While Germany has done it already with an active NBA player (Chris Kaman), it’s now Italy’s turn to get a passport for NBA veteran Maurice Taylor. For me, it was already a surprise when AJ Milano signed the former Houston Rockets player this winter, but the opportunity to get an Italian passport was not yet known officially at that moment. Now, the club has confirmed that Taylor may receive Italian citizenship but for the moment, the main task is to get Mo in shape, as he stopped playing basketball over two years ago.
Taylor, who started his professional career with the Los Angeles Clippers after being drafted at the 14th spot, made a lot of impact during his years with the Houston Rockets; that team employed current AJ Milano sportive director Gianluca Pascucci as an international scout. The last three Euroleague games have been Mo’s first, and his playing time is increasing. So far, he has not play in the Italian league because of the limited number of US-born players allowed and that still-pending Italian passport.
The interesting part of the story is that Taylor may get his “open sesame” before the qualification phase for Eurobasket 2009 and his physical play could be a nice asset for an Italian national team still in search of the necessary players to go to Poland in September. So maybe we will see plays like this one in the next few weeks…
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