At first glance, newly-crowned NBA MVP Joel Embiid and Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum have little in common: Tatum is a rangy, but graceful shooter, while Embiid is a defensive menace who spiked five shots out of the air like an Olympic beach volleyball player in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
But one man is a common link between the conference foes, and he’s having a hell of a time trying to enjoy this series.
“This series sucks for me,” said Drew Hanlen, CEO of Pure Sweat Basketball and strategic skills coach to the stars.
Mego interviews Drew Hanlen, skills coach for Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid
Hanlen is a quiet but significant figure behind the scenes, a 33-year-old basketball skills coach who has worked with both Tatum and Embiid for the last decade. It’s tough for him to watch two of his top clients battle to move forward in the playoffs, even if that’s a big neon sign pointing towards the success of his business.
“While it does guarantee me that someone moves on, it guarantees that someone’s going to be crushed at the end of it. I just try to help Jayson become the best version of himself, I help Joel become the best version of himself, I hope both of the guys have great nights every night. It does suck,” he said.
The fellow Missouri native first started training Tatum when he was just 13 years old, after Tatum’s mother reached out to him. Hanlen had already been coaching another local kid and having success – his name was Bradley Beal.
At that time, Hanlen was just a 21-year-old self-made coach who was becoming highly sought after. The former Missouri Player of the Year epitomized the grind: as a teen, he committed himself to a basketball routine that included waking up at 5 a.m. every morning to get 1,000 shots up. He earned himself a Division I scholarship at Belmont University.
So of course he put Tatum through the ringer in their first meeting.
“I remember when we first started out, there were times where I just wanted to see how special he was as a worker. How much did he really want it? How much did he love the game of basketball?” Hanlen recalled. “The first workout I put him through, it only lasted 30 or 45 minutes because I really wanted to challenge him. He had to keep leaving the gym because he was thinking he had to throw up.”
Later that day, Hanlen got an enthusiastic text from Tatum’s mom about how eager he was to work out with Hanlen again. And so, a 12-year relationship was born, and in that time Hanlen has helped Tatum evolve from a high school point guard who played as a triple-double threat to an All-NBA scorer averaging 30 points per game this season.
He has worked with Tatum to add variety to his game, to play through contact, and to improve his shot behind the arc. That side-step 3-pointer Tatum loves? Courtesy of sessions with Hanlen.
Tatum has always been “super serious,” Hanlen said, but he’s noticed a change since last year’s loss in the Finals.
“He’s always welcomed criticism with open arms, but I just think he took everything to the next level. We both love golf. Last summer, I’d be out golfing with Zach LaVine, another one of my clients, and he never joined us. He never played golf one time. He had no energy from anything he was doing in the weight room and on the court,” Hanlen said.
Giving up a few rounds of golf to hone one’s craft may not seem like much of a sacrifice, but to Hanlen, it signaled how serious Tatum had become about taking care of his body. He had spent the two years prior to the 2022 Finals with virtually no break from basketball: the shortened offseason after the bubble playoffs and U.S.A. Basketball put mileage on his young legs and he hadn’t expected to feel so mortal against Golden State.
“He didn’t have as much gas in the tank as we had hoped,” he said.
But he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Diet, rest, and recovery came before anything else off the court.
Hanlen has also been there through three different Celtics coaches, and helped Tatum adjust to their approaches. He credits his ability to adapt:
“When Jayson came into the NBA we spent a ton of time on mid-post and mid-range, because that’s where he was efficient and effective in high school and college. One of the things, back with Brad Stevens, they really wanted to change his shot profile to more threes and more layups. We spent a ton of time working on those categories.”
Under Stevens, the biggest project was defense. He wanted Tatum to be highly regarded around the league for his defense, and Hanlen put him to work, resulting in his eventual All-NBA honors in 2022.
When Stevens moved upstairs to the front office and Ime Udoka took over, Hanlen watched Tatum grow even more.
“With Ime, there was a personal relationship to really challenge Jayson’s mentality. That aspect really took Jayson to the next level.”
Hanlen described Udoka’s approach as a mixture of “talking a little trash” while instilling confidence, all with a former player’s perspective. He sees similar qualities in Joe Mazzulla, praising his competitiveness and trust in his players.
“This year, the big thing with Joe is, he just gives him so much freedom,” he said. “They’ve been shooting more threes than ever before, and more loose.”
Will that approach translate to a return to the NBA Finals? Only time will tell. But with Hanlen in his corner, Tatum has no option but to be prepared.
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