UKR – Fratello introduced as Ukraine coach

KIEV (EuroBasket 2011) - Ukraine have unveiled veteran NBA boss and television analyst Mike Fratello as their new coach.

Fratello, 64, will lead the national team this summer when Ukraine play at the newly expanded, 24-team EuroBasket in Lithuania.

The New Jersey native has also coached Cleveland and Memphis.

At his introductory press conference, Fratello showed he still as a gift for the gab that makes him popular with players and fans.

After arriving an hour late, he said to the assembled journalists: "Apologies for being late but the traffic outside was worse than Los Angeles, California."

Fratello spoke warmly of Sasha Volkov, whom he coached when the boss of the Atlanta Hawks. Volkov, the Ukraine Basketball Federation president, sat next to him at the press conference and Fratello described him not only as a close friend but someone who is “like a son.”

"I looked at this as a great opportunity to do something that I had never done before and that is to be a part of a national team in competition,” Fratello said.

"It's great to see young men who represent their country and the meaning that it has for them and to be a part of that is a great experience for a coach as well.

"Coaching is teaching and building and trying to form a team, a true sense of what a team really means.

“And for these people, it's accomplishing something that's very important to them for their country.”

Fratello once coached Ukrainian Vitaly Potapenko in Cleveland, and also worked with Lithuanian Zydrunas Ilgauskas

"I've coached a number of international players,” he said.

"I look forward to July when we begin the practices with the national team to try to prepare everyone to get ready for the start of the European Championship.”

While Volkov expressed the belief that Fratello has the ability to get the team out of a Group D at the EuroBasket which includes Slovenia, Russia, Bulgaria, Belgium and Georgia and into the next round, Fratello made no guarantees.

“But I think our goal is a bigger goal than just July, August and September,” he said.

“I think what Sasha would like to do is build this thing for down the road where your younger players coming up can replace the older players moving on and build a system that is not just a one-summer hit and is over and you can forget about it.”

Fratello spoke about the process that ended with him being the coach.

"The discussions began with Mr Volkov and after the first couple of times that we talked, he presented it to me,” he said.

“And I honestly didn't know if I could do it because of the time constraints involved.

“But as we talked longer and he made things clear, I felt that I would be able to do it.

"To me, the biggest thing was I had never done international competition before in tournaments that mean something.

“It was a new challenge for me, something that I had not done.

“And talking with my fellow coaches in the NBA, they told me, 'What a great opportunity that would be to do something like that and be a part of something like that that not a lot of people get to do.'

"So I looked at it like that way, like 'Let's go and try to get this thing done, let's try and make this work.”

Fratello has a handshake agreement to coach Ukraine.

“That's all I need from Sasha is a handshake,” he said.

“We'll get to that. Basically, I'm coming in for this opportunity at the European Championship. We haven't talked beyond that.

“We felt it was important to do one step, the beginning part of the program and then after that, we'll move on and make other decisions.”

FIBA