José Ortiz (basketball)

José Rafael "Piculín" Ortiz Rijos (born October 25, 1963) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player.

He played in the NCAA, NBA, various European teams, and in Puerto Rico's Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN).

While he was in the NBA, he played with the Utah Jazz.

He played with the Puerto Rican clubs Atléticos de San Germán, Cangrejeros de Santurce, and Capitanes de Arecibo, while he was in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional.

Ortiz was born in Aibonito, Puerto Rico on October 25, 1963, but he was raised in Cayey.

He started his basketball career playing as a center, at Benjamin Harrison High School in Cayey.

He was nicknamed Piculín, after one of the characters in The Wizard of Oz and The Concorde, as a reference to the popular plane and his height (6'11"). Ortiz earned a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Oregon State University.

In 1980, at age 17, Ortiz debuted with the Atléticos de San Germán from the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league in Puerto Rico.

Ortiz was also a member of the senior Puerto Rican national team, from 1983 to 2004.

Ortiz attended Oregon State University, where he played college basketball with the Oregon State Beavers, from 1985 to 1987, under the team's head coach Ralph Miller.

At Oregon State, he was a teammate of future Basketball Hall of Fame player Gary Payton, during the latter's freshman year.

During his two seasons with the Beavers, Ortiz averaged 19.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.

As his career progressed, he improved his game significantly, and he led San Germán to a league championship in 1985.

That season, Ortiz averaged more than 25 points and 14 rebounds per game.

After the 1986–87 season, he was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year, finishing ahead of (among others) future Basketball Hall of Fame player Reggie Miller of UCLA, in the voting.

Ortiz also earned an NCAA DI All-American Honorable Mention, in the 1986–87 season.

After graduating from Oregon State University, Ortiz entered the 1987 NBA draft.

He was selected in the first round, with the number 15 overall draft pick, by the Utah Jazz.

With Puerto Rico, Ortiz played in four different Summer Olympics, as he played at the 1988 Seoul Games, the 1992 Barcelona Games, the 1996 Atlanta Games, and the 2004 Athens Games.

Ortiz holds various honors and records as a basketball player.

He ranks fourth and sixth among the all-time statistical leaders for rebounds per game and total rebounds, in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league.

He was also just the third player to have won eight championships in the BSN league.

Ortiz was also the first Puerto Rican-born player that was drafted into the NBA.

Many basketball experts consider Ortiz to be the best Puerto Rican basketball player of all-time.

Despite his success in sports, Ortiz went through financial troubles, after he retired from playing professional club basketball.

He would lead the team to a second league title in 1991, while he averaged 19 points and 15.8 rebounds per game.

After the 1991 season, Ortiz left the Puerto Rican League to play in Europe.

He would return to the league in 1994, and lead San Germán to yet another title.

In 1998, Ortiz was released by San Germán.

He then went on to play with Cangrejeros de Santurce, and helped them win four titles in a row (1998–2001).

In 2002, Ortiz was named the Most Valuable Player of the league, although his team did not reach the league's Finals.

Ortiz and the Cangrejeros again won another league title, in 2003, making Ortiz only the third player to win eight titles in the league.

Most notably, he was a member of the 2004 Puerto Rican team that defeated the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Ortiz played with Santurce for two more years, and in 2006, he played with the Capitanes de Arecibo.

However, he retired after just one season with the team.

He finished his career in the BSN league with 8,915 points, 5,314 rebounds (#6), and 1,134 assists, in 505 regular season games played.

To this day, he is considered by many experts to be the best Puerto Rican basketball player.

In 2011, he was arrested for the possession of 218 marijuana plants.

He was sentenced to six months in prison.

On August 30, 2019, Ortiz was inducted into the FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, in honor of his career with the senior Puerto Rican national basketball team, and his club career, that spanned a period of 26 years.