Last acts for the Lakers: the exit interviews
LAKERS
After a good season with a bad end, team members give their thoughts on this year and the next. Ronny Turiaf and Trevor Ariza hope to be back.
A sparkling season that ended with a thud in Boston in Game 6 of the NBA Finals officially concludes the next two days with the Lakers going through their exit interviews.
The Times will update throughout the morning and afternoon with player reflections on the season and their thoughts heading forward.
Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher will have their interviews tomorrow.
The rest of the team will go today.
Ronny Turiaf
The forward will be a restricted free agent this summer and faces a possible logjam in the frontcourt with the return of Andrew Bynum next season.
Still, he said he is not worried about his pending free agency and stated his preference for returning to the Lakers.
He said that he can fill a tough-man presence and slide easily into the rotation should there be another injury.
"Last time I checked, I was the only Laker to be ejected from a game," he said, referring to the second round of the playoffs when he was ejected for tossing Utah's Ronnie Price to the ground.
Trevor Ariza
He missed a large chunk of the season with a broken right foot before finally seeing some select minutes in the NBA Finals.
Ariza has an opt-out clause in his contract, but said he will return to the Lakers, calling it a dream to play in the city where he grew up.
"They told me this is a good place for me, that I fit in really well," Ariza said.
Ariza said he experienced no pain in his foot during the playoffs, but has an MRI scheduled Monday as a precaution to see how it reacted to playing time.
This summer, he said he will focus on handling the ball and shooting and trying to add 10 pounds.
Next season, he will change jersey numbers from No. 3 to No. 1.
