ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - He’s a skills coach for some of the NBA’s top players including Joel Embiid, Jason Tatum and Bradley Beal, but over the recent holiday break Drew Hanlen had a chance to visit his family here in St. Louis and to stop by KMOX studios for a chat with Charlie Brennan and Amy Marxkors.
“Any time I get to sneak back to St. Louis to play uncle, see family and friends and all those who supported me at Webster Groves … now I get to connect with them on a different level being older and a little more mature,” Hanlen says.
He started working with Tatum and Beal when they were 13-years-old. Both attended Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis. But for him it wasn’t about jumping from client to client but “building relationships.”
He has been working with Bradley Beal for over 15 years.
“Brad was my first big time client … he saw that I was player of the year in Missouri, we had won a State Championship (with Webster Groves High School) … and Brad was like ‘he’s undersized, he’s short, he’s not very athletic … whatever he’s doing if it’s working for him, imagine what it would do for me,'" Hanlen says.
As his reputation grew more and more players contacted him.
"Like any service industry if you can help players get results more people will want that same Kool Aid," Hanlen says.
He compares himself to a swing coach in golf or a hitting coach in baseball. He teaches players everything you see on the court, however he is not a strength and condition coach.
“I teach them how to shoot more efficiently, how to add moves to their game. I do all their pregame scouting videos.”
The one downside of his job? “When I’m at a game I can’t enjoy it anymore since I’m out there analyzing every movement pattern," he says. And when it comes to watching games on TV his friends aren’t too happy.
“Some of my friends hate it because I’m constantly pausing and rewinding the game."
One of the most important part of improving player’s game is helping their mental state of mind.
“Even though these guys are very successful, financially they are well off, they’re famous….and have everything that everyone thinks that they want…..there’s so much of a mental grind that happens with these players, so making sure that they’re happy off the court, so they can be good on the court….is another component I deal with a lot”.
The one key of advice that he passes on to his players came from Drew’s grandma who told him “You’re never going to have everything that you want, but you’ll always gonna have more than you need.”
Advice that seems to be working. This past Wednesday Joel Embiid, one of Drew Hanlen’s clients, put up 50 points in just 27 minutes of playing time for the Philadelphia 76ers.
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