Hanno Aleksanteri Möttölä (born 9 September 1976) is a Finnish basketball coach and a former professional

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 ...

player. He is currently working as an assistant coach of Finland national team. A

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

, Möttölä played for the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

in the

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

(NBA), becoming the first player from Finland to play in the NBA. Möttölä was named in the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame of the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in September 2023.

College career

Möttölä attended the

, in the United States, where he played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

under head coach Rick Majerus. He was a starter on the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans in the Unite ...

team that played in the final of the 1998 NCAA national championship tournament, which they lost to

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Professional career

After college, Möttölä was selected in the second round, with the 40th overall pick, in the 2000 NBA draft, by the

. He played two seasons in the

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

with the Hawks. He played in all 82 games during his sophomore (and final) season. His final NBA game was on April 17, 2002, in an 81–89 loss to the Boston Celtics where he recorded 1 steal and 2 rebounds. After his time with the Hawks, he returned to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to play in the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. He played in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

with TAU Cerámica of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

, where he suffered an ankle injury. Then he played in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

with Skipper Bologna (in the 2003–04 season, his team reached the Italian League finals and EuroLeague Final). He also played in Italy with Scavolini Pesaro (from 2004 to 2005). Möttölä also played in the Russian Super League with Dynamo Moscow, in the Lithuanian LKL League with Žalgiris Kaunas, and in the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

(GBL) with Aris, after signing with the team on 26 July 2007. Möttölä announced his retirement from playing basketball on 26 September 2008, but decided to return to basketball just nine months later. In September 2009, Möttölä signed with the Finnish team Torpan Pojat. He played in the team for four seasons, during which the team was the runner-up in the Finnish League championship (2009–10), in the

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

(2010–11), and finished in third-place in Finnish League (2011–12).

International career

Möttölä was a long-time member of the senior

Finnish national basketball team The Finland men's national basketball team (, ) represents Finland in international basketball competition. The national team is governed by Basketball Finland. Finland has played in 17 EuroBasket tournaments, with their best finish coming in ...

. With Finland, he played at the 1995 EuroBasket, the 2011 EuroBasket, the 2013 EuroBasket, and the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Coaching career

After ending his playing career, Möttölä has worked as the head coach of Helsinki Basketball Academy team HBA-Märsky in second-tier Koripallon I-divisioona, and an assistant coach of Finland national team since 2019. In May 2024, Möttölä was invited to coach at

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

Elite Camp and at the 2024 NBA draft combine event.

Personal life

Finnish

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

players, Jarkko Ruutu and

Tuomo Ruutu Tuomo Iisakki Ruutu (born 16 February 1983) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward and current assistant coach with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League. Ruutu was drafted in the first round, nint ...

, are Möttölä's second cousins.Tuomo Ruutu; ihanfinaalissa.fi

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2000-01 , style="text-align:left;",

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 72 , , 3 , , 13.5 , , .444 , , .000 , , .811 , , 2.4 , , .3 , , .2 , , .1 , , 4.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001-02 , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 14 , , 16.7 , , .440 , , .077 , , .750 , , 3.3 , , .6 , , .2 , , .2 , , 4.8 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;", Career , 154 , , 17 , , 15.2 , , .442 , , .063 , , .783 , , 2.9 , , .5 , , .2 , , .2 , , 4.6

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;", TAU Cerámica , 7 , , 3 , , 30.4 , , .569 , , .444 , , .774 , , 3.4 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .3 , , 15.1 , , 13.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;", Skipper Bologna , 22 , , 16 , , 21.8 , , .520 , , .348 , , .879 , , 3.8 , , .4 , , .8 , , .4 , , 10.8 , , 9.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , style="text-align:left;", Scavolini Pesaro , 22 , , 16 , , 28.6 , , .497 , , .375 , , .833 , , 5.1 , , .9 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , 13.7 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 12 , , 5 , , 22.6 , , .547 , , .500 , , .806 , , 3.9 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , .5 , , 10.9 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", Aris , 20 , , 16 , , 19.7 , , .488 , , .459 , , .824 , , 2.8 , , .7 , , .4 , , .1 , , 8.0 , , 6.0 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;", Career , 83 , , 56 , , 23.9 , , .516 , , .406 , , .833 , , 3.9 , , .8 , , .7 , , .3 , , 11.3 , , 9.7

EuroCup

, - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2005–06† , style="text-align:left;", Dynamo Moscow , 14 , , 4 , , 16.54 , , .397 , , .444 , , .167 , , 3.0 , , .5 , , .7 , , .6 , , 6.4 , , 4.2

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1996–97 , style="text-align:left;",

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, 32 , , 1 , , 17.5 , , .586 , , .000 , , .623 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , .3 , , .3 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1997–98 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 28.2 , , .489 , , .291 , , .754 , , 5.3 , , .8 , , .4 , , .5 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1998–99 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 31.0 , , .482 , , .354 , , .833 , , 5.4 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .4 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1999–00 , style="text-align:left;",

, 21 , , 19 , , 27.6 , , .498 , , .350 , , .827 , , 4.8 , , 1.7 , , .2 , , .6 , , 17.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 120 , , 87 , , 26.0 , , .500 , , .333 , , .774 , , 4.6 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , .4 , , 12.4

National team

References

External links

*
FIBA ProfileEuroleague ProfileFinnish League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mottola, Hanno 1976 births Living people 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Aris B.C. players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Helsinki BC Dynamo Moscow players BC Žalgiris players Finnish expatriate basketball people in Greece Finnish expatriate basketball people in Italy Finnish expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Finnish expatriate basketball people in Russia Finnish expatriate basketball people in Spain Finnish expatriate basketball people in the United States Finnish men's basketball players Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players Greek Basket League players Liga ACB players Power forwards Saski Baskonia players Torpan Pojat players Utah Utes men's basketball players Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro players 21st-century Finnish sportsmen