The former EuroLeague champ was sold immediately on Wolves' project in its infancy by club president Rimantas Kaukenas
Jeffery Taylor is proud of Wolves' growth and his role in it
Player Spotlight
10 Mins read
When it comes to players who can most appreciate the current five-game winning streak for Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius, there are Kristupas Zemaitis and Regimantas Miniotas, who have been there from the very beginning. But Jeffery Taylor can also lay claim to a huge part of the club’s success after he was sold immediately on the idea of the club in its infancy.
Zemaitis and Miniotas are the only two players from the opening-day roster in 2022 when Wolves debuted in the Lithuanian top flight. Taylor joined the club just before Christmas that year – only days after a chat with club president Rimantas Kaukenas.
“Rimantas called me and was explaining the project to me. And I was just very, very interested and motivated from the start to come here and help. Just being part of something from the ground up and being able to potentially make history and keep making history, growing this brand and growing this club is something very, very interesting and fun to do as a competitor,” recalled Taylor, who in December 2022 was at home in Sweden without a job after having spent the previous seven years with Real Madrid.
Taylor’s agent spoke with Kaunkenas and then brought the idea to the then-33-year-old forward. About a week after speaking with Kaukenas, Taylor signed a one-year deal.
“Kaukenas is known as a great competitor. And he just sold me on the idea of coming here and competing and making history and taking this thing to the next level. And for me, after we had that talk, it was a no-brainer. I was sold,” he said.
Kaukenas played professionally in Europe from 2000 to 2017 in his native Lithuania, Israel, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain. The former shooting guard found his greatest success in Italy, where he played five seasons in the EuroLeague with Montepaschi Siena and helped the team reach the Final Four in 2008. Kaukenas also competed in the EuroLeague with Real Madrid, Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zalgiris Kaunas.
The Vilnius native also played more than a decade for the Lithuanian national team and appeared in many big tournaments, including a third-place finish at EuroBasket 2007 and a semifinal berth at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Manned with the experience of winning the 2018 EuroLeague crown as well as four Spanish League titles with Real Madrid, Taylor was an integral part in Wolves taking third place in the Lithuanian League in its first season.
Taylor decided to stay in Vilnius and see what else the club could do. He signed a two-year contract with an option for an additional season.
“It's been a really fun, interesting ride to see this thing basically from the beginning up until now, how much we've grown from the very beginning up until the position we're in today in 2024,” Taylor said.
Last season, Wolves went 8-8 in the regular season in its EuroCup debut, missing the playoffs by just one victory. The club also finished third in the Lithuanian League again and then beat Neptunas in the first round of the playoffs before taking Rytas Vilnius to five games in the semifinals.
“I think that throughout the first years, we've grown a lot. We've shown that we want to be around for the long run. We want to be competitive. We want to be in the playoffs and play for something every season and get to places where the team hasn't been before,” Taylor said.
This current five-game winning streak has seen Taylor and co. win at Joventut Badalona, Trefl Sopot and Dreamland Gran Canaria in addition to home wins over Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul and Dolomiti Energia Trento. During that stretch, Wolves also defeated EuroLeague side Zalgiris Kaunas 100-82 in the domestic league.
“For us, the focus every game is to be really, really solid on defense; play with physicality, sticking with our principles and our details. And I think that's kind of what changed the most during this winning streak. We really just kind of came together in those different departments,” said Taylor, who could not help Wolves from losing its first three games of the EuroCup season.
“It was never a problem of scoring the ball. We have a lot of guys who can score the ball. For us, it was just always going to be about defense and playing with a high level of physicality and going from there.”
And what about being in Vilnius, which is well known as a basketball hotbed but dominated by two-time EuroCup winners and seven-time national champions Rytas Vilnius.
"I do believe Vilnius is big enough to have two teams. More good basketball anywhere is always a good thing in my opinion,” Taylor countered. “The city has been historically Rytas's city. They have so much history. It's a well accomplished club. But for our part we want to just keep growing, keep making history, keep making our own history.”
Just like how Taylor was convinced from the beginning.