Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: How many professional basketball teams are there in Puerto Rico?
The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, which is played under FIBA rules, currently consists of 8 teams, of which the most successful have been Leones de Ponce, Atléticos de San Germán and Vaqueros de Bayamón with 14 titles each. The league has produced players that have distinguished themselves in the NBA, EuroLeague, Spain's ACB, and other tournaments throughout the world. Among them, NBA players Butch Lee, José Ortiz, Ramón Rivas, Daniel Santiago, Carlos Arroyo and José Juan Barea started their careers playing for BSN teams.
Juan Báez (born April 14, 1935), also known as "Johnny" and "El Indio de la Vía", is a former Puerto Rican basketball player. He played from 1953 to 1969 in Puerto Rico's Superior Basketball League and from 1957 to 1961 with the Real Madrid basketball Spanish basketball team in Europe. In 1957, Báez was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) and points leader. In 2007, Báez was awarded Puerto Rico's top sports award, the Puerto Rico Olympic Medal of Honor. Báez was also inducted into Puerto Rico's Sports Hall of Fame.
The Mets de Guaynabo was a Puerto Rican professional basketball team of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. The team dissolved in 2015.
Lee was born in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico to Gloria and Alfred Lee, Sr. Lee's family moved to Harlem, New York, U.S., when he was a young child. There he went on to become a 1st Team, PSAL All City basketball player and honor student at the DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.
Lee showed talent for basketball since an early age, and he impressed many college scouts with his game style. He accepted an offer to play for Marquette University, starring there from 1974 to 1978. In 1974 Lee asked his coach Al McGuire to allow him to play for the United States Olympic basketball team. However, his coach had sent someone else and Lee went to Puerto Rico where he qualified for the Puerto Rican national basketball team. When Puerto Rico played against the U.S. in the 1976 Summer Olympics, Lee made 15 out of 18 field goals and scored 35 points. The U.S. still avoided an upset, defeating Puerto Rico by one point, 95-94.
The Puerto Rico national basketball team () is governed by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation ().
Andrés Guillermo Rodríguez Fernández (born February 27, 1981) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player, who last played for Atenienses de Manatí of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. He was born in Puerto Rico, where he debuted as a professional basketball played for the Criollos de Caguas in 1999. Rodríguez attended University of Louisville and American University, completing his college education in 2004. Afterwards, he migrated to Europe, where he first played for Olimpija Ljubljana and had his best season by leading the Liga ACB in assists per game in 2013 with Obradoiro CAB. While concurrently playing in Puerto Rico, Rodríguez won three BSN championships for two different teams. Internationally, he is a member of the Puerto Rico national basketball team.
Manuel "Manolo" Cintrón Vega (born January 4, 1963 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a former Puerto Rican professional basketball player, who for 11 seasons in the 1980s and early 1990s played with several teams in the National Basketball League in Puerto Rico., including the Atléticos de San Germán, the Leones de Ponce and the Gigantes de Carolina.
Boxing has, for many years, disputed the top spot for the Puerto Rican fan's favorite sport with Baseball and Basketball. Puerto Ricans have distinguished themselves both as amateurs and professionals. In 1917, Nero Chen became the first Puerto Rican professional boxer to gain international recognition. Puerto Rico has also been the site of many championship fights.
Santeros de Aguada is a Puerto Rican professional basketball team of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. The team is based in Aguada, Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico All Star Unicycling Basketball Team is an unicycling basketball team based in Puerto Rico. They have represented their country many times internationally. They are 10 times world champions and two times silver medallists.
Although Meléndez would have probably been chosen to play on Puerto Rico's Liga de Baloncesto Superior (Puerto Rico's professional basketball league) he decided to pursue basketball as a future career, playing in the YMCA before entering the Puerto Rico's professional basketball league in 1965, with San Juan's squad.
Alvin Cruz (born April 24, 1982) is a professional basketball player who played for the Niagara University men's university basketball team from 2001 to 2005. He is currently playing in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Cruz played with the Puerto Rico U21 National Team-01 and Puerto Rico National Team-05 as well as in several different professional teams overseas.
The Puerto Rico national basketball team joined the International Basketball Federation in 1957. Since then, it has won more than 30 medals in international competitions, including gold in three FIBA Americas Championships and the 1994 Goodwill Games August 8, 2004, became a landmark date for the team when it became the first team to defeat the United States in an Olympic tournament since the integration of National Basketball Association players. Winning the inaugural game with scores of 92–73 as part of the 2004 Summer Olympics organized in Athens, Greece. Baloncesto Superior Nacional acts as the top-level professional basketball league in Puerto Rico, and has experienced success since its beginning in 1930.
Puerto Rico is also a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. In 2008, the archipelago's first unified league, the Puerto Rico Soccer League, was established.
Luis Villafañe (born June 21, 1981 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player who plays with Caciques de Humacao of the Puerto Rican Baloncesto Superior Nacional. He also is a member of the Puerto Rico National Basketball Team.
Carmelo Antrone Lee (born June 7, 1977) is an American professional basketball player currently playing for Atenienses de Manati of the Puerto Rico league Baloncesto Superior Nacional and Ironi Ramat Gan of the Israeli Basketball Super League. Lee has played with the Guaynabo Conquistadores in the National Superior Basketball league of Puerto Rico, he has played with Vaqueros de Bayamón since 2009. Internationally he has played with the Guaros (Venezuela), CAB (Portugal), Regatas C. (Argentina), LNBP (Mexico) and Metros (Dominican Republic). In 2007, Lee was included as a small forward in the Puerto Rico national basketball team. In 2009, he won the Puerto Rico national championship with Bayamon.
The Gigantes de Carolina was a Puerto Rican professional basketball team in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional based in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
Linked to the popularity of basketball in Puerto Rico, the recurrence of streetball has become intertwined with the practice of the sport in all of its levels. Taking influence from the grassroots connection of Nuyorican streetballers to the Baloncesto Superior Nacional, the practice is widespread in Puerto Rico, with impromptu games being a highly common occurrence for decades. Organized streetball gained momentum in the early 2000s and soon became involved with the local urban culture, especially the Hip hop and Reggaeton industries, giving origin to teams like Puerto Rico Streetball and the Puerto Rico Streetballers. Organizations based in Puerto Rico have played against foreign competition, with the results including the first win of an international team over the prominent AND1 Live Tour Team. Teams native to the archipelago are affiliated to the Street Basketball Association and FIBA's 3x3 diversification program. Team San Juan, based on the municipality of the same name, was the champion of the first edition of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour.
The Professional College of Engineers and Land Surveyors of Puerto Rico — (CIAPR)— is the professional association mandated by law that groups all engineers and land surveyors that call, present, or represent themselves as 'engineers' or 'land surveyors' in Puerto Rico. As with many other countries, the profession of engineering and land surveying is both regulated and licensed in Puerto Rico; while another entity, namely the Puerto Rico Examining Board of Engineers and Land Surveyors, regulates the profession and emits its corresponding licenses, the Puerto Rico Annotated Codes and Act 173 of 1988 requires that all licensed engineers and land surveyors in Puerto Rico must be members of the College. The quasi-public nonprofit corporation was established on May 15, 1938, through Act 319 of 1938 in order to bring together professionals with the right to practice engineering, architecture and surveying in Puerto Rico.
The Atenienses de Manatí was a professional basketball team based in Manatí, Puerto Rico, that competed in the National Superior Basketball (BSN) league. In 2017 the team was relocated to Fajardo, Puerto Rico and became the Cariduros de Fajardo.
The Puerto Rico women's national under-18 and under-19 basketball team, is controlled by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation (), abbreviated as FBPUR, and represents Puerto Rico in international under-18 and under-19 (under age 18 and under age 19) women's basketball competitions.
Víctor Ávila (27 March 1977) is a Mexican professional basketball player currently with the CIBACOPA team Caballeros de Culiacán. Since the CIBACOPA takes place for only a few months a year, Avila also plays for Halcones UV Xalapa in the LNBP. Throughout his career, Avila has played professional basketball in the United States, Mexico, Czech Republic and Puerto Rico. He has represented Mexico’s national basketball team on many occasions.
In 1913, the YMCA of Puerto Rico organized the first game played using the official rules of basketball and in 1916, the YMCA organized the first basketball tournament in Puerto Rico. Teams organized in the other YMCAs in the island participated in the tournament. The first basketball organization in Puerto Rico was the San Juan Basketball League. Río Piedras and Bayamón later followed and formed their own leagues.
The Puerto Rico women's national basketball team () is governed by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation ().Roster for the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.
Roberto José Hatton Negron (born October 11, 1976) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player. Hatton has most notably played for Marist College in the NCAA and for the Arecibo Captains, San Germán Athletics, and Ponce Lions in Puerto Rico's Baloncesto Superior Nacional. Hatton has also played professionally in Portugal, Russia, Mexico and France. Hatton has been a member of the Puerto Rico national basketball team since 1993, taking part in both the 2004 Olympic Games, famous for their defeat of the United States team, as well as the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
On December 20, 2010, the Puerto Rico Basketball Federation announced Rick Pitino as the next head coach for Puerto Rico's Olympic team. The President of the Basketball Federation described the hiring as the highest impact coaching hire in the history of Puerto Rico Basketball. On April 29, 2011, it was announced that Pitino would not coach the Puerto Rico national team due to scheduling conflicts and NCAA regulations disallowing it. Pitino coached the Puerto Rican national team at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championships in Mexico City.