RONNY TURIAF- Exit Interview.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Exit Interview: Ronny Turiaf

Q: How did your meeting go?

Ronny Turiaf: It was pretty good.  Pretty good. 

Q: Did they give you things to work on?

RT: Yeah, they told me to keep working on my offensive game.  Get my body in great shape, because I feel like they're counting on me.  I think I'm going to have to do that, put myself in the best shape possible.  I think that's what's most important, to put my body in a way where I can play 48 minutes.  That's pretty much what I have to do?

Q: How are you feeling today (one day after the loss)?

RT: Um... How am I feeling today?  Let's try to put it nicely.  I feel like crap pretty much.  It's tough.  We wanted to create history.  We wanted to do something good for the city of Los Angeles, for us, for the fans and stuff, so it was very disappointing that we came so close.  Once again, a couple plays down the stretch that don't help us, a couple mental lapses.  It's basketball, but it's definitely tough.

Q: In some ways, did this season feel like a rookie season for you, in terms of being part of everything from start to finish?

RT: Yes.  You can say it that way.  Not in my head.  In my head, I was a second year player and stuff like that.  But definitely, it felt great to play from start to finish.  I played (72) games before the playoffs, so I'm proud of what I did.  I tried to stay healthy, tried to keep my body in the best condition possible.  It was fun out there.  It was fun, but too bad it came down to an end like that.

Q: What is the feeling like right now?  Is it disappointment?  Is it frustration?  Is it anger?

RT: Well, I was angry yesterday after the loss.  But now, I had a nice, quiet night.  I played with my dogs and I feel better.  But I think that we all care about each other.  I think we all wanted to do something special.  It's not like we were trying to go on vacation early.  We are professional athletes.  We want to win basketball games.  If you know us, you know we're going to try to do our best to win those games.  So it was very difficult for us not to do that.  We were always talking about how we were trying to do something special this year.  Injury came into hand and stuff like that.  So it was tough to deal with, but we cared to do our best.  It's very unfortunate that this group didn't accomplish something, because I know right now that there's probably going to be some changes in the summertime.   

Q: Is it your preference to stay here?  And did you get that sense that you'll be here next season?

RT: My first choice is to be here for the rest of my career.  I don't control all that stuff.  I got the sense that I would be back here next year, but who knows what's going to happen?  I'm hoping to be back, so you guys know I want to be here.  So know that and that's it.  Hopefully, I'll be a Laker for life.

Q: You just said that you're expecting changes.  Is that based on conversations you've had with people, or is that because of the way the season ended?

RT: No, the only reason I say that is because of what I read in the paper.  You guys kind of made it sound like there would be drastic changes this summer, so I'm only basing my comments on what you wrote in the paper.  (laughs)  So don't quote me on that one.

Q: Can this team as is compete for a championship?  If they get healthy, more mature?

RT: To be honest, I truly think so.  If you look at the beginning of the season, when everybody was healthy, we were 26-13.  We really were in tune with each other.  We really had that team chemistry, as far as knowing where the other person was, what the other person was thinking.  We were playing some pretty good basketball.  Then all of a sudden, one guy gets hurt.  We start to play a little better.  Then that guy comes back and somebody else gets hurt.  It's tough to just find some kind of a balance with each other.  We tried our best and were kind of off at the end, but it happens.

Q: You mentioned the frustration you're feeling.  Is there any comfort that can come from knowing that the Game 5 you played was not only productive, but you very clearly left it all on the court?

RT: No.  No.  To be honest with you, I know this is going to sound cliched, but I would have rather not played and the team win the basketball game.  My personal game or success really, really doesn't matter.  I mean, I'm being dead honest.  I'd rather see Kwame out there scoring 25 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, because would mean everybody's playing well and we're all on the same page. 
If I have to play 26 minutes, something is not going well for us.  That's the way I look at it.  But I definitely left everything out there on the floor.  My body's a little bit achy this morning because I'm a little bit tired, a little bit sore.  I just tried to do my best and I wish I could have scored 50 last night to help us win the ball game.  That's how I feel about it

Q: Do you feel like you improved this year?

RT: Oh, yeah.  Oh, yeah.  Even though my season had a lot of ups and downs, stuff like that, I always stayed ready.  I always worked on my game.  I feel like right now, I can knock down the wide open jumper.  I can go block some shots.  I can play defense.  And my confidence also rose to another level.  When Kwame went down at the end of the season and I was playing 20-25 minutes and having some great games, I think it helped me realize that I deserve to be out there, that I was doing a good job out there.  My confidence was sky high and I think once your confidence is sky high, you start to feel good about yourself.  Toward the end I was starting to feel like I was in college, where everything I was doing out there was positive.

Q: Speaking of being positive, you've always been known for having a lot of positive energy.  Can you apply that towards the series and use it to reconcile the way things happened?

RT: I'm gonna have to.  You know, I've been down that way before.  In college, I played four years in the NCAA tournament and had success.  And I had disappointing years.  So it's going to take me a couple days, possibly a couple weeks to get through it, because I'm so passionate about everything.  I get so happy, but I also get so low sometimes.  I'm gonna have to try to go back to Spokane, see my friends over there, just sort of take myself away from basketball a little bit.  And then go home and relax.  Hopefully, in a couple weeks, I will have put it to the side and moved on from there.

Q: Are you planning on playing for France's National team?

RT: Yeah, yeah.  Oh, yeah.  We have a big summer ahead of us.  Trying to qualify for the Olympics and stuff like that.  I want to be a part of history.  Everybody's going, so I'll be right there with them.

Q: There are players that worry that playing with a National team can tire you out during the regular season. 

RT: Well, I don't play 45 minutes a game.  I don't play 150 games.  I've been doing that stuff since I was fourteen and a half, so I won't stop it for a little while.  I think I have a couple years, one, two, three, maybe, with the National team.  I can just go to the Olympics, have some fun and then see what happens after that.

Q: You come out with an intensity and energy that nobody else can seem to match.  Are you sometimes disappointed that your energy wasn't always matched by your teammates?

RT: Disappointed?  No.  We are all different.  We have our own personality.  You can't ask a cat to be a dog.  That's me, being energetic all the time.  You don't know that somebody else, for example Drew (Bynum), that doesn't show a lot of emotion, he might be so fired up inside, but he doesn't show it, so you don't know it.  So I think we all have our own way to get ready for a game and to show that we're into the game.  I'm not disappointed at all, because I know that my teammates care about the game of basketball and I care about winning.  So I know that deep inside, there was fire and they wanted to play.

Q: A little off track, but we talked with Aaron McKie earlier and he mentioned a possible interest in coaching and how he talked a lot with the younger players.  Do you think he'd make a pretty good coach?

RT: Oh, yeah.  Awesome.  And I really mean that, because Blue, every day, every game, we were arguing about basketball.  We always argued about everything.  He always thought I was being sarcastic, but I was trying to light a fire under him, because he was going to help me.  I was going to see different sides and different points from everything.  When I was on the bench throughout my career here, he was helping me a lot because he was telling me what he saw.  The difference between the game played now and the difference played when he was a youngster.  Stuff like that, so I definitely think he's going to be a great coach, because he knows how to deal with different people, different personalities.  I think that's one great mark as a coach.  And I think he has great ideas and philosophies about basketball, so I want to see him (coach) at the college level.  I think he's going to be pretty good at that.

Q: College or the NBA?

RT: I think he's going to enjoy college more, because he's such a people person.  He loves to make an impact on somebody's life.  I saw him here, just talking to us.  Such a great vet for us for the two years he was here that I think he'll be more interested, I think he'll be better for the kids, to have a person like this.  That they can relate to, that they can talk to on a daily basis, so they he can help them be a better man or a better college basketball player.

Report Card: It's somewhat hard to evaluate how Ronny truly played this season, since he was so clearly phoning it in with such zombie-like enthusiasm.  Kidding.  Actually, I think Turiaf was the team's most improved player, especially during the season's second half when the Lakers were low enough on big men that Michael Clarke Duncan almost got a ten-day contract.  The balls-out energy one expects from Turiaf was always on display, but a 12-15 foot jumper began to fall with more regularity and he led the team in blocks per 48 minutes.  I have my doubts as to whether he could- or really, should- start at power forward in the near future.  Turiaf's frenetic style often provides a huge lift, but playing with reckless abandon can  result in being a foul machine.  As it stands, Ronny would struggle to play 30 minutes (much less 40) without a DQ.  A middle ground would need to be found, and who knows how that would affect his performance (or if the skills are even there to begin with, since he's often a more energetic defender than a truly effective one).  But no matter what Turiaf's role is next season, he's proving himself both with his play and as a teammate.  Plus, he maintained a high standard of sideline-dancing even in the face of increased minutes.  That's dedication.  Final Grade: B

[GangstaBoogy]

He better start getting more minutes next season. Turiaf = 3rd best player on the team (behind Kobe and Luke).

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

He better start getting more minutes next season. Turiaf = 3rd best player on the team (behind Kobe and Luke).

LMFAO

[R-Tistic]

LMAO....yeah, maybe attitude wise...shit he might be #1 or 2 attitude wise.

[floatin_above_everything]

He better start getting more minutes next season. Turiaf = 3rd best player on the team (behind Kobe and Luke).

Damn that sucks for LA.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Turiaf = 3rd best player on the team (behind Kobe and Luke).

There is still a lot more room for improvment for Turiaf. Playing in the Olympics will help. He should be a solid role player next season.

[Hatesrats™]

TURIAF is Heart...
Something the Laker's lack..
(Kobe & Odom excluded)...

the entire staff need's to learn.
HEART

[wcsoldier]

Ronny is a  player with the right mentality.. even if he's still can improve; I don't think he can become a huge factor.. but he knows how to bring energy , coming from the bench

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^Role players can be huge factors...I think he will be an EXCELLENT role player.

[Fonky Fresh]

My fellow frenchie  will be good next year for sho'  count on him
1st year was all about him regaining shape due to his heart surgery
2nd year that was his learning process,integrating the team etc
3rd year things should go harder now if he work hard during the summer camp he can make it big

[Stone Cold is Bout It, Bout It]

Ronny should of played more in the playoffs...

Hopefully he works hard in the summer b/c we're going to need him to be great next season if we want to win more then 45 games.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^^45 games? LOL. We woulda won well over 45 games THIS YEAR minus injuries...The goal is AT LEAST 50.

[Stone Cold is Bout It, Bout It]

45 is the most games we won the last 3 years..that's why i said we need him to be great (and a couple other players) if we want to win more then 45 games..

lol @ the kike always jumping on my nuts...

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

We don't need him to be great, we need him to be a role player...What we need is real fans.

[Juronimo]

He better start getting more minutes next season. Turiaf = 3rd best player on the team (behind Kobe and Luke).

I like Ronny but that is just absurd.

I hope the Lakers handle business and extend him. They extended Cook