Nelson Asaytono

Nelson Asaytono (born January 25, 1967) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player who played for Purefoods, Swift/Sunkist/Pop Cola, San Miguel Beer, and Red Bull in the PBA during his 17-year career.

Nelson Asaytono

Personal information
Born	January 25, 1967 San Teodoro, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College	University of Manila
PBA draft	1989 Round: 1 / Pick: 2nd overall
Selected by the Purefoods Hotdogs
Playing career	1989–2006
Position	Power forward
Number	11
Career history
1989–1991	Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
1992–1996	Swift Mighty Meaties/Sunkist Orange Juicers/Sunkist Orange Bottlers
1996–1998	San Miguel Beermen
1999–2001	Pop Cola 800s/Pop Cola Panthers
2002–2006	Batang Red Bull Thunder/Red Bull Barako
2006	Pagadian Explorers (NBC)
Career highlights and awards
7× PBA champion (1990 Third, 1991 All-Filipino, 1992 Third, 1993 Commissioner's, 1995 All-Filipino, 1995 Commissioner's, 2002 Commissioner's) 3× PBA Mythical First Team (1992, 1993, 1997) 4× PBA Mythical Second Team (1994–1996, 1998) 2× PBA Best Player of the Conference (1997 All-Filipino, 1998 All-Filipino) 10× PBA All-Star (1989–1993, 1995–1999)

Collegiate / Amateur career

Asaytono is one of the best players ever to step up in a less-known university in University of Manila 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. Asaytono also played for coach Derrick Pumaren 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 has most of his former national teammates; Jojo Lastimosa, Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codiñera, Glenn Capacio and Dindo Pumaren. With Patrimonio at the starting forward, Nelson 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 a 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.

After winning four championships with Swift/Sunkist, Asaytono was traded to San Miguel Beermen, 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 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 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. A year later, when Jong Uichico 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 (together with hotshot William Antonio) for Dwight Lago, Boybits Victoria, and Nic Belasco.

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 until the 2005-06 season.

On April 7, 2005, he passed Crispa great Philip Cezar for the fifth spot all-time scoring list after tallying with 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, Abet Guidaben, Alvin Patrimonio and Atoy Co.[3]

Non-inclusion in the 40 Greatest PBA Players of All-Time

Many basketball fans and even basketball experts and former PBA players are disappointed that Nelson Asaytono was not included on the 40 Greatest PBA Players of All-Time. Majority says that Nelson Asaytono's achievement should have been recognized by including him to the list. Asaytono is the fifth all-time leading scorer of the PBA behind only such great players Ramon Fernandez, Abet Guidaben, Alvin Patrimonio and Atoy CO

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	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 the 2005-06 season[4]

Season-by-season averages

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1989	Purefoods	56	19.7	0.526	0.222	0.832	4.6	0.5	0.2	0.4	11.7
1990	Purefoods	53	21.2	0.554	0.250	0.802	4.4	0.9	0.3	0.4	14.1
1991	Purefoods	54	22.8	0.554	0.143	0.842	5.0	1.0	0.2	0.6	15.6
1992	Swift	69	35.8	0.560	0.515	0.825	8.2	2.1	0.6	1.2	22.4
1993	Swift	68	35.9	0.569	0.276	0.792	7.7	2.8	0.6	0.8	19.3
1994	Swift	65	33.1	0.553	0.266	0.751	7.2	2.2	0.3	0.9	18.6
1995	Swift	68	26.3	0.574	0.222	0.801	4.5	2.0	0.3	0.4	14.0
1996	Swift/San Miguel	51	32.6	0.497	0.346	0.779	6.3	2.0	0.5	0.4	15.9
1997	San Miguel	61	40.7	0.431	0.290	0.813	7.1	2.7	0.5	0.6	23.1
1998	San Miguel	65	32.0	0.438	0.278	0.728	5.7	2.1	0.3	0.3	14.6
1999	San Miguel/Pop Cola	23	29.2	0.421	0.171	0.778	4.3	1.0	0.6	0.2	11.8
2000	Pop Cola/Sunkist	23	32.7	0.447	0.323	0.764	6.3	2.2	0.5	0.4	17.0
2001	Pop Cola	49	20.1	0.400	0.242	0.829	3.1	1.0	0.2	0.2	8.4
2002	Red Bull	22	9.4	0.489	0.308	0.600	1.5	0.6	0.1	0.1	3.2
2003	Red Bull	38	14.0	0.511	0.419	0.671	3.2	0.7	0.2	0.1	7.5
2004-05	Red Bull	53	16.5	0.458	0.238	0.810	3.0	0.6	0.1	0.1	7.6
2005-06	Red Bull	2	8.5	0.143	0.500	0.500	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.0
Career		820	27.5	0.512	0.284	0.794	5.5	1.6	0.3	0.5	15.0

References

1. "P 1-M fine for 'cap' violation". Manila Standard.
2. "Patrimonio named MVP anew". Manila Standard.
3. Badua, Snow. "Nelson Asaytono fumes over non-inclusion in PBA '40 Greatest Players' list: 'That's a lot of bull'". www.spin.ph. SPIN.ph. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
4. "Nelson Asaytono - Philippine Basketball".