Hanno Möttölä

Hanno Aleksanteri Möttölä (born 9 September 1976) is a Finnish basketball coach and a former professional basketball player. He is currently working as an assistant coach of Finland national team. A power forward, Möttölä played for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association (NBA), becoming the first player from Finland to play in the NBA.

Hanno Möttölä

Möttölä in 2009.
Finland
Position	Assistant coach
Personal information
Born	(1976-09-09) 9 September 1976 (age 48) Helsinki, Finland
Listed height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight	250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
College	Utah (1996–2000)
NBA draft	2000: 2nd round, 40th overall pick
Drafted by	Atlanta Hawks
Playing career	1994–2014
Position	Power forward
Number	13
Career history
As a player:
1994-1996	Helsingin NMKY
2000–2002	Atlanta Hawks
2002–2003	TAU Cerámica
2003–2004	Skipper Bologna
2004–2005	Scavolini Pesaro
2005–2006	Dynamo Moscow
2006–2007	Žalgiris Kaunas
2007–2008	Aris Thessaloniki
2009–2012	Torpan Pojat
2013	Torpan Pojat
As a coach:
2014–2024	HBA-Märsky
2019–present	Finland (assistant)
Career highlights
EuroCup champion (2006) Lithuanian League LKL champion (2007) Lithuanian Cup winner (2007) 8× Finnish Player of the Year (1997–2002, 2004, 2005) Finnish League Best Young Player (1995) First-team All-WAC (1999)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Möttölä playing for Finland in 2008

Möttölä was named in the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame of the University of Utah in September 2023.^[1]

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. 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 to play in the EuroLeague. He played in Spain with TAU Cerámica of the Liga ACB, where he suffered an ankle injury. Then he played 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).

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 (GBL) with Aris, after signing with the team on 26 July 2007.^[2]

Möttölä announced his retirement from playing basketball on 26 September 2008,^[3] but decided to return to basketball just nine months later.^[4] 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).^[5]

International career

Möttölä at the EuroBasket 2017

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.^[6]

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 Elite Camp and at the 2024 NBA draft combine event.^[7][8]

Personal life

Finnish ice hockey players, Jarkko Ruutu and Tuomo Ruutu, are Möttölä's second cousins.^[9]

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

NBA

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2000-01	Atlanta	72	3	13.5	.444	.000	.811	2.4	.3	.2	.1	4.5
2001-02	Atlanta	82	14	16.7	.440	.077	.750	3.3	.6	.2	.2	4.8
Career		154	17	15.2	.442	.063	.783	2.9	.5	.2	.2	4.6

EuroLeague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2002–03	TAU Cerámica	7	3	30.4	.569	.444	.774	3.4	1.0	.7	.3	15.1	13.6
2003–04	Skipper Bologna	22	16	21.8	.520	.348	.879	3.8	.4	.8	.4	10.8	9.2
2004–05	Scavolini Pesaro	22	16	28.6	.497	.375	.833	5.1	.9	1.0	.5	13.7	12.2
2006–07	Žalgiris	12	5	22.6	.547	.500	.806	3.9	1.3	.5	.5	10.9	9.8
2007–08	Aris	20	16	19.7	.488	.459	.824	2.8	.7	.4	.1	8.0	6.0
Career		83	56	23.9	.516	.406	.833	3.9	.8	.7	.3	11.3	9.7

EuroCup

†	Denotes season in which Möttölä won the EuroCup

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2005–06†	Dynamo Moscow	14	4	16.54	.397	.444	.167	3.0	.5	.7	.6	6.4	4.2

College

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1996–97	Utah	32	1	17.5	.586	.000	.623	2.8	.9	.3	.3	6.4
1997–98	Utah	34	34	28.2	.489	.291	.754	5.3	.8	.4	.5	12.5
1998–99	Utah	33	33	31.0	.482	.354	.833	5.4	1.4	.4	.4	15.3
1999–00	Utah	21	19	27.6	.498	.350	.827	4.8	1.7	.2	.6	17.0
Career		120	87	26.0	.500	.333	.774	4.6	1.2	.3	.4	12.4

National team

Team	Tournament	Pos.	GP	PPG	RPG	APG
Finland	EuroBasket 1995	13th	6	4.2	4.2	0.5
	EuroBasket 2011	9th	5	6.0	1.2	0.0
	EuroBasket 2013	9th	5	6.2	1.8	0.4
	2014 FIBA World Cup	22nd	4	2.8	0.5	0.0