Full Timeout

minsflood

Ronny Turiaf has found a mission much larger than basketball during his playing career. His own personal journey of undergoing open-heart surgery just before joining the NBA gave him a life-changing calling that, throughout his career, has evolved into an operation geared toward helping young kids battling similar obstacles.

His Heart to Heart Foundation continues to grow because of that cause.

“We keep in mind the end goal of accomplishing our dream and helping other people shine,” Turiaf said. “It makes the day-to-day activities a little bit sweeter that with all of our effort, we might change one life. That’s all it takes.”

Turiaf’s Heart to Heart Foundation officially began its newest venture on Wednesday, an Empowerment Center in Los Angeles that further helps young continue to learn, grow and develop as individuals during their journeys. The center’s goal is to provide a place where kids, teens and young adults can take part in positive activities. They can learn leadership skills as well as study nutrition, heart health and other ways of living positive lifestyles.

Turiaf and his foundation held a ribbon-cutting for the Empowerment Center on Wednesday in conjunction with the Community Coalition of Los Angeles.

Special guests for the ribbon-cutting included Eric Batch (Vice President of the American Heart Association), Nicole Jones (Chair of the American Heart Association-Los Angeles Division), Marqueece Harris-Dawson (President/CEO of the Community Coalition) and representatives from HeartSine.

The idea for the new venture came from Turiaf’s business partners while trying to brainstorm how to continue making a lasting impact on others. They’ve worked toward raising health awareness through the Heart 2 Heart Foundation for years, but this time they wanted to take it a step further. This time, they wanted to facilitate a way to speak with kids and provide a place where they can continue developing goals for themselves along the way.

“The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow,” Turiaf said. “We want to make them feel important because they are important, and we want them to do great things.”

Turiaf said he’s proud of the progress his foundation has made since its inception in 2009. He said the important part is knowing the group as a whole is helping impact young kids’ lives.

“I’m humbled and I’m proud, because there are a lot of people that believe in me,” Turiaf said. “And it’s making all of their work and all of the volunteers and all of them who believe in helping others—it’s an honor for us.” 

column-turiafs-empowerment-center-gives-back-to-youth

Column: Turiaf's Empowerment Center Gives Back To Youth

I hope you’re all aware of the history we’re seeing right before our eyes right now in the NBA playoffs, because in all seriousness this is kind of a can’t see the forest for the trees type of situation. The San Antonio Spurs are—yawn—rolling toward what could be their sixth NBA Finals appearance in 16 years, and if they are able to win it all once again it will be the fifth title for the Gregg Popovich/Tim Duncan dynasty.

This week, the trio of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili just surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper for the most wins by three teammates in NBA postseason history. Their Game 2 victory over the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals put the Spurs’ trio at 111 wins together, passing Showtime in the process.

Think about that for a second. Then let’s dig a little deeper.

San Antonio is currently on a ride that blows all the other NBA dynasties out of the water. They’ve won at least 61 percent of their games and have made the playoffs in 17 consecutive years—including four 60-win seasons and 11 years with at least a .700 win percentage. They did it all with one coach, and they’ve won four NBA titles.

Put that into context with the league’s most noteworthy dynasties:

I’m not arguing the current Spurs are better than any of these dynasties. All four of them have more titles than San Antonio at this point, and they were crucial toward the success and advancement of the NBA in each of their respective eras. But the Spurs have quietly become team whose longevity has been unmatched, and that should be noted. They’ve been consistently coached by Popovich, they’ve been perennially successful and they haven’t had a single year during which they’ve struggled.

I mean, they won 50 games in a 66-game schedule in 2011-12.

If the Spurs win the title this year, it will give them five NBA championships during this run of excellence. It will even them with the Lakers dynasties of the 1950s and 1980s, and it will validate (as if they need it) just how dominant they’ve been during the Popovic/Duncan era. I think history will look back very, very kindly on this Spurs run, and at this point their continued dominance is beginning to gain recognition. They aren’t as sexy as Jordan’s Bulls or Magic’s Lakers, but they’ve been just as impossible to beat.

No one can argue the numbers. The Spurs’ longevity is unmatched in NBA history.

column-spurs-longevity-is-unmatched

Column: Spurs' Longevity Is Unmatched

Protected by

Aura

<a href="https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/live">Now Streaming: Rudy Gobert's DPOY Press Conference</a>