MALAGA (Spain) - Summers in Spain can be hot, even when blackouts don't occur, and air conditioning still functions perfectly. Temperatures rose high even before the end of the season in Girona, heading into vacation time in 2023.
The reason was based on the performances provided on the court throughout the whole campaign in the Liga Endesa by a newcomer to Spanish basketball.
He had played in the lower divisions of German basketball, moved all the way to Hungary, and tried to secure his place both in Israel and France. But sometimes, things don't work out.
Girona was up next for Kameron Taylor, and sometimes, things work out.
Trying to avoid relegation back to the LEB Oro after earning the club's first-ever promotion to the ACB the season before, he was one of the faces for Aito Garcia Reneses' team's rookie route at the highest level of Spanish basketball.
Alongside Quino Colom's passing mastery and Marc Gasol's old-fashioned dominancy - off the court too, as Girona's president - he ultimately found his comfort zone. As the sun started heating up Catalunya more and more, he was ready to stay.
"The club expressed they would want to sign me back, and I was happy with that," Taylor recalls while talking to the Basketball Champions League website.
But things can change fast in basketball. Especially when summertime is on.
"My agent told me to be patient, and did say that Unicaja were interested, but at that time they were signing everyone back: Kendrick [Perry] re-signed, Tyson [Carter] re-signed, Dylan [Osetkowski] re-signed. Everyone. I was looking at that situation, and I just kind of let it slide off my back."
Unicaja's project with Ibon Navarro - and his Plan - had started promisingly enough, winning the first Copa del Rey in 18 years and going all the way to the Basketball Champions League Final Four, hosting the event in Malaga.
Keeping the core together was the best option on the table for one of Spain's most prominent organizations, and having Dario Brizuela around was naturally expected.
"As I'm in the summer and my contract is closing to renew, Unicaja called me immediately. I talked to Juanma [Rodriguez], and they basically told me that Dario [Brizuela] was going to Barcelona, and I was their first choice," he remembers.
The conversation with Unicaja's sporting director was pretty clear and self-explanatory: they wanted him to fill the gap and enrich the team even more.
"They had a plan for me to be there. From then on, it was an easy decision."
Two years in the making, Kameron Taylor indeed experienced one blackout, but the lights are still on heading to his second consecutive BCL Final Four with the reigning champions. And he's smiling about it.
Stay positive, stay together
They call him el hombre de la eterna sonrisa, which translates to "the man with the eternal smile." It's easy to understand why, as it looks like he's always happy as a clam.
Being in Malaga for almost two years now, he has also managed to get happiness into whoever is around him, the club's beloved fans included.
"I think these people are very positive. They bring such a positive outlook to Unicaja and the players. I don't know if it's because they get so much sun and they live by the sea," he says.
And yes - that could be an option.
"That's the first thing you notice coming here: everyone's positivity, everyone's smiling. At the end of the day, 'look where we are' type of feeling."
Just by looking at his cabinet, Kameron Taylor must have reflected with joy at the decision to join Unicaja two summers ago, accepting that call.
After concluding his four-year tenure with the Seton Hill Griffins in 2016, he moved to Germany's second division to sign with Erdgas Ehingen, starting to climb the overseas ladder from a challenging standpoint.
From then on, he represented Dragons Rhondorf and PVSK Panthers, with a short stint at this season's BCL representative, FIT/One Wurzburg Baskets.
Bamberg, Hamburg, Maccabi Tel Aviv, one loan at SIG Strasbourg, and Girona followed.
In none of his first nine professional teams since graduating from college had he found a single winning campaign, lifting one trophy at the end of the season.
With his second season yet to be completed wearing Unicaja's jersey, the wind has started to blow in his favorite direction, claiming four highly regarded pieces of hardware.
The Basketball Champions League, the Spanish Supercup, being named MVP of the competition as well, the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 2024, and the Copa del Rey in 2025. It all started from Belgrade, though.
"After being here eight years, the first championship was my only goal. Winning it was amazing and very special," he recalls that run, playing on the LED Glass Floor.
"They and we just needed an extra oomph. I feel like I was able to provide that for the team," he says.
And it's only the beginning.
"Since last season's BCL Final Four, we brought back the same team, and we knew we could do something special."
Despite providing a multi-positional dimension, versatile scoring abilities, selflessness, and a positive attitude to Ibon Navarro's team, he stays humble.
"To be honest, I was the lucky one. I do believe that if I weren't on the team, they would still be in the same position, they would go to Final Fours, they would compete for championships, and still be a great team in ACB."
"I tried to give the team a different look and added a different dimension that gels well with everybody. On top of that, [I tried to] fit in with the chemistry of the team. Everything worked out for everybody," Taylor comments.
Just as his decision to join the team was an easy one, it couldn't be easier to accept Unicaja's proposal of extending his stay in Southern Spain until 2027.
In continuity with their way of operating in the past few years, going in countertrend respect to the tendency of changing the majority of players from one season to the next one in European basketball, he felt like he made the right choice.
"I've seen that they were going in the right direction, and when they offered me back, I knew this was a great situation for me. I love the team; I love the atmosphere. I can play my game, I'm able to know the players of my team," #6 explains.
"And I also felt like this year we had unfinished business. If you want a successful team and basketball club, you stay with that team. If I stayed here, we could have done very special things this year. We're on the journey to do it right now."
Certainly, as Unicaja and La Laguna Tenerife have both proven in the ACB and Basketball Champions League in recent memory, sticking with the same guys helps.
Kameron Taylor is perfectly conscious of what it takes to not only be successful in the span of a single season but also extend it to a winsome trajectory for quite some time. At the end of the day, he was part of an 18-game winning streak, too.
"The most successful clubs are the ones who keep their players around. Tenerife's core has been together for I don't even know how many years. Madrid have been for many years. Barcelona, at one time, had a core together for many years."
"GMs and coaches sometimes underestimate the fact of having chemistry and being able to build together, having a team for multiple years."
"When I see Unicaja bringing everybody back, I feel they understood how to be a successful basketball club."
Ibon (and the whole team)’s plan
When it comes to bringing everybody back, players aren't the only assets included in the equation. In Unicaja's case, there's a peculiar Basque coach behind it all.
"I think Ibon [Navarro] is a great guy who balances characters. We have a lot of personalities on this team, and he surrounds himself with a great coaching staff who is also able to help him balance these characters," Taylor says about his head coach.
"I don't want to say we have egos, but everybody needs a different type of attention on the team. He's able to cater to each player. There are guys who will get in their heads, guys who need confidence. He instills that in everybody."
"He does give everybody the freedom and puts everybody in a position to do what they do best," Unicaja's guard follows. It's a perfect balance to deliver on the court.
If the way Ibon Navarro has been preparing his team throughout the past three years is about sharing the ball well, always aiming for the basket by finding the perfect open spot with extra passes, the players have responded accordingly.
"I also want to give credit to the team. The coach can do so much, but the team is so selfless that we encourage each other, we play for each other to do great things as well," Taylor comments about his and his teammates' attitude.
"Ibon does do a great job of putting us in situations, but the players on the team are so unselfish, encouraging, and helpful that it makes it even easier, or makes his job even easier. We play to win, we don't play for ourselves."
If Unicaja are heading to the Final Four in Athens as the competition's leading scorers at 94.4 points per game, performing on offense with an Offensive Rating of 125 points per 100 possessions, there are tactical explanations behind it.
Ibon Navarro is the first one to come into his office to prepare the game plan alongside his coaching staff, while everybody else is splashing out three-pointers on the court – or trying to execute what to do at best.
"If he's going to put us in a position, we're working hard to make sure we're executing that, whatever he wants us to do. It goes hand in hand. It's not just me, but with everybody. You just go down the line: it's a perfect match."
Selflessness and happiness
What really stands out when thinking about Unicaja's power in the Basketball Champions League is that there's basically nobody who gets a specific and peculiar level of attention by the head coach: nobody's above the whole team.
Looking at the list of players ranked by minutes spent on the court in the competition, scrolling down until the 50th one, there's not a single Unicaja player.
That has helped get back to the Final Four, distributing responsibilities and duties.
"We handle the draining very well. We're one of the few teams, if not the only team, that's able to play players under 20 minutes," he explains.
"We come in ready to go, healthy, with a lot of energy, and then we put that on the court."
And at the same time, anybody can be effective on any given night.
"I think that we have six-seven, maybe even eight guys who can provide a lot of scoring options. We have tons of guys who can average 20 points per game if they were put in a position to average 20 every night," Taylor mentions.
"Great scorers like James Palmer (30.6) and Marcelinho Huertas (26.5) are playing 25 to 30 minutes a night. They have the ball in their hands a lot. They're able to shoot 11 to 12 times. We have that through eight guys.”
"They're all selfless. If Tyson Carter, Kendrick Perry, and Dylan Osetkowski are on the floor together, they're all able to get 25. But we all are going to make the best play. That comes from years of experience, wanting, and being around winning programs," Unicaja's third-best scorer at 9.5 points per game says.
"What's more impressive is that you can get these 20-point or these MVP caliber players and have them play for the team, being able to sacrifice. They know they won't get All-BCL Awards, or All-ACB Awards, because they averaged a little bit more than 10.0 points per game."
There's always a reason why, though. And in Unicaja's case, it's a winning reason.
"But through that sacrifice, we've put up four banners. It's a give and take with us. We love the give and take," Taylor follows up.
But what about him individually? In which ways is he helpful, offensive-wise, for Ibon Navarro’s team?
Taking a look at his highlight tape from the 33-point career-high night he had against Manisa Basket Divissa, you may realize it.
Kameron Taylor's tendency to slow down the pace when getting to the rim is perfectly connected to how Unicaja provides danger for the opponents.
"I'm constantly looking to pass. We have so many dangerous weapons. Sometimes when I get to the rim or when I'm playing one-on-one, I know that I'm going to draw a double team."
"Being able to decide whether to pass or to score in those positions is very important. Slowing it down just makes it a lot easier," he explains.
"With so many threats on our team, I don't always have the layup or I'm not going to go to the basket super-fast. I'm a guy that likes to get the team involved," Taylor adds.
That's something that hasn't changed for the Andalucian side since the triumph in Serbia from last season, despite having changed some gears in their system, such as Killian Tillie, Tyson Perez, and Aleksander Balcerowski.
"The experience in Belgrade was amazing, especially with the Final Four format, where anything can happen. It's almost like an NCAA March Madness. You have to have a whole other level of focus when you're on the court, because honestly, anything can happen in one game," he remembers about his first title.
"You don't get second chances, you don't get third chances. These aren't game fives, game threes. These are just one game; two days later, you're playing the next one. You don't have time to prepare, especially if you make it to the championship game."
And at the end of the day – at the end of the season – there might be time for another 32-tooth smile on Kameron Taylor's face.
"Personally, happiness for me is finding positivity in the good in every situation. Knowing that there's a balance, knowing that everything is going to pass," he says.
"We're at the top of the mountain when we win the Championships, knowing that it will pass. Knowing that when we lost like last year in the ACB Playoffs, knowing that we get another chance that will pass, just kind of looking forward to the next and living in the moment."
"Obviously, there aren't guys who are going to win championships every year. So, when you win a championship, enjoy the moment, live in the present after that; if you have a bad moment, you look forward to the good moment."
"Life's balance. There is no good without the bad. There is no bad without the good."
"If you're going through something bad, there's something good around the corner. When you're at your highest, don't be too high because there might be a low to come and sweep you off your feet."
Whatever happens at the BCL Final Four, powered by SUNEL, from May 9-11 in Athens, as Unicaja go up against the hosts AEK Betsson BC, Kameron Taylor already knows he will have to balance those emotions exactly how they have been balancing an uprising growth all the way up.
Getting the trophy back-to-back and adding another hardware to his cabinet all painted in purple and green is the happy goal for the hombre de la eterna sonrisa.