Bryce Taylor wants to continue building momentum for the Boom

By RICHIE HALL

Bryce Taylor, the new Noblesville Boom head coach, has been playing or coaching high-level basketball for over 20 years.

That includes the past three years, during which time Taylor was an assistant coach for the Boom, the G League affiliate of the Indiana Pacers. On Monday, the team announced Taylor’s promotion to the head coaching job. Taylor spoke to The Reporter on Thursday, where the new coach said he was “grateful and excited for the opportunity.”

“It’s been a natural growth period and trajectory in my career,” said Taylor. “Things in Noblesville last year were great.”

Taylor said he wants to continue building that momentum for next season. He was with the Boom when it made the transition from being the Indiana Mad Ants to its current name and venue at The Arena at Innovation Mile.

“I thought it was pretty smooth,” said Taylor. “It’s nice to have our own space on game day. The facility is first class. We just want to continue to grow and have a product that people will support and be proud about.”

The Boom finished 16-20 in their first year at Noblesville. Taylor said the season was up and down due to roster fluidity but noted that the team “had a good group of young men who were coachable and competed together.”

“I thought we shared the ball really well and we were a good shooting team,” said Taylor. “I thought defensively, we turned teams over.” The coach noted that the Boom “applied pressure defensively and overall, we just had a competitive group. Even if we had limited roster players, we knew we were going to come in and compete and put ourselves in a position where we had a chance.”

As for the upcoming season’s roster, Taylor said it was “still pretty early in the process” of putting that together. The G League rosters can be changeable, with one of the reasons being players getting called up to the NBA.

Taylor said roster changes are one of the unique factors of the G League experience, and that coaches need to not only be adaptable and flexible but also prepare players for that uncertainty by being clear with your communication.

“It just comes up being adaptable and being a good communicator,” said Taylor. “Just daily check-ins with each guy. Helping them understand, it’s different from what they’re used to in college. You may not know exactly when or how many minutes you’re playing.”

Taylor was a standout player for the University of Oregon, from which he graduated during the 2007-08 season. He went on to play for 13 years in European leagues, including a four-year stint for Bayern Munich. Taylor was part of the Bayern team that won the Basketball Bundesliga championship in 2014.

Taylor transitioned into coaching in 2021, first as a player development coach for the Pacers. He then spent a year as an assistant coach for another Bundesliga team, the EWE Baskets Oldenburg, before returning to Indiana.

As for basketball style, Taylor said the Boom want to “mirror what our parent club is doing and we’ll just adapt that for the strengths of our team. You want to play an exciting type of basketball and be competitive. We want there to be a tangible, notable difference by the end of the season.”