Charlotte Hornets' Jeff Taylor: ‘I made bad decisions'

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For the first time since his domestic violence conviction, Charlotte Hornets power forward Jeff Taylor spoke about it. He apologized to his team, community and the victim involved in September's incident.

"(I'm) genuinely sorry for everything that happened," he said.

The NBA commissioner said Taylor drank heavily while staying at a hotel in East Lansing, Michigan, in September.

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He got into a loud argument with his girlfriend and pushed her out of the room so hard that she hit her head on the door of the room across the hall.

He then slapped her arm and punched a hole in the wall.

"I made bad decisions. I don't really want to go into it any specifics, but I just made genuinely bad decisions," he said. "I wish I could go back and change them."

He said he apologized to his girlfriend.

"She understands that people make mistakes," he said.

He said he must be punished for his mistake.

Taylor had his initial assessment at a batterers counseling center in Charlotte.

The judge ordered him to complete more than two dozen sessions.

"There is not a day that goes by that I don't regret what happened; that I don't wish I could go back in that moment and change everything, make better decisions," he said.

He has 18 months of probation and 80 hours of community service to complete.

The NBA suspended him for 24 games.

He will be fined for the 11 games he missed, and he will not be paid for the next 13 games.

The players' union said it is excessive, but Taylor said the suspension is fair and he will not fight it.

"I know I disappointed a whole lot of people," he said.