBA player Kara Wolters whom Donovan had personally helped tutor, was quoted as saying about her.
"What I saw there was some potential."
Lindsay spoke enthusiastically about joining her new team and what it could mean for her and improving her abilities. She expressed admiration for Lauren Jackson and said she could learn things from her. Lindsay also looked forward to the training she could expect to receive from Donovan. Lindsay said,
"I hope she would really understand where I'm coming from and I can learn a lot from her."
Despite Donovan's praise however on May 17, 2006 Taylor was quietly released by the Seattle Storm, just a little over a month after she signed with the team making making her tenure one of the shortest in WNBA history (Carolyn Moos having a shorter period of only 13 days). Many fans expressed disappointment over the decision. According to a WNBA article on their website she had been slowed down by tendinitis in her right ankle and toes. In all, she only played in only two preseason games, one on May 7 and the other May 12, just five days before her being released, averaging 7.0 points and 3.5 rebounds on a 3-point basket late in the game. She missed an exhibition finale against the Minnesota Lynx and spent several other games on the injured list because her tendinitis in her foot.
Taylor has the distinction of being the only player on the Seattle Storm team who was as tall as head coach Anne Donovan, who is herself 6 foot 8 inches, a fact acknowledged by Donovan when the two stood eye-to-eye and she remarked about Lindsay "She is legit",
Lindsay is currently planning to try out for the WNBA tryouts in 2007. If she succeeds this will be the third time Taylor will have played in the league.
After the WNBA
On May 31, 2006 shortly after her WNBA departure, Lindsay traveled to Korea for two months where she played in the Korean women's league. She played for the Shinsegae Cool Cats.
On July 5, Lindsay scraped her team firmly out of last place in the league and in to a position to make the post season play-offs.
On July 7, Lindsay and her team won their second to last game. If they were to win the last game or either one of the two teams ahead of them lose there will be a tie in for fourth place with the playoffs at stake. But on July 9 Lindsay and the team were defeated. Lindsay cited the point differential of 20 points was too great to make up. As a result they did not make the playoffs. Afterwards Lindsay headed home for the US.
On September 17, 2006 Taylor had successful heel surgery performed on both her heels. She will then recuperate and will fly off to Montpellier, France. She then played for Lattes-Maurin Montpellier. Lindsay already knew one of the players from her time in Korea, Sandra Dijon.
Botasspor Adana and the Polish Women's League
On January 25, 2007, Lindsay rejoining her previous team, the Botasspor Adana and resumed playing in Turkey.
On February 9 Lindsay and her team beat team Galatasaray in the team's own gym in Istanbul. What made this a very impressive win over their opponents is the line-up the team had. Amongst them were four WNBA players; Loree Moore, Nikki Teasley, Tangela Smith and Chantelle Anderson. Lindsay had only two points in 21 minutes, but she had nine rebounds in all.
Later on March 4, Lindsay and her team beat opponent Kristen Mann's team, Mersin, in the port town of Mersin, Turkey, with a score of 82-66. Lindsay had 10 pts. and 7 rebounds in 20 minutes. March 18, 2007, Lindsey and Botas faced off and beat team As Akyazi 123 points to 83. Lindsay had scored 22 points in twenty minutes.
April 25, 2007 Botas faced team Besiktas Cola in the semi finals of the Turkish WBL Championships. On the opposing team was Kara Braxton, another tall player (just an inch shorter than Lindsey) and a fellow WNBA player. Lindsey and Botas defeated Besiktas 72 points to 70 in the third playoff. After this game the score in series was tied 2-2 in in the semi finals of the Turkish WBL series. The next match to decide the winner was on April 27. The game was tied at half time with Lindsey showing a strong first half, but in the fourth quarter the game shifted dramatically against the Botas and Besiktas defeated Lindsey and the Botas to reach the finals. The score was 89 for Besiktas with Botas totaling only 64. Lindsay scored 14 points in the game and totaled 6 rebounds.
In all she averaged 16.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game for Botas. With all the Gaucho women defeated the team left Turkey. Lindsay travelled back home to the United States to recuperate and prepared for the next European season.
Lindsay spent the time resting. On September 7, 2007 Lindsay signed a contract with the Polish Womens League. Her team is called 'Energa Katarzynki Torun'.
