You could see two old comrades sharing a warm embrace on the floor of the Staples previous to the Knicks at Lakers last Sunday. Kobe Bryant and Ronny Turiaf did not go for the customary quick chest bump and machine gun hug with slap in the back en vogue today in the league. Rather, they hugged with gusto, truly like two friends who haven’t seen each other in a while.
Bryant held Turiaf’s forearm almost lovingly, like a grandpa. Ronny talked with familiarity, probably about a health issue, a basketball injury maybe, but it could have been an ailing relative. That’s how heartfelt and intimate it looked.
One can make a strong case that in his heart Turiaf is and will always be a Laker, no matter what team he plays for. See, the bond between the Lakers and Ronny goes deeper than usual. After standing out at Gonzaga, Turiaf was drafted by the purple and gold in 2005, and immediately the organization asked him to undergo open heart surgery to fix a condition in his aorta that had been dismissed by previous doctors.
The team assumed the risk of losing him as a player while paying for all medical expenses, so in a sense, the first thing the Lakers did for Ronny could have been saving his heart and life, in addition to giving him a job in the best ball club in history.
Talk about heart warming starts. Ronny hasn’t forgotten about that one, and when he joined the New York Knicks last summer he thanked the Lakers and specifically Phil Jackson for their support during one of the most difficult moments in his life. Of course the surgery was successful, and Ronny is always quick to dismiss the rumors that he cannot play for more than 20 minutes.
Next: Ronny Vs. Pau
Turiaf was a key piece in the Laker rotation during two full seasons, 06-07 and 07-08. The French énérgetique contributed greatly to the Lakers return to championship form, delivering the extra juice from the bench that a crafty ball alchemist like Jackson is always so focused on controlling. Unsurprisingly, Turiaf has clocked some of the highest stats of his career early in that 06-07 season.
As a power forward, Turiaf plays in the same position as Gasol, and they have shared many minutes together. That familiarity showed at the game against New York last Sunday: it was interesting to see them both working around the same zones of the hardwood, both distributing the ball smartly from the elbow. And surely, Ronny and Gasol matched defensively near the post. Turiaf is slightly lighter and shorter than the Spaniard but knew exactly how to push his weight behind him to deter him from making any move.
With Turiaf battling him for position in three consecutive Laker offenses, Gasol gave the rock the first time without trying anything. The second time he spun and reversed looking to find some rim, but Turiaf stuck to him flawlessly and he had to pass the ball again. The third time the Spaniard spun lightning quick neatly leaving Turiaf behind, but Ronny reached and cleanly slapped the ball out of Gasol’s hands: no whistle. Why the Knicks coach did not continue to exploit this edge is mysterious to me, as Turiaf only played for a little more than six minutes. Stoudemire might be the visible face putting the New York Knicks in the headlines again, but having a skilled and knowledgeable champion like Turiaf contributing is one of the many intangibles that will make them a winning basketball team again. This one, they lost. Maybe they should have used experienced ex-laker Ronny Turiaf a little bit more.