Michael Robert Fratello (born February 24, 1947), nicknamed "the Czar", is an American sports broadcaster and former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach. He is currently a part-time analyst for

FanDuel Sports Network Ohio FanDuel Sports Network Ohio (formerly Bally Sports Ohio) is an American regional sports network owned by Main Street Sports Group (formerly Diamond Sports Group) as part of the FanDuel Sports Network chain. The channel broadcasts regional cover ...

for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

and a part-time color commentator for FanDuel Sports Network SoCal for the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

. Fratello previously coached the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

, and

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

of the

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(NBA), served as

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's lead analyst, as

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's color commentator/studio analyst for the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...

, as a commentator/studio analyst for

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and for nationally televised games on TNT and was also the head coach of the Ukraine national basketball team. Fratello is among the winningest head coaches in NBA history, ranking respectively 18th and 19th in all-time regular season wins (667) and games coached (1,215).

Early life

Michael Robert Fratello was born on February 24, 1947, in

Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

and North Haledon, New Jersey, to his parents, Vincent and Marie. He is of Italian descent. He graduated from Hackensack High School, where he was captain of the basketball, baseball, football and field hockey teams. He was named to the

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

"All County" Football team as a center in his senior year.

College career

Fratello then went on to Montclair State College in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

to play football.

Coaching career

Upon graduation he returned to Hackensack High School as an assistant for both the basketball and football teams.

Rhode Island (1970–1972)

Fratello then went on to the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

as a graduate assistant assigned to head coach Tom Carmody, also coaching the University of Rhode Island freshman basketball team.

James Madison (1972–1975)

Fratello was an assistant coach at

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...

under Lou Campanelli.

Villanova (1975–1978)

Fratello was an assistant coach at Villanova under Rollie Massimino before going to the NBA as an assistant coach for the

during

Hubie Brown Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Bas ...

's tenure.

Atlanta Hawks (1983–1990)

Fratello coached the Hawks for seven seasons and posted a 324–250 record, making the post-season playoffs five times and winning the Central Division in 1987 with 57 wins. Fratello was named Coach of the Year for the 1985–86 NBA season. His NBA career stats ar
667 wins and 548 losses for a .549 average
His teams have qualified for the playoffs in eleven of his 16 seasons as a head coach. One of the most respected basketball minds despite having never won an NBA championship as a head coach, Fratello ranks 19th on the NBA's all-time win list and 21st in games coached.

Cleveland Cavaliers (1993–1999)

In his six seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers his record was 248 wins and 212 losses. Fratello took the Cavaliers to the playoffs four times.

Memphis Grizzlies (2004–2006)

Fratello was head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies from December 2004 to December 2006. In his first season, he inherited a 5–11 team that he turned around to win 40 games and advance to the playoffs. Fratello built on that record the following year to win 49 games and return to the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Before departing in December 2006, his record was 6–24 taking his overall record with Memphis to 95–83.

Ukraine (2011–2014)

On February 24, 2011, Fratello was officially announced as the Ukraine national basketball team head coach and on March 3, 2011, he was introduced to the Ukrainian media at a

press conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. After the successes he provided for Ukraine, including their first ever

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

appearance, it was announced that Fratello would not coach for Ukraine for EuroBasket 2015. He would be replaced by Yevgin Murzin as the nation's Team Ukraine basketball team.

Broadcasting career

Los Angeles Clippers

Fratello started as the lead color analyst for the

from 1990 to 1992. He returned to the Clippers for the 2019 season as a rotating analyst on TV.

NBC / TNT

Fratello has been a television commentator for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

and also a main

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

of TNT, working once again with longtime play-by-play announcer

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American former sportscaster. Honored for his work by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also know ...

, who first paired up with Fratello in the 1990–91 NBA season as the main announcing team for the ''

NBA on NBC Television broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by NBC Sports has aired on American broadcast network NBC under the ''NBA on NBC'' branding throughout three incarnations in its history. The NBA was first telev ...

''. Starting with the 2008–09 NBA season Fratello also began working with Marv Albert doing

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

games on the

. During his stint as a color commentator, Marv Albert dubbed him "The Czar of the Telestrator" for his masterful way of

diagram A diagram is a symbolic Depiction, representation of information using Visualization (graphics), visualization techniques. Diagrams have been used since prehistoric times on Cave painting, walls of caves, but became more prevalent during the Age o ...

ming basketball plays on screen.

Miami Heat

From 2002 to 2004, Fratello was the lead analyst for games for the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

on The Sunshine Network. Fratello left this position to take over as head coach of the

after the resignation of

in December 2004.

Return to TNT

For the 2007–08 season, TNT rehired Fratello as a full-time commentator, allowing him to work once again with Marv Albert at ''

NBA on TNT The ''NBA on TNT'' is an American presentation of National Basketball Association (NBA) games, produced by TNT Sports (formerly known as Turner Sports and later Warner Bros. Discovery Sports). In the United States, the TNT cable network held ...

''.

Reggie Miller Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Assoc ...

, who had split time between TNT's studio and the booth the past two years, also became a full-time game analyst, joining Albert and Fratello on the sidelines. Due to his affiliation with TNT, Fratello was also used at various points through his TNT run as a studio analyst for NBA TV. Prior to Kerr's departure in the summer of 2014 to become the head coach of the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

, he was part of a three-man booth with his YES counterpart Marv Albert and

Steve Kerr Stephen Douglas Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the United States men's national ...

. He left the network after the 2018–2019 season.

With the YES Network

Starting with the 2008–09 season, Fratello had worked with Marv Albert and Ian Eagle on New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network. Fratello was hired after the unexpected resignation of former color analyst Mark Jackson from the network. For the 2017-18 season, he served as a studio analyst. At the end of that season, he left the network to join the team at NBA TV on a full-time basis. Former Net

Richard Jefferson Richard Allen Jefferson Jr. (born June 21, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played small forward. He played for eight teams in his 17-season career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jefferson playe ...

was named as his successor.

Cavaliers and NBA TV

After leaving the YES Network, Fratello joined the Cavaliers broadcasting team, working exclusively in the studio for in-studio analysis. Fratello also joined the crew at NBA TV, working once again in the studio as an analyst.

Second return to TNT

When Marv Albert announced that he would be retiring after the conclusion of the 2021 NBA season, TNT brought back Fratello for a broadcasting reunion with Albert, with both calling the play-in game between the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

and the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

on May 20, 2021.

Head coaching record