Maurizio Gherardini
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Maurizio 'Mo' Gherardini (born September 22, 1955) is an Italian sportsman, currently vice president and an assistant general manager for the Toronto Raptors NBA club.
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[edit] Basketball career
Gherardini started his basketball career as a player playing on his hometown team of 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 teams general manager in 1983. Forlì was playing in the top league (Serie A) 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 in 1992 and since then has molded that squad into one of the most familiar basketball clubs outside of the NBA. Benetton won four league championships (1997, 2002, 2003 and 2006), three Italian supercups (1997, 2001 and 2002), made four appearances in the Euroleague's final four (1993, 1998, 2002, and 2003), and helped them capture seven Italian Cups (1993–1995, 2000, 2003–2005).
Gherardini also developed a sophisticated scouting system in the Euroleague. NBA teams ask for his advice when it comes to selecting players out of Europe.[citation needed]
[edit] Interviewed by Charlotte
In 2003 Gherardini was interviewed for the Charlotte Bobcats general manager position. It was the first time that a non-American citizen has been interviewed for a top job on an NBA team.[citation needed] Although he was seriously considered for the job the Bobcats hired Bernie Bickerstaff instead.
Former NBA basketball player and general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said that Gherardini is 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.[citation needed]
[edit] Hired by Toronto
On June 22, 2006 Gherardini was hired by the Toronto Raptors as vice president and assistant general manager.
[edit] Canada Basketball
Gherardini is also a member of Canada Basketball's Council Of Excellence.[1]
