Washington Wizards: Catching Up With Drew Hanlen

Washington Wizards: Catching Up With Hanlen

One of the main themes surrounding the hiring of Scott Brooks has been player development.

Brooks was an assistant then head coach during the development of the Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder rosters that included Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, Thabo Sefolosha, and Reggie Jackson and others.

How much credit he deserves for developing the respective players is up for debate, but he undeniably played a role and that has been a major selling point as to why Brooks was hired in Washington and a major goal for the team as they move forward.

Aside from Brooks, an individual who will play a key role in that development is Drew Hanlen.

Hanlen is a skills coach and founder of Pure Sweat Basketball. Why is that important? His client list, which includes Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Dwight Howard, also features two members of the Washington Wizards: Kelly Oubre and Bradley Beal.

While Beal is entering unrestricted free agency, the 22-year-old is expected to return. Of course, Oubre is already under contract. Two of the three youngest players on the Wizards’ roster (Otto Porter being the third) devote much of their time working with Hanlen.

I had wanted to reach out to Drew Hanlen since the 2015 Las Vegas Summer League. He had worked with Kelly Oubre Jr. during the pre-draft process. That work continued in Las Vegas as Kelly Oubre Jr. routinely worked out after games with Hanlen, despite being in the midst of games on back to back nights.

The results were impressive as Kelly Oubre Jr’s game came along well in his short time in Vegas, capping off his Summer League play with a 30-point performance on 9-14 shooting from the field and 5-7 from the 3-point line.

That was a far cry from Oubre’s Summer League start, when he shot 13-37 from the field and 1-12 from the 3-point line. The improvement in skills and comfort was apparent, and while Kelly Oubre Jr. did the work, Drew Hanlen deserved some credit as well.

I recently spoke with Hanlen and wanted to get insight on his background, how he formulates developmental plans for his players, his thoughts on the seasons that Bradley Beal and Kelly Oubre had, and what the plan for their development was in the future.

Prior to become a renowned skills coach, Hanlen worked with Beal. This occurred before either player garnered recognizable names in high-school.

“His dad had requested that we work out, just because he knew I was a really hard worker in his area. I had played against his older brothers,” Hanlen said. “I had worked him out one time – he almost passed out after about 20 minutes. He hated me, hated my workouts and I didn’t see him for a while. His dad kind of pushed him back to me. He knew he needed to be pushed.”

Once Beal and Hanlen began to regularly work out, Beal saw improvement in his game and eventually won a state championship during his sophomore year. Peopel asked what he did to develop his body and his game, and that word-of-mouth helped him get other clients, like David Lee, who also went to the same school as Beal.

Now that he’s become an established skills coach, Hanlen has created a system that is built around the individual players he works with and much of that work occurs prior to even stepping onto the floor.

“The first thing I do is review every single possession that they were involved in during the previous season. I do a ton of research on them. I go back and watch every single possession, put together film edits and look at detailed analytics to kind of help shape where we need to focus our energy and time,” Hanlen said.

“I then list all the things they could possibly do to improve and help their team’s chances of winning next season. Then we prioritize together. We know that we’re only going to attack two to three areas maximum over the summer, and we really lock in on those.”

Hanlen prioritizes the team’s needs first and what the player needs to do to help them win, and then focuses on the player. He consults with coaches and the front office in developing his workout plans. As of our conversation, he had not yet touched base with Brooks, but he will absolutely make sure to make that a part of the process, he said.

“My cliché quote is, master the role that they want you to play now while working towards the role that you want to have later. You have to master the role you have now if you want a bigger role later.”

Both of Hanlen’s clients that suit up for the Washington Wizards had rather inconsistent seasons.