By: PABLO CORMICK

MOGI DAS CRUZES (DIRECTV Liga de las Américas 2018) — Larry Taylor was born and raised in Chicago, the city where he discovered his passion for basketball. He also fell in love there with music, especially rap. In 2008, after a few years of playing in the Mexican and Venezuelan leagues, Larry went to Brazil. And he is here to stay.

After three seasons in Brazilian basketball, the point guard received an offer that changed his life. “On 2011, I started talks with the directives of the Brazilian Basketball Confederation (CBB, for its Portuguese acronym) because they wanted to know if I had an interest to become naturalized. I thought about the fact that I had been in Brazil for three years, in the love I felt for the country and that accepting (to become naturalized) was a way of showing it. Having the opportunity to play in the National Team with great players that had played in Europe and in the NBA was a true honor, and in the 2012 London Olympic Games I could do so for the first time.”

His bond with the Brazilian team lasted until 2016, when he was cut from the team shortly before the Rio Olympic Games. The love he feels for that jersey and the country that adopted him will last forever. As will the affection that links him to Bauru, the club that signed him in 2008 and where he played until 2015. There he became a Liga de las Américas champion. Then he was changed to his current club, Mogi das Cruzes. When he went to play for the first time as visitor to the place that was his home for 7 years, he was welcomed in the best way possible: with a ceremony to retire his #4 jersey and his picture displayed at Bauru’s stadium, Panela de Pressão. “It was an incredible homage, it was something very special. I can’t find the world to explain the emotions that I felt with that recognition. All players dream with something like it and it happened to me. Every time I think about that moment I get emotional and want to cry. I’ll remember it throughout my life and it's something that I’ll share with my grandchildren,” says Taylor.

At Mogi he has also known how to win the fans’ respect, although for Larry it is difficult to think that someday he will have to leave: “I don't know if the same thing will happen at Mogi, what I do know is that each time I put on that jersey, I give it a 100% and I hope that Mogi fans can feel that and know that they can always count on me.”

The 10 years that Larry Taylor has been in Brazil have made him to incorporate some of his adoptive country’s traditions. “I like a lot of Brazilian things: samba, pagode (music genres), the songs, the rhythms and their music in general. I also like their beverages, such as caipirinha; and of course, their beaches, especially those in Rio de Janeiro,” the playmaker says.

Although Larry spends most of his time in basketball, he does not forget his other passion, music. Such is the case that in 2015, he recorded a song he composed: Be who you are. Until now, it is the only music he has published. “My two great passions in life are basketball and music. I intend to continue my career as a musician once I stop playing. My greatest desire is to sing and produce music, always leaning toward rap, which is my favorite style,” Taylor explains.

This veteran player still does not know if he will stay in the country that adopted him or if he will return to the one where he was born: “I still haven’t figured out if once I retire I’ll keep living in Brazil or if I’ll go back to United States. For now, I think that I’ll keep playing until I'm 40 and then I’ll see what the future brings.” What he does know is that with American roots and some Brazilian traditions, he will keep being who he is.

FIBA