1990 Philippines men's Asian Games basketball team
Philippines  (1990) |
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| Nickname | Team Philippines | ||
| Leagues | Philippine Basketball Association | ||
| Founded | 1990 | ||
| Location | Philippines | ||
| Team colors | Blue, White, and Red | ||
| Head coach | Robert Jaworski | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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| Medal record | ||
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| Men’s Basketball | ||
Representing  Philippines
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| Asian Games | ||
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1990 Beijing | Team competition |
The 1990 Philippines men's Asian Games basketball team, nicknamed the "Philippines Dream Team", competed in the 1990 Asian Games, fully made up of professional players from the Philippine Basketball Association. This was the first time that the country ever sent a national team made up of professionals players. However, unlike the United States' Dream Team, this team was called such because its main goal was to wrest back Asian basketball supremacy from teams such as China. The nickname was given only recently, after the failures of the succeeding all-pro national teams in the FIBA-sanctioned tournaments, more than a decade after the team had finished competing in the said tournament.
In 1989, FIBA made a rule change for an "open basketball", which would allow players in professional, commercial or club ranks to play in any international events instead of the old ruling of only allowing amateur players. This led to the PBA and the Basketball Association of the Philippines forging a deal to have an all-pro squad to send a team to the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. The team consist of some of the greatest players in Philippine basketball and about half of the team were named in the PBA Top 25 all-time Greatest Players ten years later.
Añejo Rum playing coach Robert Jaworski was named head coach of the squad with San Miguel Beer head coach Norman Black as assistant coach. With only two weeks to prepare, Jaworski assembled the lineup made of some of the best players in the league:
Four players were taken from San Miguel, a year after they won the coveted Grand Slam, with Jaworski inserting former teammate and former rival Mon Fernandez in the lineup. Cuenco, Gonzalgo and Loyzaga, players for Jaworski's Añejo squad were included in the list. Purefoods center Jerry Codinera was originally named in the 12-man line-up but was stricken with hepatitis weeks before the Games and eventually replaced by Zaldy Realubit. Nelson Asaytono and Paul Alvarez were part of the pool as alternates though they did not join the team to Beijing.
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