It was a busy March for Ronny Turiaf, who was traded from the Wizards to the Nuggets in the Nene/JaVale McGee blockbuster, then was waived by Denver. After clearing waivers, Turiaf reportedly drew interest from than ten teams before he ended up signing with the Heat, where he saw his first on-court action since January 1st.
Turiaf spoke to Peter May of ESPN Boston before yesterday's Heat/Celtics contest about how close he came to choosing Boston over Miami, along with a few other topics:
- Turiaf chose the Heat after narrowing his options down to "two or three teams." The Celtics were one of those finalists and the big man strongly considered choosing Boston: "Boston was a team I was very, very interested in by the simple fact of the way they play defense, that they are being coached by a future Hall of Famer coach and they have Hall of Fame basketball players on their squad. It was very appealing to me."
- It would have been "very special" to play with fellow Frenchman Mickael Pietrus in Boston, says Turiaf. Perhaps the two friends will get a chance to play together in the future. Pietrus is on an expiring contract, while Turiaf has a small player option with Miami that he may turn down.
- After they missed out on Turiaf, the Celtics signed Ryan Hollins, waiving Chris Wilcox to clear a roster spot. Turiaf says he's been meaning to reach out to Wilcox, who underwent surgery for a heart ailment: "That’s something that’s very, very important to me. I have talked to many, many people about what it’s like to go through this ordeal."