Maurizio 'Mo' Gherardini (born September 22, 1955) is an Italian sportsman, currently serving as a general manager of Fenerbahçe. In 2017, he was named the EuroLeague Executive of the Year in a year in which his club Fenerbahçe won the EuroLeague championship.

Basketball career

Gherardini started his basketball career as a player playing on his hometown team of Libertas Pallacanestro Forlì from 1971 to 1975. From there he went on to become an assistant coach for Forlì and was also a director of youth teams for the club. He held those roles from 1975–1982, when he was then promoted to be the team's general manager in 1983. Forlì was playing in the top league ( LBA) when Gherardini took over as GM. After nine years at the helm of Forlì, Gherardini left the team in 1992 to take over as the general manager of Benetton Treviso, and molded that squad into one of the most familiar basketball clubs outside of the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

. Benetton won four

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

championships (1997, 2002, 2003, and 2006), three

Italian Supercup The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

s (1997-98 season, 2001-02 season, and 2002-03 season), made four appearances in the

EuroLeague Final Four The EuroLeague Final Four is the final four format championship of the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague Basketball Company used the final four format for the first time in 2002, f ...

(1993, 1998, 2002, and 2003), and helped them capture seven

Italian Cup Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

s (1993–1995, 2000, 2003–2005). He was named the Italian League's Best Executive in 2006. Gherardini also developed a sophisticated scouting system in the EuroLeague.

teams asked for his advice when it came to selecting players out of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Former

basketball player and general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said that Gherardini was one of the best general managers in the world and said that there is no doubt that Gherardini would make a great GM in the NBA.

Interviewed by Charlotte

In 2003, Gherardini was interviewed for the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

general manager position. It was the first time that a non-American citizen had been interviewed for a top job on an NBA team. Although he was seriously considered for the job, the Bobcats hired Bernie Bickerstaff instead.

Hired by Toronto

On June 22, 2006, Gherardini was hired by the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

as vice president and assistant general manager.

Oklahoma City

Following

Bryan Colangelo Bryan Paul Colangelo (born June 1, 1965) is an American basketball executive who was the former general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also served as president ...

's departure from Toronto, Gherardini was made free to pursue other options. He was hired Nov. 7, 2013, by the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

as their senior advisor of international affairs.

Fenerbahçe and Turkey

Gherardini became new

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of Turkish club Fenerbahçe, on May 21, 2014.

Canada Basketball

Gherardini is also a member of

Canada Basketball Canada Basketball (CB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in Canada. ...

's Council Of Excellence.Maurizio Gherardini became Fenerbahçe Ülker's new General Manager
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gherardini, Maurizio 1955 births Living people Fenerbahçe basketball coaches Italian men's basketball coaches Italian men's basketball players People from Forlì Toronto Raptors executives Sportspeople from the Province of Forlì-Cesena