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José Ortiz (born in October 23, 1963) —better known as Piculin or Picu— is a basketball player from Aibonito, Puerto Rico. He plays in Puerto Rico on the BSN for the Santurce Crabbers and is a member of the 2004 Puerto Rican National Basketball Team.
Biography
Ortiz has participated in the BSN, the NBA and Spain's national league.
Ortiz, nicknamed Piculin after one of the characters in The Wizard of Oz and The Concorde, is a native of Cayey who entered Puerto Rico's national basketball tournament with the Atleticos De San German in 1981. In 1982, Piculin had reached the mandatory age to join Puerto Rico's national basketball team, and so in 1983, he saw his first international competition, at the Pan American Games of Caracas, Venezuela.
Ortiz and his teammates took the Atleticos to many championships, beginning with the 1985 title, won 30 years after the Atleticos last title prior to then. In 1986, they reached the finals but lost, and in 1988, they made it to the semi-finals. After the '88 campaign, Ortiz joined the Utah Jazz in the NBA for the '88-1989 season, where he stayed that season and for a portion of the '89-1990 season. He then joined a team in Spain, where he played many years.
In 1997, he was let go by the Atleticos and signed with expansion team Cangrejeros De Santurce, which proceeded to win 4 national championships in a row.
After the 2002 world championships of basketball, held at Indianapolis, Ortiz announced his retirement from the national team, to coincide with national teammate Jerome Mincy's retirement from the team. But he would reconsider his decision later and rejoin the national team.
In 2003, Ortiz and the Cangrejeros won their fifth BSN championship in six years.
Ortiz as a sports personality seems affable to his fans and doesn't like to miss an opportunity to sign autographs.
Jose Ortiz is being seriously considered to carry the Puerto Rican flag at the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, where he will participate at the Olympics for the fifth time.
He also is the owner of a restaurant in his native Cayey.