Hanno Möttölä

Hanno Aleksanteri Möttölä (born 9 September 1976) is a Finnish former professional basketball player. Möttölä played for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association (NBA), at the power forward position, where he became the first player from Finland to play in the NBA.

Hanno Möttölä
Möttölä, in 2008.
Personal information
Born (1976-09-09) 9 September 1976
Helsinki, Finland
NationalityFinnish
Listed height6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
CollegeUtah (1996–2000)
NBA draft2000 / Round: 2 / Pick: 40th overall
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Playing career1994–2014
PositionPower forward
Number13
Career history
1994-1996Helsingin NMKY
2000–2002Atlanta Hawks
2002–2003TAU Cerámica
2003–2004Skipper Bologna
2004–2005Scavolini Pesaro
2005–2006Dynamo Moscow
2006–2007Žalgiris Kaunas
2007–2008Aris Thessaloniki
2009–2012Torpan Pojat
2013Torpan Pojat
Career highlights and awards

College career

Möttölä attended the University of Utah, in the United States, where he played college basketball under head coach Rick Majerus. He was a starter on the Utah Utes team that played in the final of the 1998 NCAA national championship tournament, which they lost to Kentucky.

Professional career

After college, Möttölä was selected in the second round, with the 40th overall pick, in the 2000 NBA Draft, by the Atlanta Hawks. He played two seasons in the NBA with the Hawks. After his time with the Hawks, he returned to Europe. He played in Spain, with TAU Cerámica of the ACB, then in Italy, 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).

He also played in the Russian Super League with Dynamo Moscow, in the Lithuanian LKL League with Žalgiris Kaunas, and in the Greek Basket League (GBL) with Aris, after signing with the team on 26 July 2007.[1]

He announced his retirement from playing basketball on 26 September 2008,[2] but decided to return to basketball just nine months later.[3] 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 (2010–11), and finished in third-place in Finnish League (2011–12).[4]

National team career

Möttölä was a long-time member of the senior Finnish national basketball team. With Finland, he played at the 1995 EuroBasket, the 2011 EuroBasket, the 2013 EuroBasket, and the 2014 FIBA World Cup.[5]

Personal life

Finnish ice hockey players, Jarkko Ruutu and Tuomo Ruutu, are Möttölä's second cousins.[6]

Career 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  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

NBA
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2000-01 Atlanta Hawks 72313.51.7.0001.002.40.30.20.14.5
2001-02 Atlanta Hawks 821416.72.1.200.702.50.30.20.24.8

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 TAU Cerámica 7330.4.569.444.7743.41.0.7.315.113.6
2003–04 Skipper Bologna 221621.8.520.348.8793.8.4.8.410.89.2
2004–05 Scavolini Pesaro 221628.6.497.375.8335.1.91.0.513.712.2
2006–07 Žalgiris 12522.6.547.500.8063.91.3.5.510.99.8
2007–08 Aris 201619.7.488.459.8242.8.7.4.18.06.0
Career 835623.9.516.406.8333.9.8.7.311.39.7

References
  1. Sotirou, Kostas (2007). "Aris inks big men Mottola and Agadakos". Euroleague. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  2. "Hanno Mottola of Finland retires". Inside Hoops. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  3. Martinez, Frans (2009). "Hanno Mottola vuelve a las canchas". Solo Basket (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  4. "Hanno Möttölä vahvistaa ToPoa Divisioona A:n kärjessä". Basket.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  5. Hanno MÖTTÖLÄ (FIN).
  6. Tuomo Ruutu; ihanfinaalissa.fi (in Finnish) Archived 2010-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
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