TORONTO (NBA) - The Toronto Raptors have named Benetton Treviso general manager Maurizio Gherardini as the club's vice president and assistant general manager.

The appointment of Gherardini is a strong indication that the Raptors may select Benetton Treviso and rising Italian star center Andrea Bargnani with the number one overall pick in Wednesday's draft.

Gherardini becomes the first European to hold a senior management position with an NBA franchise.

Toronto supremo Bryan Colangelo leaned on international help as president and general manager of the Phoenix Suns before leaving to take over similar roles with the Raptors.

"We are thrilled to have a globally esteemed basketball executive like Maurizio Gherardini join the Toronto Raptors," Colangelo said. "This is a ground breaking move for the league, appropriately with the NBA's only true international franchise."

Colangelo hired Suns coach Mike D'Antoni from the Italian League and acquired international talents such as Leandro Barbosa of Brazil and Boris Diaw of France when he ran the Suns.

Both Barbosa and Diaw will represent their countries at the FIBA World Championship in Japan in August.

Gherardini, 51, joined Benetton Treviso in 1992 and built them into one of the most recognisable basketball organizations outside of the NBA. His squad, led by exciting young coach David Blatt, captured the Italian Lega A championship on Tuesday with a 3-1 series win over Climamio Bologna.

Bennetton Treviso have won five league championships (1992, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2006) and seven Italian Cups.

Benetton, who have brought in 51-year-old Andrea Fadini as Gherardini's replacement, have proved they are able to recover from the departure of key personnel in recent years.

When D'Antoni left for the NBA, Benetton appointed Ettore Messina as his replacement and were hugely successful.

After Messina's departure to CSKA Moscow following the 2004-05 campaign, the club brought in Blatt and he led them to this year's Italian title.

Fadini spent this year as the General Consultant to Russian side UNICS Kazan, having spent 2001-05 as the general manager of Napoli.

The appointment of Gherardini could pave the way for CSKA Moscow's Italian boss Ettore Messina to become the first foreign coach in the NBA.

Messina spent several years as Benetton boss alongside Gherardini and won numerous honours, and this season steered CSKA to a Euroleague, Russian Superleague and Russian Cup treble in his first year with the team.

PA Sport