Little wonder, then, that Sefolosha made NBA draft day a family affair, inviting his father, mother, mother's boyfriend, brother and girlfriend to accompany him on his first trip to the United States.
Now he's living in a suburban subdivision near Andres Nocioni and Luol Deng. And the Swiss journalists have followed. Jean-Cosme Delaloye, a New York-based correspondent for 24 heures, recently profiled Sefolosha for a piece that ran on the front page of the newspaper.
"Readers are really interested," Delaloye said.
Gregoire Surdez, a sportswriter for the same paper that was founded in 1762, said via Delaloye--Surdez's English is poor--that daily articles on Sefolosha are now the norm.
He added that Switzerland's top domestic league uses Sefolosha's image to promote itself, and that questions about Sefolosha are asked at nearly every news conference following local games.
"If I can help Swiss basketball or even help young kids believe in what they're doing and believe they have a future playing basketball, that's good," Sefolosha said. "That means a lot to me."
Even the first Swiss-born player in the NBA has tattoos. One of Sefolosha's reads: "The game chose me." Sefolosha looks shocked he's asked to explain.
"I still don't know why I went into basketball and it became my passion," he said. "But now I'm here. So I feel like the game chose me."
The Bulls' franchise chose Sefolosha too. And in almost an eerie coincidence, maybe that was meant to be too.
Jim Boylan, a Bulls assistant, began his coaching career as a player/coach in Vevey. His oldest daughter was born there on May 12, 1984.
Sefolosha was born there 10 days earlier.
"I couldn't believe that when he told me," Sefolosha said. "He showed me pictures from there and everything.
"This is all something special for me. Playing for the Chicago Bulls isn't like playing for any other team in the NBA to people who grew up watching their history from a foreign country. I'm happy to be here with the team they have now and that past. It's an amazing feeling."
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By K.C. Johnson
kcjohnson@tribune.com
Extract from The Chicago Tribune - © 2006. All rights reserved.
