By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
As Stankovic states: “This is another difficult choice. I had 20 candidates in my short list of non-USA and non-European players. I thought about names like Chicho Sibilio (Dominican Rpeublic), Carl Herrera (Venezuela), Daniel Santiago and Ramon Rivas (Puerto Rico), or Jean-Jacques Conceicao (Angola)…. Some of them will surely be on other lists, so I finally settled for these 10.”
10. Manuel Raga (Mexico, 1944)
Basketball knew about Raga from the world championship of 1963. His 24 points against Canada or 20 against Uruguay were signs telling the world that this 19-year-old point guard had the talent. Four years later, his average in the following world championship was 15.6 points. The following year, after Raga shined at home in the 1968 Olympics, Varese of Italy signed him as the leader of a new project. His first nickname was ‘Indio’ but soon he became the ‘Flying Mexican’ or ‘The Phenomenon’. He was a natural-born scorer with a great ability for rebounds. He won three Italian League scudettos with Varese, three EuroLeague titles and two Intercontinental Cups. He was also the first non-American player to be drafted into the NBA, in 1970, picked by Atlanta in the seventh round, but he never played in the NBA. Raga returned to Europe thanks to a great initiative by Euroleague Basketball during the 2008 Final Four in Madrid. There, the 50th anniversary of European competitions spawned a list of the 50 biggest contributors to our sport during all those years. Of course, Manuel Raga could not miss being on that list. In Madrid, he was moved by the recognition and he managed to meet many old teammates and rivals to reminisce about the golden years. He was also back to “his” Varese on March 12, 2010 to receive, in front of 2,500 people, the recognition of Honorary Citizen. Varese had not forgotten about its idol during the 1970s.
9. Jose Rafael ‘Piculin’ Ortiz (Puerto Rico, 1963)
He was born and raised in Puerto Rico, but Ortiz learned basketball in the United States. He was the first Puerto Rican draftee in the NBAl chosen 15th in 1987 by Utah. However, a call from Zaragoza, Spain changed his fate. He went back to the USA for the 1989-1990 season and made his debut in the NBA with 13 games played, but soon returned to Europe to join Real Madrid. In Spain he also wore the jerseys of Barcelona, Andorra and Malaga, averaging 15.2 points and 7.3 rebounds. His next stop would be Greece, for Larissa, Iraklis and Aris. With Puerto Rico he played in five World Championships and four Olympic Games. He was a big man at 2.11 meters, but he could move well and his long-range shot allowed him to even play small forward at times.