Nelson Asaytono (born January 25, 1967) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player who played for Purefoods, Swift/Sunkist/Pop Cola,

San Miguel Beer San Miguel Beer refers to San Miguel Pale Pilsen, a Filipino pale lager produced by San Miguel Brewery (a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation). Established in San Miguel, Manila in 1890 by the original San Miguel Brewery (renamed San Miguel Co ...

, and

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

in the PBA during his 17-year career.

Collegiate / Amateur career

Asaytono is one of the best players ever to step up in a less-known university in

University of Manila , mottoeng = ''Country Science and Virtue'' , type = Private Non-sectarian Research Coeducational Basic and Higher education institution , established = , founders = , academic_affili ...

under the tutelage of former pro Loreto Tolentino, his coach at UM Hawks. His first national stint was being part of the RP Youth team that played in the 9th ABC Youth Championships held in Manila. He would become a member of the national team that same year in 1987 under coach

Joe Lipa Jose "Joe" Lipa, Jr. is a Filipino basketball coach and executive who currently coaching the Terrafirma Dyip's 3x3 team in the PBA 3x3. Lipa formerly coached his alma mater, the University of the Philippines, in the University Athletic Asso ...

. Asaytono also played for coach

Derrick Pumaren Frederick "Derrick" S. Pumaren, better known on his nickname Manong Derrick, is a Filipino basketball coach who is currently the coach of the De La Salle Green Archers in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). He coached se ...

at Magnolia Ice Cream in the PABL and won three championships.

Professional career

Purefoods Hotdogs

Asaytono was drafted as the 2nd overall pick by the Purefoods Hotdogs in 1989. He played three seasons for the ballclub that had most of his former national teammates;

Jojo Lastimosa Isabelo "Jojo" Lastimosa Jr. (born March 10, 1964) is a Filipino former professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association for the Purefoods Hotdogs, the Alaska Aces and the Pop Cola Panthers from 1988 to 2002. He was als ...

Alvin Patrimonio Alvin Dale Vergara Patrimonio (born November 17, 1966) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player from the Philippine Basketball Association and is the current team manager for the Magnolia Hotshots. Patrimonio holds several PBA re ...

Jerry Codiñera Jerry Herman Codiñera (born November 14, 1966) is a Filipino coach and retired professional basketball player of the Philippine Basketball Association. He is nicknamed the "Defense Minister" for his prowess at the defensive end. He is the curr ...

Glenn Capacio Glenn Capacio (born May 15, 1964, in Palo, Leyte) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the former head coach of PBA team GlobalPort Batang Pier and was also the former head coach ...

and

Dindo Pumaren Ferdinand "Dindo" Pumaren, is a retired Filipino professional basketball player and former collegiate coach. In his professional playing career, he was nicknamed "The Bullet" due to his great passing and stealing. Early career Pumaren suited ...

. With Patrimonio at the starting forward, he mostly would come off the bench. He won two championships at Purefoods. In his final season as a Tender Juicy Hotdog in 1991, he had notable performances during the All-Filipino finals against Diet Sarsi.

Swift/Sunkist

In late 1991, Asaytono was traded by Purefoods to Swift in exchange for first round picks in 1994 and 1995. He joined the list of PBA millionaires as he was signed to a lucrative pact by the RFM franchise. For two seasons with Swift, Asaytono made it to the mythical five selection and a decent run at the Most Valuable Player (MVP) plum. In 1993, he was second in the statistical race but would up third after the polls in a frustrated bid for the most coveted award. With Vergel Meneses' first full season with Swift in 1994, Asaytono could only make it to the mythical second team selection but still performed well, averaging 18.6 points and 7.2 rebounds in 65 games. In 1995, his team came close to winning a

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

, winning two titles that season, but only got third place in the Governors' Cup. After winning four championships with Swift/Sunkist, Asaytono was traded to the

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with the Magnolia Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra ...

, his former team in the amateurs, in April 1996 for one-time MVP Renato Agustin.

San Miguel Beermen

Asaytono's trade to San Miguel proved to be the turning point of his career. He became the go-to-guy in Coach Ron Jacobs's rotation as well as its franchise player. In 1997, he became one of the forerunners for the MVP award but he again came short to former teammate Alvin Patrimonio. Although he lost the MVP race, he led the league in scoring. When the team drafted future MVP

Danny Ildefonso Danilo Ildefonso (born December 9, 1976) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He is currently an assistant coach for both the Converge FiberXers of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the NU Bulldogs of the UAAP. Nick ...

in the 1998 season, his minutes was again reduced but still he led the team in scoring. He led Beermen to the finals twice in All Filipino and Commissioner's Cup in that season, but came up short in both occasions to the

Alaska Milkmen The Alaska Aces were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association since 1986 PBA season, 1986 under the ownership of Alaska Milk Corporation (AMC) and the owner of 14 PBA championships, tied with the Barangay Ginebr ...

. A year later, when

Jong Uichico Joseph Enrique Uichico (born July 15, 1962), better known as Jong Uichico, is a Filipino professional basketball coach who last coached the Bataan Risers in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. Uichico is a former Philippine national team Y ...

took over the coaching reins from Jacobs, he was relegated to the bench and was eventually traded to his former team, the

Pop Cola 800s Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

(together with

William Antonio William J. Heath Antonio (born August 15, 1975) is a Filipino-American former professional basketball player. He last played for the GlobalPort Batang Pier in the Philippine Basketball Association. A good three-point shooter, he was drafted 5th ...

) for Dwight Lago, Boybits Victoria, and

Nic Belasco Nicholas M. Bayaca Belasco (born December 10, 1973) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player who last played for the Pasig Sta. Lucia Realtors of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). He was drafted 2nd overall by Sunkis ...

Pop Cola, Red Bull, Career Milestone and Retirement

Asaytono's second stint Pop Cola was a forgettable one, as he started to slow down as he was still at the bench. He spent his last four seasons with the

Red Bull Barako Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

until the 2005-06 season. On April 7, 2005, he passed Crispa great

Philip Cezar Philip Dudley Cezar (born December 1, 1952) is a Filipino former basketball coach, player and politician. Known by the monikers "Mr. Stretch", "''Tapal'' King" and "The Scholar", he was part of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers ballclub of the Phil ...

for the fifth spot all-time scoring list after tallying 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Currently, he is fifth in the PBA all-time scoring list with 12,268 total points in 796 career games, behind only

Ramon Fernandez Ramon Sadaya Fernandez (; born October 3, 1953) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and current commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission. Fernandez won four PBA Most Valuable Player awards and a record 19 PBA titles. F ...

Abet Guidaben Alberto "Abet" Guidaben (born September 14, 1952) is a Filipino former professional basketball player in the PBA. He was part of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers ballclub that won two Grand Slams, in 1976 and 1983. He was a two-time PBA Most Va ...

and

Atoy Co Fortunato "Atoy" Gan Co Jr. (born October 15, 1951) is a Filipino former basketball player and coach who played 13 seasons in the Philippine Basketball Association, mostly with Crispa Redmanizers. Nicknamed "The Fortune Cookie" (a pun on his n ...

. He had a brief stint with the Pagadian Warriors of the

National Basketball Conference The National Basketball Conference was a regional-based basketball league in the Philippines formed in 2004. The league is sanctioned by the Philippine national sport association for basketball, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas. Teams are also ...

(NBC) before retiring. He retired in 2006.

Statistics

''Correct as of the 2005-06 season''

Season-by-season averages

, - , align="left" , 1989 , align="left" , Purefoods , 56 , , 19.7 , , 0.526 , , 0.222 , , 0.832 , , 4.6 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 11.7 , - , align="left" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, align="left" , Purefoods , 53 , , 21.2 , , 0.554 , , 0.250 , , 0.802 , , 4.4 , , 0.9 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 14.1 , - , align="left" ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, align="left" , Purefoods , 54 , , 22.8 , , 0.554 , , 0.143 , , 0.842 , , 5.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 0.6 , , 15.6 , - , align="left" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, align="left" ,

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

, 69 , , 35.8 , , 0.560 , , 0.515 , , 0.825 , , 8.2 , , 2.1 , , 0.6 , , 1.2 , , 22.4 , - , align="left" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, align="left" ,

, 68 , , 35.9 , , 0.569 , , 0.276 , , 0.792 , , 7.7 , , 2.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.8 , , 19.3 , - , align="left" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, align="left" ,

, 65 , , 33.1 , , 0.553 , , 0.266 , , 0.751 , , 7.2 , , 2.2 , , 0.3 , , 0.9 , , 18.6 , - , align="left" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, align="left" , Sunkist , 68 , , 26.3 , , 0.574 , , 0.222 , , 0.801 , , 4.5 , , 2.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 14.0 , - , align="left" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, align="left" , Sunkist/ San Miguel , 51 , , 32.6 , , 0.497 , , 0.346 , , 0.779 , , 6.3 , , 2.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 15.9 , - , align="left" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, align="left" , San Miguel , 61 , , 40.7 , , 0.431 , , 0.290 , , 0.813 , , 7.1 , , 2.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 23.1 , - , align="left" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, align="left" , San Miguel , 65 , , 32.0 , , 0.438 , , 0.278 , , 0.728 , , 5.7 , , 2.1 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 14.6 , - , align="left" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, align="left" , San Miguel/ Pop Cola , 23 , , 29.2 , , 0.421 , , 0.171 , , 0.778 , , 4.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 11.8 , - , align="left" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, align="left" , Pop Cola , 23 , , 32.7 , , 0.447 , , 0.323 , , 0.764 , , 6.3 , , 2.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 17.0 , - , align="left" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, align="left" , Pop Cola , 49 , , 20.1 , , 0.400 , , 0.242 , , 0.829 , , 3.1 , , 1.0 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 8.4 , - , align="left" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, align="left" ,

, 22 , , 9.4 , , 0.489 , , 0.308 , , 0.600 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 3.2 , - , align="left" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, align="left" ,

, 38 , , 14.0 , , 0.511 , , 0.419 , , 0.671 , , 3.2 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 7.5 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

, 53 , , 16.5 , , 0.458 , , 0.238 , , 0.810 , , 3.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.6 , - , align="left" , 2005–06 , align="left" ,

, 2 , , 8.5 , , 0.143 , , 0.500 , , 0.500 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 820 , , 27.5 , , 0.512 , , 0.284 , , 0.794 , , 5.5 , , 1.6 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 15.0

Personal life

Asaytono has a daughter, Kim Arielle. On May 20, 2015, she was given multiple criminal charges after driving her car into several shops and bystanders, killing one and injuring 12 others. She and the victims settled and agreed to drop most of the charges. Asaytono continued to play in exhibition games after he retired. In 2012, he participated in an exhibition match with fellow PBA legends against older NBA All-Stars. He also became a building contractor, building basketball courts and gyms. In 2020, Asaytono suffered a heart attack. He was confined in the ICU of a hospital in

General Trias, Cavite General Trias, officially the City of General Trias ( fil, Lungsod ng General Trias), is a 1st class component city in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 450,583 people. Etymology During ...

for four days and was discharged several days later. His former teammates and rivals and even the PBA itself helped pay for his hospital expenses.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asaytono, Nelson 1967 births Living people Barako Bull Energy Boosters players Basketball players from Oriental Mindoro Magnolia Hotshots players People from Oriental Mindoro Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars Philippines men's national basketball team players Filipino men's basketball players Pop Cola Panthers players Power forwards (basketball) San Miguel Beermen players UM Hawks basketball players Magnolia Hotshots draft picks