By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – Before Lauri Markkanen, there was Hanno Mottola. The very first player coming out of Finland to play in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks is living up close his team’s success.
Flash forward to FIBA EuroBasket 2025, he’s the assistant coach of the Finnish national team, helping out Lassi Tuovi to manage the country’s legendary run in the competition.
Speaking to Eurohoops on the eve of the Quarter-Finals against Georgia, he reflected on the current shape of Lauri Markkanen, the absolute protagonist of the Wolfpack.
“I played with his father, I’ve seen him since he was a young teenager, and I had the privilege to be part of his growth as a coach, throughout our high school academy [HBA-Märsky], and now for six, seven years in the men’s national team. I’m one few who’ve had the front row seat for that,” he opened.
“He’s in just such a great physical and mental space right now. You can see how relaxed he is. You can see the difference from two years ago, when he felt more pressure to show people outside who he was.”
“Two years make a huge difference. And obviously, last season was difficult for him. Not because of him, it’s just the situation that he was put in in the NBA,” Mottola added on his season with Utah.
“But we are the ones who benefit because he has a lot of hunger to play. That’s who the absolute elite athletes in the world are. And his biggest strength is that he’s just one of the 12 guys,” he added.
From young Hanno Mottola to young Miikka Muurinen
Other than playing with Lauri’s father, he also spent time with Kimmo Muurinen, father of the 18-year-old sensation who’s taking FIBA EuroBasket 2025 by storm with courage and big-time plays.
“[I’ve played with his dad] for years and years. It’s great. If I put myself into it, I was 18 when I played my first EuroBasket back in 1995, against the likes of [Toni] Kukoc, [Dino] Radja, and those legends. Now looking back at it, I had no clue what I was doing,” he recalled.
“He’s still 18 years old, and what’s exciting is that he’s starting to understand and being introduced to high-level basketball. This summer, being around ultimate pros, there’s nothing better for his development than that; hopefully, he takes it with him when he plays again with his own age juniors.”
“It’s exciting. But again, he’s one of the 12, he’s playing his part, and really bringing energy off the bench. It’s fun to see those guys and then look back hopefully in 10-15 years, thinking like “Hey, remember when you were 18 and now you’re the 30+ veteran?” he followed.
Miikka Muurinen drained back-to-back three-pointers over Nikola Jokic in what will be remembered as one of the greatest wins in Finnish basketball’s history. A perfect defensive game plan was needed.
“When you go against the best player in the world, your game plan gotta be surrounding him. And then obviously, as a result, you have to take risks somewhere else. You can’t stop everything,” Mottola said.
“I think I would give the biggest credit to our guys for staying disciplined for pretty much 40 minutes to our defensive game plan. It’s easy to forget about a couple of possessions, but our guys really stayed in and believed in it. As we started getting stops, we could run the floor.”
“Then it feeds. You start realizing, “Every time I do well on defense, something good happens on the offense”. It’s the natural cycle of a basketball game,” Finland’s assistant coach followed.
“We give all the power and the freedom to players. We understand, not only our staff, but in Finland and around the world, it’s a players’ game. Coaches are just as good as the players. In this tournament environment, we have good experience. A lot of players have gone through this,” he then continued.
“I, Teemu Rannikko, as player many times, and Lassi [Tuovi] being in the EuroBasket quite a few times, we have the experience. We had a couple of lows in Tampere against Lithuania and Germany: we faced the fact and looked in the mirror, and understood that we have to grow from that.”
“I think it’s an overall feeling, but I would say in our philosophy, the player has the power; they have the power. We do everything for them. That’s how we work in Susijengi,” Mottola continued.
Is this the golden era of Finnish basketball?
If Hanno Mottola opened the gates for the following Finnish players experiencing basketball abroad, the country has vastly improved in shaping players ready for bigger opportunities.
“It’s huge. If you look at the countries that are in this year’s EuroBasket, a lot of teams have NBA players now, not just the big ones. A lot have Euroleague players. European basketball is doing well. It’s very healthy. The players are produced all over Europe. It’s not just the so-called big countries,” Mottola said.
“And that’s why you see these surprises. They look like surprises, but at the end, more and more teams have a good roster all the way down to the 12th player. And the coaching in Europe is exceptional.”
“EuroBasket is, after the Olympics and maybe the World Cup, the absolute elite competition in the world of basketball. And it’s so fun to be part of it. I’m sure basketball lovers here and there on TV screens know it. It’s just high-level. It means so much for the European players,” he continued.
“Otherwise, you wouldn’t have the best NBA superstars, the best players in the world here. It doesn’t happen in any other continental competition in the world. Eurobasket is just another level.”
Overall, could we say that this is the golden era of Finnish basketball? Hanno Mottola doesn’t deny, but proves to know the sports history of his country. “Miikka was asking me. “What were the biggest wins in our basketball history?” Well, this was certainly one,” he answered.
“But hey, back in 1964, Finland won the Olympic Qualifying tournament and went to the Tokyo Olympics. Still, the last Finnish team sport that has qualified through qualifications to the Olympics – ice hockey doesn’t have qualifications. That was a pretty huge.”
“I wasn’t born then, but I do know my history. That was the golden era at that time, then we had some great teams when I was playing. This is this team’s turn, but going forward, we might have a new golden era in 10 years from now. Our motto is to just enjoy today, this moment,” Mottola added.
“Obviously, it’s a great group of guys and the spirit that we have within, and just the humbleness to work every day. That’s been the key from the first moment we opened the training camp.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Finland Basketball