Induction Speech 10/13/18
Mike Fratello won 667 games over the course of his 16-season, NBA head coaching career prior to joining the YES Network in October 2008 as an analyst on the network's Brooklyn Nets telecasts.
Fratello, known as the "Czar of the Telestrator," won a New York Emmy in 2015 for his work as a YES sports analyst for the Nets. In 2014, he was a member of YES' Nets broadcast team which won a New York Emmy for Best Live Sports Series. In addition, Fratello earned New York Emmy Award nominations in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 for his YES work. He also works with former YES Nets play-by-play man Marv Albert on TNT's NBA telecasts, and is an analyst on NBA TV as well.
In the summer of 2014, Fratello coached the Ukraine National Team in the FIBA World Cup Championships in Spain. Ukraine qualified for the World Cup Championships by virtue of the Fratello-led squad's sixth-place finish (out of 24 teams) in the FIBA Eurobasket 2013 Finals. In the summer of 2012, Fratello had also coached Ukraine in the FIBA Eurobasket 2013 Qualifying Tournament, from which they advanced to the FIBA Eurobasket 2013 Finals.
A native of Hackensack, N.J., Fratello compiled a 667-548 regular season NBA record from 1983 to 2007 while coaching the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies.
He guided the Hawks to five post-season berths in seven seasons (1983-90) and was named NBA Coach of the Year after leading them to a 50-32 regular season record in 1985-86. Upon leaving the Hawks in 1990, Fratello was an analyst on NBC Sports' NBA telecasts from 1990-93 and provided commentary for NBC Sports' telecasts of the original "Dream Team" during the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
Fratello next coached the Cavs for six seasons (1993-99) with his team's making the playoffs four times. He was an NBA post-season analyst for Turner Sports 1994-96, an NBA regular season analyst at Turner Sports from 1999-2004, and an analyst for Turner Sports during the 2007 NBA post-season. He coached the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2005 and 2006 seasons (making the post-season each year) and for the first 30 games in the 2007 season.
Fratello graduated from Montclair State University and made early collegiate coaching stops including assistant positions at Rhode Island, James Madison and Villanova.Â
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