Lakers’ Ronny Turiaf on Team France, open heart surgery and what’s to come

Helping propel Team France to victory over Poland and Italy in the FIBA Championship games series, Lakers’ Ronny Turiaf is playing hard for a nation he once called home. The Lakers’ forward and occasional center hails from Martinique in the Caribbean and for his last three years of high school he attended Paris’ Insep, the National Institute of Physical Education. His 6′10″ stature earned him a spot on the first-team as an All-West Coast Conference player during his last three years at Gonzago Univeristy, a private Catholic school in Spokane, Washington, and he was named player of the year in 2004-2005. After being drafted by the NBA in 2005, Turiaf signed a rookie contract with the Los Angeles Lakers but unexpectedly had to undergo open heart surgery before the season started. Miraculously, Turiaf was able to renew his contract midway through the season and played - though sparingly - during the spring of 2006. He was named to the French National Basketball Team for the summer 2006 and has been working to step up his game to the level it was at when he was playing at a constant rate in college, he said in a 2006 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“To be honest, that was a great learning experience, because I needed to play basketball. I needed to get some playing time under my belt and to regain confidence in myself,” Turiaf said about the French National team. “I think I was happy about it and it gave me confidence to come back here, keep on hustling and keep on doing the dirty work.” Now as Turiaf prepares for next season he plans to bring that same contagious energy to the court that got him through his sophomore season wearing the purple and gold jersey. For Lakers tickets to this season’s games, visit Stubhub.com.

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