Roberts Raymond T. Labagala (born July 5, 1984) is a Filipino

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former professional player who currently serves as the head coach for the

San Sebastian Stags The San Sebastian Golden Stags and Lady Stags, also known collectively as the SSC-R Stags, are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) varsity teams of the San Sebastian College – Recoletos. Their five consecutive NCAA senio ...

of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA). He is also an assistant coach for the

Basilan Viva Portmasters The Basilan Starhorse, previously known as Basilan Viva Portmasters, is a Filipino professional basketball team based in Lamitan, Lamitan, Basilan. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league' ...

of the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

(MPBL). He last played for the

Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The ...

of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

(PBA). Standing at 5 feet 7 inches, Labagala plays at the point guard position. He played collegiate basketball at the

University of the East The University of the East (), also known as UE, is a private university located in Manila, Philippines. Founded in 1946, business tycoon Lucio Tan acquired the university in 1990. UE was once labeled as the "largest university in Asia" when i ...

where he was a benchwarmer who played the fewest minutes on the court. Shortly after graduating, he was picked with the 12th overall pick on the second round of the

2010 PBA draft The 2010 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Basketball Association Draft, rookie draft was an event held at Market! Market! in Taguig on August 29, 2010 that allowed PBA teams to Draft (sports), draft players from the amateur ran ...

by the

Barangay Ginebra Kings The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the precolonial polities of the same name, modern barangays are political subdivisio ...

. He played short minutes on his rookie season due to the Kings' tight guard rotation. After his rookie season, he end up included in the All-Rookie team and being the Rookie Blitz Game Most Valuable Player. After three seasons with the Kings that was renamed to San Miguel on the last season of his tenure with the team, he was traded to the

Barako Bull Energy The Barako Bull Energy were a Philippine Basketball Association that began in 2002 as the FedEx Express. From its first season until 2005, the team was dubbed as the FedEx Express before changing to Air21 Express. From the 2009 PBA Fiesta C ...

for very similar

Emman Monfort Emmanuel N. Monfort (born July 2, 1989) is a Filipino basketball coach and former player. He is an assistant coach for the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was selected 16th overall in the 2012 PBA draft by B ...

. As usual on his career, Labagala sat out mostly and played just 3 minutes per game in one season with the

Energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

. When Labagala's contract expired, he was left unsigned by his team and months later was signed by

where he won his first PBA championship.

Personal life and amateur career

Labagala was born on 5 July 1984 on

Talisay, Cebu Talisay, officially the City of Talisay (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 263,04 ...

where he was also raised. He studied and played high school basketball at the

Cebu Institute of Technology – University The Cebu Institute of Technology – University (CIT University, or less often CIT-U, and colloquially CIT) is an autonomous, private, non-sectarian academic institution in Cebu City, Philippines. The university provides basic and higher educati ...

Labagala currently resides at

Navotas Navotas, officially the City of Navotas (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it ha ...

, his wife's hometown where he currently owns a pastry bakeshop named after him, Little Rob's Cake Haus. Labagala is involved in training the youth of Navotas for improvement, he launched his own basketball camp on 2013. Labagala is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. Labagala played collegiate basketball for the

's Red Warriors. Because Labagala spent little time on the court, his chances of being scouted by PBA teams that could bring him to the country's premier league was much smaller. Labagala played the fewest minutes among the Red Warriors but was able to help the team's offensive capabilities through his passing ability and speed.

Professional career

Barangay Ginebra Kings/San Miguel (2010-2014)

Nobody thought that Labagala would set foot on a PBA court. His low playing time during his college years meant he was underrated. Labagala was among the oldest rookies in his class and the least-popular. Fortunately, he was picked with the twelfth overall pick of the

by the country's most popular team which is the

. Labagala poured in 8 points and 3 assists in his PBA debut in a loss against Alaska. He only played 19 games on his rookie season and poured almost 5 points and one assist per game. On his sophomore year, he played more games and more minutes and his statistics slightly went down to 3.87 in 14 minutes action per game.Player Profile
at PBA-Online! He helped the team in their playoff run on the

2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup The 2012–13 PBA season, 2013 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) PBA Commissioner's Cup, Commissioner's Cup was the second conference of the 2012–13 PBA season. The tournament began on February 8 and ended on May 19, 2013. The tournament i ...

. The Kings went on the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

one-time on his third season where they got swept in a best-of-five series.

PBA career statistics

Season-by-season averages

, - , align=left , , align=left , Barangay Ginebra , 19 , , 14.1 , , .493 , , .481 , , .533 , , .8 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .1 , , 4.7 , - , align=left , , align=left , Barangay Ginebra , 30 , , 14.2 , , .429 , , .281 , , .850 , , 1.2 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.9 , - , align=left , , align=left , Barangay Ginebra , 29 , , 8.5 , , .384 , , .188 , , .500 , , .3 , , .6 , , .2 , , .0 , , 2.6 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

Barako Bull The Barako Bull Energy were a Philippine Basketball Association that began in 2002 as the FedEx Express. From its first season until 2005, the team was dubbed as the FedEx Express before changing to Air21 Express. From the 2009 PBA Fiesta Co ...

, 9 , , 11.3 , , .419 , , .000 , , .250 , , 1.1 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .0 , , 3.0 , - , align=left , , align=left , Talk 'N Text , 8 , , 3.6 , , .250 , , .000 , , .500 , , .1 , , .3 , , .0 , , .0 , , .9 , -class=sortbottom , align=center colspan=2 , Career , 95 , , 11.3 , , .422 , , .305 , , .627 , , .8 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .0 , , 3.3

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labagala, Rob Living people Filipino men's basketball players UE Red Warriors basketball players 1984 births Basketball players from Cebu People from Talisay, Cebu Point guards Barangay Ginebra San Miguel players Barako Bull Energy players TNT Tropang 5G players Cebuano people Barangay Ginebra San Miguel draft picks 21st-century Filipino sportsmen