Olsen Racela

"Racela" redirects here. For his brother and current basketball head coach, see Nash Racela.
This name uses Philippine naming customs. The first family name is Escueta and the second is Racela.
Olsen Racela
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
Position Assistant coach
League PBA
Personal information
Born (1970-11-01) November 1, 1970
Quezon City, Philippines
Nationality Filipino
Listed height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight 165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
College Ateneo de Manila University
PBA draft 1993 Round: 2 / Pick: 12th overall
Selected by the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
Playing career 1993–2011
Position Point guard
Number 17
Career history
As player:
1993–1996 Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
1997–2011 San Miguel Beermen
As coach:
2012–2013 Petron Blaze Boosters
2013–2014 Purefoods Star Hotshots
2014–present Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
Career highlights and awards
  • 9× PBA Champion
  • PBA Mr. Quality Minutes (1993)
  • 3× PBA Mythical Second Team (1998, 1999, 2005)
  • 2× PBA Mythical First Team (2000–2001)
  • 5× PBA All-Star
  • 21st member of 2000-Assist Club

Rodericko Cesar Escueta Racela, also known as Olsen Racela, (born November 1, 1970) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association. He is one of the assistant coaches of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, and also became the head coach of the Philippines under-16 basketball team. He is considered as one of the best point guards who ever played in the league. He is also a former member of the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the UAAP and the Philippine national basketball team on many occasions.

Early life

Olsen Racela, born on November 1 in Quezon City, Philippines, was so named because he was born on All Saint's Day (his brother Nash was born on National Heroes' Day). As a young boy, he started playing basketball early in his life. It was just a game back then. A couple of shots through a hoop in his old neighborhood. Among his brothers, he shone out with the better basketball skills which gave him a spot in Ateneo de Manila University's varsity team.

Amateur career

Racela played for the Blue Eagles in a backup role to Jun Reyes and was a member of the Blue Eagles team that won the UAAP title in 1988. He also played in the Philippine Amateur Basketball League and the RP Youth Team.

PBA career

Purefoods

In 1993, Racela was selected 12th by Purefoods in the 1993 PBA Rookie Draft. From 1993-1996, he played the backup role to Dindo Pumaren and won two titles with the Purefoods franchise under a limited role with the team.

San Miguel Beermen

In 1997, Racela moved to the San Miguel Beermen in what became the turnaround of his young career. Under new San Miguel head coach Ron Jacobs, Racela's skills were noticed under a rebuilding Beermen squad of Nelson Asaytono, Freddie Abuda and Mike Mustre.

In 1998, Racela's game would improve and was rewarded with a spot on the Tim Cone-coached Philippine Centennial Team that took home a bronze medal in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. A season later, with Racela as its top point guard, San Miguel became the league's new dynasty under Jong Uichico, winning five titles from 1999-2001.

2002 Busan Asiad

He made his second stint in the national team in 2002 for the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. With Racela as point guard, the Nationals made it all the way through the semifinals against host South Korea. In the final minute, Racela scored a three-pointer to give the Philippines the lead. However, after recovering the possession and was fouled, he missed two crucial free throws that could have given the country a four-point lead. Instead, Lee Sang Min's buzzer-beating triple gave the Koreans a dramatic 69-68 victory. Some argued that the blame rest on Jong Uichico's coaching in which he didn't set out a plan to ease Racela's pressure from the 15th foot line.

Despite the missed free-throws, Racela continued to shine in his point guard duties with San Miguel. In 2004, he dished his 2,000th career assist and was the starting point guard when the Beermen won another title in the 2005 PBA Fiesta Conference.

Starting in the 2007-08 All Filipino Conference, Racela occasionally plays off the bench in preparation for his retirement and life as an assistant coach.

On August 11, 2010, Racela became the fifth player alongside Ramon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski, Abet Guidaben & Philip Cezar to play at least 900 games in the PBA.

League's oldest active Player and Retirement

After Johnny Abarrientos announced his retirement, Racela will play for another PBA season with San Miguel. He turned 40 on November 1, 2010 and was the senior statesman of the PBA during that season. He announced his retirement on January 28, 2011 at the Araneta Coliseum at the start of Game 4 of the finals. He had played the entire finals series before he hanged up his #17 jersey in which Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters subdued San Miguel Beermen in 6 games.

Personal life

Racela's nickname was based on the day of his birth as it was during All-Saints Day.

His brother, Raoul Cesar or Nash Racela, is currently the head coach of the TNT KaTropa and the former head coach of the FEU Tamaraws in the UAAP. Nash also coached the Batangas Blades in the Metropolitan Basketball Association. He has 3 children namely Ryan, Raya and Rafa.

Basketball career

School leagues

Philippine Basketball League

Philippine Basketball Association

National teams

Awards and achievements

Philippine Basketball Association

PBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played  MPG  Minutes per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage
 3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game
 PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Correct as of July 26, 2011[1]

Season-by-season averages

Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1993 Coney Island/Purefoods 43 8.3 .514 .333 .700 0.9 1.3 .4 .1 3.4
1994 Coney Island/Purefoods 62 15.6 .479 .444 .661 0.9 1.5 .4 .1 3.7
1995 Purefoods 59 24.8 .502 .222 .851 1.7 3.1 1.2 .1 6.7
1996 Purefoods Corned Beef 58 22.6 .454 .115 .795 1.5 3.0 .8 .1 6.4
1997 San Miguel 62 40.0 .439 .316 .876 1.8 4.7 .7 .1 11.4
1998 San Miguel 49 38.2 .455 .292 .847 2.8 4.5 1.1 .2 8.8
1999 San Miguel 53 34.2 .399 .233 .843 2.3 3.6 .8 .1 7.3
2000 San Miguel 58 32.9 .461 .383 .839 2.3 3.0 .6 .1 9.6
2001 San Miguel 70 34.3 .395 .381 .871 2.2 2.8 .8 .03 10.9
2002 San Miguel 12 26.2 .384 .294 .800 1.9 4.6 .9 .2 9.7
2003 San Miguel 50 32.5 .417 .373 .865 3.0 4.8 1.1 .1 10.8
2004-05 San Miguel 78 34.0 .398 .354 .827 2.2 5.3 1.1 .1 11.4
2005-06 San Miguel 43 32.6 .367 .305 .863 2.7 4.3 1.1 .1 8.3
2006-07 San Miguel 62 26.3 .373 .286 .872 2.3 3.5 1.0 .1 8.5
2007-08 Magnolia 47 20.0 .426 .391 .912 1.6 2.5 .6 .1 6.3
2008-09 San Miguel 56 20.0 .387 .327 .828 1.9 3.2 .6 .04 6.0
2009-10 San Miguel 39 11.0 .393 .328 .833 0.8 1.2 .6 .03 3.2
2010-11 San Miguel 24 12.0 .344 .303 .875 0.8 1.7 .3 .0 3.0
Career 925 27.0 .419 .334 .841 1.9 3.3 .8 .1 7.8

References

  1. ↑ http://www.pba-online.net/profile/Olsen-Racela/
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