TURIAF’S PROFESSIONAL DEBUT — Looking back on it, I was really pleased to be the host GM on the night Ronny Turiaf made his professional debut. When it was announced that he would be playing in Boise, our sales team filled a section with Boise-based Zag fans, and Turiaf played pretty well in the game. There was a lot of media and after the game he was slow coming out of the lockerroom, so I finally ventured into the Sun Kings room to get him. Turiaf was just sitting quietly, still in game uniform. He looked up at me and nodded and followed me out. I congratulated him on his game and he said a quiet ‘thanks.’ Then he dealt with the media. A couple weeks later he joined the LA Lakers, and there he be.
That was one of those good nights in the CBA, when you didn’t really care if you won or lost (okay then, we won). The game had some star power, but also significance. This Turiaf is a great kid (according to MaryEllen Violette) and it was inspiring to see him in action. Still is, for that matter.
Steve Bergum, Staff writer
Spokesman Review
December 27, 2005
BOISE – For a young man who, five months ago, was lying unconscious on an operating table with his chest pried open and his exposed, ailing heart beating in the hands of another human being, Ronny Turiaf is doing quite well.
Well enough, in fact, to return to professional basketball. The former Gonzaga University standout and second-round draft pick of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers made his debut for the Continental Basketball Association’s Yakama Sun Kings Monday night, scoring nine points and pulling down five rebounds in a 120-111 loss to the Idaho Stampede in Qwest Arena.
