Ex-Cyclone Taylor D-veloping new path to NBA

I have found hope for Derrick Caracter.

His name is Mike Taylor, and he was on the third court at The Milk House in the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex last week, shooting jumper after jumper long after most of the other participants at the NBA Pre-Draft Camp had abandoned the gym for their room at the glamorous Hyatt Grand Cypress.

Dismissed at Iowa State, Taylor (24) is charting a new path to the NBA. (Getty Images)

He was working, diligently and hard. And it was the first time I had seen Taylor since the day I figured I had seen him for the last time. You know, that day last July when he was dismissed from Iowa State and by extension the consciousness of college basketball and college basketball writers.

"I thought I was finished," Taylor said. "Far as the NBA, I thought it was over."

But it wasn't.

That's the remarkable thing.

And why Caracter should pay attention.

Taylor signed with the Idaho Stampede and averaged 14.5 points per game this past season. He was a key component of the D-League champions. But because he left Iowa State after last year's NBA Draft and thus wasn't eligible to be selected in 2007, Taylor is available for this month's NBA Draft, which is why he was invited to the NBA Pre-Draft Camp in Orlando despite already being a professional. And guess what: He looked like a professional, like a guy completely comfortable in the setting, like a guy who understood what to do and when to do it.

"Mike Taylor is the best player here," read the text message from a coach in the stands watching Thursday night as Taylor got 24 points on 12 shots. "This is going to start a trend of guys leaving early and going to the D-League to prepare, I think."

Which brings me back to Caracter, that knucklehead from Louisville.

Once considered the best player his age, Caracter has spent the past few years wasting more talent than Amy Winehouse while former classmates Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Kevin Durant, Thaddeus Young, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Darrell Arthur, Ty Lawson, D.J. Augustin and Russell Westbrook -- just to name a few -- have flourished. It has been sad to watch from a distance and impossible to deal with up close, proof being how Louisville coach Rick Pitino basically pushed Caracter out of the Cardinals program, his value as a player no longer high enough to make his off-the-court issues worth the headache.

The smart money has Caracter finished as a legitimate prospect.

If you're betting, bet that way.