ORLANDO, Fla. — Taylor Hendricks’ Florida roots run deep. Before his one season at UCF, his development as a player blossomed at Calvary Christian High School in Fort Lauderdale.
On Thursday night, he became the 9th overall pick in the NBA Draft, selected by the Utah Jazz.
His freshman year of high school, Hendricks was averaging 15 points and seven rebounds a game — making him someone to watch. His high school coach, Cilk McSweeney, saw that spark in him early on.
“We meet a lot of guys, you know, like, maybe the next Taylor,” McSweeney said.
McSweeney met Taylor and his twin brother, Tyler, when they were 15 and played for a rival high school. They moved to join Calvary’s program in Fort Lauderdale, where they would win consecutive state championships in 2021 and 2022.
McSweeney saw the potential in that 15-year-old, potential Hendricks is living out today as he waits to hear his name called Thursday night among the top selections in the 2023 NBA Draft. He could be picked in the Top 10.
“We all thought that. But this early? No. This early, he was to be a one-and-done out of UCF? We never imagined that,” McSweeney said.
Hendricks’ trajectory skyrocketed from his time in high school to draft week, but it took a couple nudges from his coach to get the notice he knew Hendricks was needing.
“I remember about a year ago, I was trying to beg the Iverson Classic, the Jordan Game, (the) McDonald's (All American) Game, pick this kid up,” McSweeney said. “He killed a lot of these kids in prep school (at) IMG, Montverde, and he wasn’t getting the credit he deserved.”
After graduating Calvary Christian, Taylor and Tyler Hendricks signed with UCF. In the year since high school, Hendricks and McSweeney regularly spoke, McSweeney often coming to Orlando to see home games and give pointers on his game.
In the days before the NBA Draft in Brooklyn, Hendricks and his mother, Danielle, were tying up loose ends in Fort Lauderdale, like getting his draft night suit perfected. Taylor called his former coach to give him an update heading into draft night.
“It’s just me, like, traveling to visit different teams, having dinners to meet with different organizations and things like that, but I’m not really nervous yet,” Hendricks said. “I feel like when I get there I’ll be nervous, but right now, I’m just regular.”
Hendricks not only became the highest drafted player out of UCF and the Knights' first in the first round, but also was the first player drafted from Calvary Christian.
“It's just a blessing, you know. Not many people make it from Fort Lauderdale and just to be another guy from Fort Lauderdale to make it, I feel like I can inspire a lot of people,” Hendricks said.
Hendricks addressed a basketball camp run by McSweeney that was full of hopeful young players who listened to advice from an NBA prospect.
“Just keep school first, and surround yourself with good people,” Hendricks told the campers.
Those same sentiments have taken him a long way over the past year at UCF. Hendricks burst onto the scene in his first game of the season, dropping 23 points in his Knights debut.
“I remember the very first NBA call that I got from the Spurs on September 15," McSweeney said. "You can see Hendricks put the emoji eyes, like ‘wow.’ Everybody started calling since then. Boom! The Taylor show started.”
Twenty-seven of the 30 NBA teams have reached out to McSweeney to learn more about the person and player Taylor Hendricks is, the coach said.
“There’s no better person that I would want this to stuff happen to than Taylor," McSweeney said. "Taylor’s such a remarkable kid, never an attitude, always coachable. And that always made it easy as a coach.”
At Calvary Christian during the summer, hopeful players are getting their starts in the game, just like Hendricks once had with the guidance of McSweeney.
“It’s awesome to open up doors for these young kids and just give them a chance to get to that next level," McSweeney said. "I’m excited to be a vessel and a door-opener for a lot of these young men. It’s been awesome and rewarding to be able to have a mom come back and say, ‘Man, you changed my kid’s life'.”