Mike Taylor: Lights and shadows of Polish basket (MW Podcast #49)

Some people need to be more authoritarian, some people need to be more dictator-like in the way they lead, but I'm a guy that builds those connections well, communicates well and people know. I felt like Adam had lost trust in what we were trying to do in terms of the team and the situation and there was no one, not one person on that staff or on that team that was doing anything against him. Ale miał ten problem z zaufaniem, że są ludzie, wiesz, teorię konspiracji, pracują nad nim tutaj, pracują nad nim tam, ten z tym, ten z tym. Nie. Mateusz Winiarczyk, Mateusz Winiarczyk

Hello coach, big thanks for joining my podcast. It's a great pleasure that you find the time to talk and yeah, I'm glad, looking forward to hear your stories. Yeah, really appreciate you having me on Michał and look forward to telling some Polish national team stories and reflecting a little bit on a great time. First, let's start with things that are happening right now. I mean your work in Canada, in Winnipeg. Powiedz mi, jak to jest pracować w Kanadzie, ponieważ dla zwykłego fana basketu kanadyjskiego jest to jak Raptor w Toronto. Wiele ludzi nawet nie wie o kanadyjskim basketu, więc powiedz mi jak to jest pracować w Kanadzie i jak byś opisał poziom i styl ligy kanadyjskiej.

Yeah, the CEBL, the Canadian Elite Basketball League, which this is my fourth summer in it. It's a summer league, a summer professional league. It's a unique timeframe and it's held at this time because of the weather in Canada and the fact that basketball does not want to go kind of head to head with ice hockey. It's a really great league. It's into its seventh year now. I think there's 30 plus players who have NBA connection, like either played in the CBL, gone to the NBA. So it's rising, it's developing. I love it. It's a lot of fun. You know, it's similar to the Canadian Football League, where you have five teams in the East and five teams in the West and it's all over Canada.

I absolutely love it. It's so much fun. I've had four great years in the league. This is my third year in Winnipeg and it's really been a lot of fun. Kanada Basketball traditionally has been only about the Toronto Raptors, but I think you look at all of the players that are in the NBA and you know, there's even been some really good Canadian players that have played recently in the Polish League. Teams are more and more recruiting Canadian players, basketball is rising in the nation and I'm really enjoying my experience here over the last four summers. Do you see the progress when it comes to the popularity of basketball in Canada? Kanadyjski zawodnik NBA, Szeik Józef Aleksander. Naszynalna drużyna też robi świetną pracę.

Zastanawiałem się, czy widzicie rozwój kanadyjskiego basketu. Nie tylko na poziomie seniora, ale również na poziomie juniora. Yeah, and I think that, you know, our league has a lot to do with that, but traditionally to play ice hockey, it's an expensive sport. You know, you have to pay for a lot of equipment, there's paying for rink time, and I think that over the years... Young kids have said, oh, I'd like to play hockey, but maybe I don't have enough money. Basketball in comparison is much less expensive. It's easier access. And I think that as we've seen in the major city areas, the Toronto, Hamilton, that whole area in southern Ontario, the western area of Vancouver, I think basketball has really taken off and we see some great players coming out of these areas.

So I think it's a matter of finance, but I also think that it's the culture now, like basketball is something important in the country. Mimo to, że to jest wciąż świetny kraj piłki, kraj piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka z piłki z jazdy, piłka Basketball in general has a lot more participation and a lot more popularity than we've seen in the past here in Canada. When I was preparing for this interview, I look at your career, the fact, okay, you are American, you grew up in America, you took first steps as a coach, assistant coach in America, but a lot of your coaching career has been made in Europe.

So I was wondering if you had to describe your coaching style, yourself as a coach, how European you are. Michał Winiarczyk, Mike Taylor, Poland, Koszuchowski Basketball Team Koszuchowski Basketball Team Names mentioned in Polish Basketball.

I to było takie, że chcę tam być na jeden rok, ale jednym z głównych punktów jest to, żeby tam iść i zdobyć doświadczenie jako przewodniczący. No dobrze, poszedłem do III Dywizji Niemczech, Chemnitz, na najniższym poziomie, ale mam szansę być przewodniczącym przewodniczącym. Wiesz, na tych najniższych poziomach musisz robić dużo, więc miałem doświadczenie, robiąc różne rzeczy, których może na wyższym poziomie trenerzy nie będą robili. So we ended up winning our league that year, won the championship and always trying to find new opportunities. I went back to the USA and was an assistant for the Dodge City Legend for Cliff Levingston, the former Chicago Bulls player, and had a really good experience in the old United States Basketball League. It was like the CBL Summer League.

Wtedy byłem zaskoczony. Co muszę zrobić? Pojechałem do Olmy, w Niemczech. I tak jak mówisz, tam, gdzie zrobiłem markę, pomagając zbudowaniu organizacji Ratiopharm Ulm. Przechodziliśmy od II Ligi do I Ligi. Michał Winiarczyk, Mike Taylor, Poland, Koszuchowski Basketball Team I was just trying to put together the best, most efficient, most fun style of basketball possible.

And I'm so thankful that I came up in Europe because coaching in Germany Michał Winiarczyk, MW Basketball Team KoszKadra I myślę, że przygotowanie do tych wszystkich rzeczy dało mi wspaniałą podstawę i wspaniałą doświadczalność w młodym wieku. Zawsze patrzyłem na siebie jako na kogoś, kto kocha basket, kocha trenowanie i próbuje zbudować najlepsze koncepcje kreatywnie w dobrym systemie, aby pomóc drużynie wygrać.

Porozmawiamy o swoim czasie w Ulm, bo widzimy teraz, jak Ulm się rozwija jako klub. W Europie oni są znanymi jako drużyna, która produkuje wiele talentów. Na przykład Jeremy Sochan grał dla nich, czy Igor Milicic junior. Kylian Hayes, wielu, wielu graczy z Europy czy nawet z doświadczenia NBA, ale byłeś tam prawie na początku wyróżnienia w II Ligie. Jak pamiętasz pierwsze tygodnie, pierwsze miesiące w Ulmie? Jak ten klub wyglądał na to, jak tam przyjechałeś? Oh, it was a team with great aspirations.

You know, I was brought in to try to help the team move up to the first league. And it took us a couple of years to do it, but in the process we had some great memories, great moments. Dr. Tomasz Stoll, który jest nadal głównym człowiekiem w tym całym świecie. Zabrał mnie i mieliśmy świetną relację w tym świecie przez mój czas. Współpracował z nami niesamowicie i mogliśmy zbudować świetny roster. We finished the first year, I think we were 26 and 4. I think we had great runs. We lost to our rival Tubingen in two games.

There were three overtimes and the difference in those games were five points. And that was the difference of us moving up or not. So the first year was a really fun season. We had a team that played up-tempo basketball. Guys had, we had a short bench, but guys really got along. We had great team chemistry. And I loved the old Sports Centrum Kuburg. It was the old school Bundesliga. You know, it was like, it was nothing like the Ratiopharm Arena. Ale była świetna kultura basketu w mieście. Ludzie uwielbiali go. Kolejna drużyna była w Bundesliga, więc była tradycja. I w tym roku zaczęliśmy świetnie, ale przeszliśmy. W następnym roku mieliśmy świetne oczekiwania i wyłożyliśmy drużynę. Czuliłem, że mamy świetny rozszerz, ale chemia nie była ta sama.

He was like a mini Charles Barkley. Wielka długość w rękach. Był bardzo fizyczny, był starym futbolistą. Podpisał chłopaków i jego atletyczność była czymś wyjątkowym. Miał tylko nackę do reboundu. Mieliśmy też Jonathan Levy, który był świetnym piłkarzem. Mieliśmy kilka innych głównych niemieckich graczy do tego drużyny. We finished the season 29 and 1. We dominated the second league. You know, great memories with that team, so much fun with those guys. And at the time, you know, we kept that core together. And I'm really proud of that transition going from the second league to the first league. You know, the first year with that same team, with one or two key additions, a blank order and a five, you know, we finished 16 and 18, the next year we finished 16 and 18, and finally that core, the third year in the Bundesliga.

Names mentioned in Polish Basketball Team Koszuchowski Basketball Team At that point, you know, we had brought in Drew Joyce, you know, of LeBron James. He played also in Poland later. Yes. So Drew was a great, he was our floor general. We had Romeo Travis as well. You know, Jeff Gibbs was a key for us. Sean Finn at the center. You know, it was a really fun team to be a part of and fun team to work with. Michał Winiarczyk, Mike Taylor, Poland, Koszuchowski Basketball Team Koszuchowski Basketball Team Koszuchowski Basketball Team

Names mentioned in Polish Basketball Team Our plan is to change our idea, identity. We're going to be a team that promotes the development of young German players. And the goal was to have two really key guys. And one was Robin Benzing, who at the time was playing with the German national team, even though he was with Second League Langen.

Miałeś okazję pracować z Shevin Mark, Marcin Brooks. Myślę, że był tam ktoś z doświadczenia w NBA, Chris Wright, który też grał w Gojalec. Jak się pamiętasz tego czasu? Co nauczyłeś? Michał Winiarczyk, Mike Taylor, Poland, Koszuchowski Basketball Team Koszuchowski Basketball Team My friend Will Voigt with the Bakersfield Jam. My friend Jay Laranega, who was with the Erie Bayhawks.

He was helping me with the Canton Charge. Nick Nurse had left the Iowa Energy for the RGB Vipers, but Nick, I knew him from, let's say, the British Basketball League time, when he coached Brighton Bears and I was the London Leopards coach. Nick was really, really helpful to me. He got me involved as a finalist for the Iowa Energy job and he held the assistant spot at RGV for me. Said, hey, go for all these head jobs. If you don't get it, come coach here. And Will Voigt was the same way. He's like, hey, if everything doesn't work out, come to Bakersfield. So I had some really good friends who were helping me at the time. I ended up in RGV as an assistant for Nick Nurse and I learned so much that year.

The Rocketball philosophy, you know, at that time it was really up tempo and you know, they were not shooting mid-range shots. It was the type of shot creation they were working on and the pace of offense. So it was a really great learning experience. And then, you know, Nick. Names mentioned in Polish Basketball Team KoszKadra, Niestety, w następnym sezonie Celtics zabrali Red Claws.

I ja byłem pierwszym head coachem, którego oni zbierali. Byłem pierwszym zbierajem, kiedy Celtics zbierali Red Claws. Austin Ainge zbierał mnie tam. To była ostatnia sezona Doc Rivers z Celtics. Ale Doc był dla mnie tak dobry. Byłem w stanie być na drużynie, pracować, podróżować. Names mentioned in Polish Basketball Team KoszKadra, Ratiopharm Ulm, Boston Celtics, China, alternate partial name, likely a player name.

So during the Celtics time with Doc and his staff, I spent a lot of time asking questions, Mike Longobardi, veteran coaches who had run the defenses. And those coaches really helped me so much. And they put together, they helped me put together You know the concepts that would become our Polish national team defense and you know over the next several years a lot of the things that we did you know were born from those conversations. But Doc was so supportive of me, very good to me. Just to be around guys like Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo. When Rondo was coming back from his knee injury, I ran the practice and he was first class. We had our team go down because the Celtics were on the road.

Marshawn Brooks został przyjęty do nas. Vitor Favarani, wielki mężczyzna z Brazylii został przyjęty do nas. Absolutnie podobało mi się te lata i te doświadczenia. Pracowałem z świetnymi graczami, pomogłem chłopakom zrobić kroki w swojej karierze. Names mentioned in Polish. Names mentioned in Polish. Names mentioned in Polish. The summer before I was with Czech Republic as an assistant, I was there for four summers with the Czech national team, working with my friend Pavel Budynski, who did a great job with that national team.

We made it back to Eurobasket 2013 in Selye, Slovenia. We were in the same group as Poland. Obviously for us we had the memorable upset victory when Czech beat Poland on Lubos Barton's corner three. Mój przyjaciel Paweł nie wrócił do trenera, więc wiedziałem, że nie wrócę. Byłem tam, bo mówił mi, że jestem jego gościem. Porozmawiałem z agencjami i powiedzieli mi, że chciałbym Names mentioned in Polish Basketball Team KoszKadra, Ratiopharm Ulm, Boston Celtics, China, alternate partial name, likely a player name, likely a player name.

Ale jestem człowiekiem, który buduje te połączenia dobrze, komunikuje się dobrze i ludzie wiedzą, że to jest praktyczne, to jest wsparcie. Próbuję pomóc, przychodzę z dobrego miejsca, by pomóc ludziom być tym, co mogą być i zmaksyfikować siebie. I myślę, że to było to, co było naprawdę wyjątkowe w Polsce, ponieważ to był zupełnie inny styl od tego, do którego wszyscy byli przyzwyczajeni. Ale zanim dojdziemy do tego punktu, pozwólcie mi odpowiedzieć na wasze inne pytania o szukaniu piłkarzy i budowaniu drużyn. I think that you find players... First of all, there's a difference between players and winning players. And there's guys that are super talented out there, but they're not about winning. There's guys that are super talented, but are not about the team. So I think the character is really important. And you need to understand, you can believe or perceive a player to be a winning player.

Ale kiedy jest z tobą, nie działa tak, nie działa tak. Musisz zaufać swoim oczom jako trenerze. Kiedy znasz zwyciężącego zawodnika, zawodnika, z którym możesz połączyć się z wartością, który pomoże twojemu drużynie wygrać, Names mentioned in Polish Basketball Team KoszKadra, Ratiopharm Ulm, Boston Celtics, China, alternate partial name, likely a player name,