Josiah Turner is on the move again.
The 2009-10 Bee High School Boys Basketball Player of the Year who attended four high schools and was set to attend his second college will focus on a professional basketball career, the 6-foot-3 guard told Yahoo Sports this week.
Turner said he hopes to sign a contract with a pro team overseas or with the NBA Development League. An NBA executive said Wednesday Turner "has talent but he needs to grow up before anyone takes a serious look at him."
Turner was dismissed from the Sacramento High team during his senior season (2010-11) for missing practices and games, and he was dismissed from the University of Arizona team late last season for myriad disciplinary reasons.
Turner had planned to transfer to SMU.
"I had to step back and re-evaluate what my main goal and my dream was," Turner told Yahoo. "My dream is to be a professional athlete in the NBA, and I think this is what's going to bring me closer to it."
Turner was benched a total of five games for two separate suspensions at Arizona. In April, Turner was arrested by Arizona campus police for driving under the influence. Turner told Yahoo that alcohol and marijuana were "big issues" that troubled him at Arizona.
"My maturity level now is way higher than it was when I was in Arizona," Turner said. "I was young. I made mistakes. I just learned a lot from last year thinking about where I could be at right now and thinking about the things I did last year. It was all stupid."
Turner said he is ready to be a better role model.
"I just can't wait to show everyone that I'm a new person and that my maturity level is higher," he said. "I lost a lot of fans, a lot of younger people that looked up to me. I want to earn them all back."
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