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Where most people might have seen the inconvenience of moving and the uncertainty of a new job unnerving, Boris Diaw saw an opportunity for adventure. So instead of booking a one-way plane ticket to Salt Lake City last summer, the 34-year-old forward called his buddy and jumped in his car.
Along the 25-hour drive from Texas to Utah, Diaw and former NBA big man Ronny Turiaf stopped at a petrified forest and a red rock slot canyon. When it was time to sleep, Diaw set up his camera and filmed a time lapse of the sunset and the swirling sky. He slipped his 6-foot-8 frame into a sleeping bag and awoke at sunrise on the edge of the Grand Canyon. He took in the moment and savored it, just as he did on a white sand desert along the way, where Diaw plugged his espresso machine into a portable battery, brewed his favorite beverage and sipped it.
"I might as well take the car and take a cool road trip. Old school," Diaw said. "I could have definitely shipped the car here, but it's an experience, you know?"
And that, in part, is why a somewhat unlikely marriage between the Utah Jazz and an NBA renaissance man might make sense after all. The Jazz wanted the 13-year veteran Diaw because of his experience, and experience is exactly what Diaw wants, too.
When Diaw was traded in July, few NBA observers doubted how well he would fit his new team. Plenty of people, however, worried how well his new town would fit Diaw.
Would Salt Lake City be interesting enough for the guy people call the most interesting man in the NBA?
Sitting in his favorite Salt Lake coffee shop, Diaw chuckles at the question.
"I think it is [overblown] because I've found a lot of cool stuff to do around here," he says. "Because I'm more of a nature guy than a city guy. Think of all the NBA cities. What city has got the best nature and landscapes and stuff like that? It's probably here. I'll feel more comfortable here than Los Angeles or New York because, yeah, I like the chillness of it."
New discoveries
Diaw, an espresso enthusiast who has already organized a coffee club for his new teammates and coaches, is a regular at Publik Coffee Roasters after practices.
"Every time I move a new place, I get to discover that place a little bit," he said on a recent afternoon as he enjoyed an espresso and two slices of toast, one with avocado and another with peanut butter and banana slices. "Find a cool spot to hang out and find everything around the city, too."
He had already picked his favorite restaurant out as a visiting player over the years, but now can visit Valter's Osteria more regularly.
"That's top notch," Diaw said.
Looking for a new sushi spot, Jazz center Rudy Gobert pointed him to Naked Fish. He enjoyed wine during a stop at BTG, a downtown wine bar. Next, the Frenchman also has his eyes set on a visit to La Caille in Cottonwood Heights.
"[But] it's not just about being and staying downtown. I want to see what's going on out there," he said.
The 34-year-old is still unpacking and settling into his new home, but is already making plans to take advantage of Utah and the surrounding states for one of his other passions: photography. He started taking pictures about 10 years ago, after leaving France for the NBA. One offseason, he visited Senegal, his father's native country, and brought a camera with him.
"I loved it," he said. "I really fell in love that first time with nature and with photography at the same time."
Each year since he has gone back to Africa, where he has safaried in South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania.
"Every time, I'm trying to add some camera equipment and pretty much try to get better every time," he said. "And every time you see something different, so I never got bored with it."
Diaw wants to visit Zion, the national parks around Moab, and the Salt Flats. Most years during the All-Star break, Diaw plants himself on an island somewhere to relax. This year, he said, he might like to visit Yellowstone. He wants to photograph wolves in the snow.
Broadened horizons
On the court and in the locker room, Diaw is settling in, too.
The Jazz acquired Diaw in exchange for the rights to former second-round pick Olivier Hanlan, taking advantage of the Spurs' need to dump salary in order to make a play in free agency. General manager Dennis Lindsey figured Diaw's skillset would fit in nicely with the Jazz's young and talented core. Diaw would bring pre-existing camaraderie and chemistry with Gobert, with whom he plays on the French national team. It's a relationship that looks to be a good one on the court, with Diaw regularly feeding Gobert for buckets during the preseason.
Diaw would also bring championship experience from his time with the San Antonio Spurs and leadership in the locker room and on the basketball court.
"It comes from being intelligent. He's got an ability to connect with a lot of different people," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. "As a result, he talks to a lot of different people, which means he's communicating. I love it. … The things he says are either funny or useful because of that intelligence."
Diaw, meanwhile, was intrigued by the chance to play for his new coach even before he arrived in Utah. Diaw had watched the Jazz because of Gobert, as he watches every team with a French player. And he'd heard stories about Snyder before his arrival. Diaw's interest was piqued by the fact that Snyder had taken a year away from the NBA to coach in Russia.
"That's already something, even before you meet the guy," Diaw said. "How many American coaches would go to Europe just for the experience, when they can have a job here in the U.S.? Going and doing that and getting that experience and being open-minded enough to do that, I already knew he was an interesting guy looking to broaden his horizon. Pretty much right there, I already knew it's probably going to click."
While his teammates play cards or video games, Diaw likes to spend his time editing his photographs and videos on flights criss-crossing the country during the season. On a flight from San Antonio to Boston last season, however, he started a different project.
Diaw had become intrigued by the thought of directing a movie after helping produce one with a group of French NBA players a year earlier. But Diaw had yet to find a script that moved him. So using some of the scripts he had read as a template, he wrote his own.
It took Diaw two flights to complete "Easy Life." The short film is the story of a father's attempt to teach his son how good he has it by telling the tale of a child soldier in Africa. Diaw hand-picked his lead, comedian and actor Cedric the Entertainer, and shot the film in Los Angeles and Hawaii over four days during the All-Star break last February.
Diaw's film has been shown at a number of festivals and he's holding out hope he might be accepted at Sundance. "I would rather go and show my movie. If I don't get selected, maybe I just do a private event or something like that," he said.
Either way, he said, he won't miss out on the action in Park City come January.
"I'm going to go for sure," he says.
Twitter: @aaronfalk