PBA Veteran Ranidel de Ocampo and His Success to Gilas Pilipinas

If you are to do a list of great players who played for the Talk n Text franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Ranidel de Ocampo is definitely up there. It's practically the same thing when you talk about the great players who don the national colors and represent the Philippines in various international competitions. Ranidel de Ocampo is definitely one of the best players who joined Gilas Pilipinas since its inception. RDO is considered as one of the core players of the Gilas Pilipinas team that beat Korea during the 2013 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Championship that was held here in the country. That team went on to finish with a silver medal and earned a ticket to the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

After a 16-year run in the PBA, Ranidel de Ocampo has announced that he's hanging up his sneakers and walking away from the game he first professionally played when he was 14 years old. And while he didn't win a championship towards the end of his illustrated career, he did win the PBA championship six times during his nine-year run with the TNT franchise where he played alongside Jimmy Alapag and Larry Fornacier. For one, Fornacier hailed RDO as the best stretched four he has played with all throughout his career not just with TNT but with the national team as well.  

RDO, who drained one of the crucial treys against Korea in 2013, also helped Gilas Pilipinas win medals in other international competitions. He guiled Gilas to a gold medal finish during the 2012 William Jones Cup as well as the 2013 Southeast Asian Games which was held in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. Aside from the 2013 edition of the FIBA Asia Championship, Gilas also took home the silver medal during the 2015 edition in Changsha, China with RDO on board.  In 2015, the Philippines also took home the silver medal in that year's edition of the William Jones Cup. He also won a bronze medal during the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China, and another bronze medal during the 2007 edition of the William Jones Cup.

But more than the medals, more than the numerous clutch threes that he nailed for Gilas Pilipinas, RDO's best contribution to the national team and perhaps, to the Philippine basketball, was his leadership and calmness, especially heated situations. He showed us what it meant to be a true leader of the team. After all, one the monikers that were vested upon him was "Hodor" as he had that resemblance to Hodor, the big guy from Game of Thrones. And like Hodor until his sad death, RDO held the door against some of the best big men not just in the PBA but in the international scene. 

Photo is from SPIN.ph