Drew Hanlen On Working With Nba Clients Why Joel Embiid Is The Hardest Working Nba Player

You're listening to Courtside Club, presented by Caesars Sportsbook.

Michael Jordan, Jason Tatum, and I went and golfed with him two summers ago, and I had met him before.

You did?

Yeah, and so, but still.

So that's why you're golfing.

Still.

I figured it out.

I'm Rachel Demita, and welcome to the Courtside Club.

Today, I am super excited to have the CEO of Pure Sweat Basketball and the number one NBA skills trainer in the world.

And he's also one of my good friends.

Drew Hanlon, welcome to the Courtside Club.

Yeah, definitely.

I'm excited.

This is the first time we've got together off of a basketball court, not doing drills.

Exactly.

We're normally on the basketball court shooting in some capacity, working with one of your NBA players.

But today, I wanted to talk to you, get your backstory, and just kind of dive deeper.

Awesome.

I'm excited.

We were talking about this off camera, but it's been, for those of you guys that don't know, we've known each other for years, dating back to Zach Levine and Andrew Wiggins pre-draft.

We both kind of saw each other.

And it was funny because I saw the grind that most people don't see because most people, I think, really discovered you during 2K.

Yeah.

But I remember when you were doing just basketball drills on YouTube and were one of the first YouTube slash social media influencers, which makes it kind of cool to see how much success you've had now.

Yeah, I was doing so much behind the scenes and creating on my own.

And, yeah, I think people don't realize that.

Like, I was working in a restaurant.

I was, like, modeling on this.

I, like, I didn't just walk.

I just didn't come to L.A. and just walk into, like, a hosting gig like 2K.

But I feel like when we met, you also only had a few clients.

You had David Lee as one of your NBA clients and then Zach Levine and Andrew Wiggins, who were pre-draft.

Yeah.

I think David and Brad Beal were, like, the only two, like, full-time NBA clients.

They were both, like, from St. Louis.

Yeah.

And, like, I was working out a lot of NBA players at that time.

But it was.

It wasn't, like, clients, you know.

Right.

And I think there's a difference.

Like, it's funny because nowadays social media, everybody, like, if they work with somebody one time, they, like, take pictures and videos and post.

But it was one of those things where, for me, I always, like, wanted clients, like, people that I grew with.

And so, yeah, I really only had, like, two guys at that time.

And then you obviously saw, you know, that pre-draft I had, Andrew Wiggins, Zach Levine, and Jordan Clarkson, who was coming in and out of town.

So, yeah, it was at the beginning of both of our careers, kind of.

So, Andrew and Zach, like.

One story I'll never forget.

We were in Santa Barbara at P3, which, if you guys aren't familiar, it's, like, this, like, sports training facility, like, sports science, I think is how you described it.

And we were having a conversation after one of the workouts.

And you were asking the guys, you were, like, are you guys ready to, like, go to the NBA?

You know, and they're, like, kids at the time.

They look so different now.

And I remember you asking, I think it was Andrew, like, what's going to be your first purchase when you go to the NBA?

And he was, like, oh, there's this sick new pair of J's that I really want.

And you just, like, laughed because you're, like, bro, you're going to be able to get, like, a lot more than that.

Yeah.

And I don't know.

So, I just.

Zach, Zach, to compound that story and make it even funnier, Andrew actually had a couple things that he wanted.

Like, he did.

He was, like, these new, you know, shoes and, you know, I want, like, this new watch and had a couple things.

Andrew did.

And for Zach, he was, like, man, I cannot wait until I get, like, a bunch of true religion jeans, like, some fresh Timberland boots and, like, white T-shirt.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm going to get a chain.

But that was, like, his fit that he planned on wearing, like, to every exclusive event.

And it was just, like, it's cool, too, because as you know now, like, doing with Zach, like, he hasn't changed.

Like, obviously, now his wardrobe's changed and stuff like that.

His perspective on, you know, being able to obtain nice things.

But it's just, it's cool when you see somebody at that start.

And then when you do see them grow and for, like, guys like Zach and Andrew who haven't changed much and, like, I feel like neither one of us has changed.

Yeah.

It's pretty cool to see, you know, the path, but then also the consistency as well.

It's weird because I still think of them as kids in a way.

But I want to get a little bit deeper into your backstory until we go too much into, like, the NBA side of things.

You grew up in St. Louis.

And when did you start playing basketball?

I don't think I even know this.

I was, like, one of those kids that, like, just picked up a ball when I was real, real young.

And I just fell in love with basketball.

I was actually better at soccer than I was at basketball.

We have the same story.

Yeah.

Because I sucked at basketball.

And I was good at other things.

But I liked it better.

Yeah.

My mom played college soccer.

My grandpa grew up, like, playing soccer.

So, like, I was in a soccer family.

And my dad played football.

So basketball was, like, not something I was supposed to do.

And I'm also, like, undersized.

I'm, you know, a short guy.

But I just loved it.

And I grew up in St. Louis.

And Michael Jordan was the biggest thing ever.

You know, we didn't really have an NBA team.

So we just kind of grew up in that Michael Jordan era.

You know, I was born in 89.

So Michael Jordan was really rolling.

And so I idolized him.

And so.

I grew up loving basketball.

Started playing when I was younger.

Started really working hard because I had to.

I wasn't naturally blessed with athleticism or with height or whatever.

So, you know, everything had to be self-learned.

And so.

Yeah.

But I just fell in love with it.

I found myself, even when I was doing well in soccer,

I'd gravitate towards going to the gym after school.

And then I started, you know, really started training seriously in, like, sixth grade.

And that was when I started doing my shooting program in the morning.

And then that led to me.

Playing college basketball and.

I feel like I had the exact same, like, grind with basketball, right?

Because we're both small.

People told me, like, she'll never go to Division I.

Telling my parents, just prepare her.

I know she wants to go to Division I or wants to, you know, play in college.

But she's not really, like, built for that, you know.

And it was one of those things that I guess when you're a kid, you have this, like, blind enthusiasm.

And you're just like, I can accomplish anything.

And then you do, though.

And obviously, like, you had a successful career and, like, made waves for yourself.

But what?

What was that like?

The weird thing is, like, I always say that I wasn't blessed with athleticism.

I wasn't blessed with height.

But I was blessed with parents that really believed in me.

Yeah.

And so.

It was one of those things where they were just like, if you want something, like, we're going to do everything in our power to help you get it.

We're not going to force you to do anything.

We're not going to push you to get anything.

But we are going to make sure that we support you in every way possible.

And so my parents were more so the aspect of, like, if you want it, like, here's what it's going to take.

And now are you willing to do what it takes?

And that was a no-brainer.

That was a no-brainer for me, you know.

And so I never really had any doubts that I was going to make it.

You know, it was just one of those things that, obviously, I grew up and I didn't think, you know, I was going to go to a mid-major school.

I went to Belmont.

And, you know, we dream of, you probably dreamed of playing at UConn or something like Tennessee.

I hated UConn.

UConn and Tennessee.

And for me, it was always, you know, Duke and North Carolina.

But at the same time, I was going to give myself the best chance possible of getting to the level that I could get to.

And I think that that's something that a lot of people don't realize.

Is how much the mental side of the game.

Like the confidence in believing that you actually can plays a critical part in actually obtaining it.

So I definitely always possessed that confidence.

And then the work ethic was second to none.

So I focused on shooting.

Like that was a thing for me.

I knew, like, okay, naturally, I'm not that fast.

I can't jump.

My ball handling skills were just, I actually just hated dribbling.

So I was like, I don't want, I don't even care how well I can dribble.

As long as I can dribble well enough so I can get my shot.

When I want to, that's what I'll focus on.

And I feel like you took a similar path as well.

And I saw a video recently.

I don't know if it was on social or what, where you were like, were you in high school or college?

And you were talking about like, so two shots you put on when we first, when we first met, we used to do on court drills.

And so Rachel would come and be like, Hey, Drew, listen, I'll do anything but ball handling or footwork or this one.

Like, so basically you'll just do shooting.

She's like, no, I'll do anything but everything else besides shooting.

So we end up just always doing shooting drills.

But I think shooting is the most important skill in basketball.

Like today's game, obviously Steph Curry altered the game by shooting more threes than anybody.

So I was the same way.

Undersized, you have to be able to shoot.

So, you know, I did, I shot a thousand shots in the morning before school every day when I was in high school.

And that clip actually went super viral because I was given a motivational speech to a bunch of campers in Miami.

I was doing a clinic in Miami and I told them about my morning routine.

And I was basically like, listen, you guys have to find something that separates you from everybody else.

Cause everybody wants to play college basketball, but only like 2% of high school athletes play college basketball.

So you have to be in that 2% somehow.

Right.

And so if you're not super gifted, you know, with height or super blessed with athleticism.

And so I told them, I said, for me, I gave up sweets when I was 12 years old.

That was like one of my like things like, all right, I'm going to sacrifice now to succeed later.

And the other thing was I shot a thousand shots in the morning.

So I said that and one of, you know, my haters online was like, you didn't actually do that.

Like that's cap.

Yeah.

So I dug in the archives and I found a story.

And I actually, the morning that they had done the interview, I shot 1400 shots that morning.

And you know, here I am with braces, curly hair.

And so I just posted it just because.

The baggy jersey.

Yeah.

Cause I really do think that people that don't have the same work ethic, they can't relate.

They think, oh man, that's gas.

Like, you know, you saw a lot of people in Kobe Bryant used to tell all these hard work stories.

They'd be like, man, he's, you know, he's just gassing himself up.

But it's like anybody that was around.

Him that actually was in the trenches with them, saw all the, what I call unseen hours that went in when no one else was watching.

And so, um, but I think it is a good story for, for people to relate to just because, you know, I look at it like this, you know, say you're a, you're a parent that goes to work every day.

When you're walking out of the door, you don't wait for your kids to applaud you.

Like, Hey, good job, mom and dad.

Thank good job for going to work.

Cause like, that's what you're supposed to do.

You're supposed to go to work.

That's what you do.

And as an athlete, you're supposed to put in work.

And that's what you're supposed to do.

So I think that nowadays we want to get applauded for everything that we do.

And we want, it's kind of like a, do you see what I'm doing?

Kind of society instead of just like putting in the work and letting the results speak for itself.

And I think that the cool thing with both of us is we put in a ton of unseen hours and then we did get the results.

And so, um, you know, while people may not see all the work that we put in behind the scenes, they did end up seeing us get college scholarships.

And then, you know, um, basically turn that college scholarship.

Into a basketball career, which we're both now doing, which I still got a lot of people when I got my offer from old dominion and then ended up going there.

A lot of parents and other players like, Oh, she got lucky.

And I'm like, how do you not see?

Like, that's an excuse for me.

That's, that's them making an excuse as to why they didn't get there.

Cause I had girls on my team who were naturally so much more gifted than I was, but I was the one who probably like throughout the day spent like five or six hours.

And so, um, I was like, Oh, I'm going to do this.

Working on my game, whether it was strength training or on the court or like going for a run or, you know, working with my skills coach after practice.

And then you would have, I had a girl on my team who was like five, eight and could like snap the rim.

Like that's how athletic she was.

And she would just kind of like, all right, see you guys later.

Ended up going to vision one, but I'm, it's, I don't know.

There are levels and I'm sure there's that in the NBA as well, even at the highest level in the game.

So you talk about Kobe, somebody who clearly was.

Obsessed the best of the best, but then obsessed to that level.

It's funny.

Like luck always favors the hardest working people.

You know what I mean?

It's just, and there is, there is opportunity.

There's opportunity that's granted to different people and individuals.

Like you look at, you know, let's use the NBA where a player is on a certain team.

They're not getting the opportunity.

They get traded.

Now they have more of an opportunity.

They finally shine.

So there is that.

But, um, I always believe that if, if it's meant to be, it's going to eventually be.

And, um, you know, I think the people.

That just work really hard and they continue to kind of knock down doors and figure out

strategies to advantageously put themselves in positions to win.

I feel like those are the people that end up winning in the long run.

I think that was one of the things, even for me during COVID.

So obviously like we, we get locked down.

I had a contract that had ended like a week and a half before the whole country went on lockdown.

So I went from like having a job to not having a job to having two shows lined up for me to host

for them.

And just like, wow, timing couldn't have been worse for me, but during that time, and it

was like, it was hard for me mentally, but I kind of like tapped into, I guess what I

built when I was younger as to, I just like grinded it out and I did what I needed to

do.

I did a lot of stuff for free.

I just kept keeping up with my social platforms and reaching out to different places and having

meetings and like creating on my own.

And now like almost two years later, I'm getting the benefits now, but if I didn't do that

during that time.

I wouldn't be like sitting here with you today, hosting, you know, my podcast and my

show and having these different opportunities and doing this and that.

And so I think that's something, even if there are any kids or younger people listening now,

like take that work ethic, like that work ethic that you learn in athletics is going

to continue on.

You just might not see the results, you know, until.

And it's one of those things where it's like, it's funny because I always say consistency

trumps intensity.

And I think that we live in a culture where everybody's about intensity.

So they're like, you know what?

On January 1st, I'm going to start this brand new diet.

I'm not going to eat at all.

And they start eating air salads and they start, you know, doing this and they do it

for two days and then they just, you know, completely fall off the wagon.

And it's like those little daily disciplines add up over time.

And you don't realize that like, you know, if you eat bad today and you go on a scale

tomorrow, you might be up a half pound, but it's unlikely.

You're probably not going to be able to do it.

You're probably, you know, water weight might fluctuate a little bit, but if you eat bad

for a month, you're going to see it, you know, same thing with the positive side of

it.

You know, if you lift weights today and you go try to, you know, dunk a basketball and

you can't dunk, you're not going to be able to get up higher.

You might actually go the opposite way because you're sore.

But if you do it for, you know, six weeks, you know, you do it for longer, then you're

going to see your athleticism improve.

So I think that too many people are like all about like the like motivation and they rely

too much.

They rely too much on that instead of just relying on, you know, straight like habits

and discipline, which is going to win out over time for sure.

Have there been any NBA guys that you've seen who maybe like when they first came to you

naturally weren't the best or like still had room to grow, but because of their hard work,

you've seen them take off?

Yeah, I mean, a ton of them.

But I mean, like let's use Joel Embiid.

I mean, he's a guy that's seven foot one, 280 pounds, and each year is added to his

game.

Like right now.

You know, he's doing crossovers between the legs and he's playing like a guard.

And I remember his rookie season.

Everybody was like, you know, oh, you're a center.

You need to go like just like get as close to the basket as you can and just duck in

and, you know, on screen and roll, roll to the rim.

And he was like, no, like I know that I can be better than that.

I know I can be more versatile than that.

And so he's an example.

Zach Levine.

Zach Levine didn't play at UCLA.

He was projected 29th in the draft.

I'll never forget.

He was projected 29th because I got the screenshots of all these analytics.

I don't know why Zach Levine thinks he's ready for the NBA when he's not even ready

for college.

You know, he's going to look great in a main Red Claws, which is a G League team jersey

next season.

And now Zach's a back-to-back all-star.

And we knew how good he could be, but it was just he had to put in the right work over

time.

And eventually he proved everybody how specially true he is as a player.

Well, I remember him and Andrew coming in together and Andrew was like everybody, like

all eyes on him.

But even in the gym, you could see.

I could see Zach's like work ethic.

He was super hungry for it.

Zach, during pre-draft, we had to keep him out of the gym.

We had to literally lock the gym and not make it accessible because he would work out in

the morning.

Then he would go lift weights.

Then afterwards, you know, he's supposed to take a nap and he was like watching film projects

or doing form shooting because we changed his shot.

He was doing form shooting in the mirror of his hotel room.

And then after that, we'd come back for a night workout.

And then after that, he'd hit me and be like, what you want, fam?

And I'm like, no, like, like, I'll see you tomorrow because he didn't understand.

Like the load management side of like, hey, your body can only handle so much.

But those are the people you love.

You love the people that crave improvement so bad that you literally have to say it's

not smart to go overboard.

And you also love the people that want to be coached, want criticism.

They want, you know, to know what am I doing wrong so I can, you know, improve it and correct

it so that I can be better from it.

Yeah.

You go to college.

So here's the story about Belmont.

So I was getting recruited by bigger schools.

Yeah.

Belmont calls me, my college coach, who's one of the, I think he's top 10 in all times

and wins, hall of famer, everything, unbelievable coach, unbelievable person.

He calls me and he's from Nashville or he's from Tennessee.

Yeah.

From Knoxville originally.

And so he has this country twang when he leaves me this voicemail.

I couldn't even like low key understand him.

And, and he said, you know, I'm a coach at Belmont and I had never heard of Belmont at

the time.

So I was like, I remember I didn't even return his first call because I'm like, all right,

I've got these bigger schools.

And at the time, one of the mistakes.

I was making is I was judging people on the Jersey and their name instead of on the fit,

which now I, you know, make sure that I recommend to all these high school people.

That's what I did wrong.

I think that's why I didn't last at old dominion.

Cause I was like, wow, 11th in the country, big offer coach, Wendy, Larry, let's do it.

And then I was miserable for sure.

So I get the second call and it's from the assistant coach, Casey Alexander, who's actually

now the head coach at Belmont.

And, um, he calls me and it's like, Hey man, listen, we've been to the NCAA.

Tournament the last two years.

Um, you know, we, we, we'd love to have a player like you on our team.

So I call them back.

We, yeah, we have a good conversation.

We schedule a visit to go down there and I'll tell you what, I just, I fell in love with

the people.

I fell in love with the players.

I fell in love with the coaching staff, the support system around it.

And I realized this is the best fit for me.

And so I went to Belmont.

We ended up playing in two NCAA tournaments.

Like we opened up my senior season.

We lost by one at Duke.

So like, again, I grew up Duke, North Carolina rivalry.

We're playing on ESPN.

We lose by one at Duke at Cameron.

Um, so I got to experience everything that I dreamed of.

That was the one aspect that I love that I could contribute on a winning program.

We were competing for championships.

The other side that I didn't realize as much was Belmont because of the way that we were,

they wanted us to be regular people, regular students, regular, whatever they gave us the

summers off.

And so during the summers, I was traveling around city to city in my car, doing camps

and clinics and building my brand, building my business.

I was traveling to, you know, one summer I lived in New York with David Lee when I was

still in college, I was training him, but it's like, I wouldn't have those opportunities

if I went to a high major school where they made you do summer school and they made you

live on campus and do weight training and workouts.

So from a basketball side, it was amazing.

I loved it.

But also from a, just a life side, I loved it as well.

We had completely different experiences.

Like, cause I went in there thinking that that was the kind of experience that I was

going to get.

I was like, Oh, I get to play basketball.

I knew I never wanted to play in the Ducks.

I was like, but I get to have four years, become the best player that I want to and

can become, maybe get to the tournament, like have fun, win games, all this and that, get

a great education.

I get there.

I'm like, okay, can't major in what I wanted to because it doesn't fit in with our practice

schedule.

Um, can't like take this internship with ESPN because it doesn't fit in with practice schedule.

And then I'm not like, I'm just becoming a good player.

I'm just becoming a good basketball player.

Oh, also, by the way, Rachel, we're going to switch you to the point guard position.

And you hate dribbling.

I'm like, what?

So now I'm staying an extra hour after practice doing ball handling drills because my sophomore

year, I was going to be our, our starting point guard.

And I'm like, wait a second.

So I had to completely step away from the game in order to set myself up for life.

No doubt.

So yeah, that's why I mean, like I'm still in group text with some of my college teammates,

like to this day, like, and event people, people don't know.

I don't understand that.

Like, you know, a lot of people throw out the word like brotherhood and family when

they're talking about teams, but, um, it was really special, you know, it was a special

group of guys and it's amazing how much we supported each other and continue to support

each other.

And so nowadays we don't obviously get to see each other in person as much, but we're

always still, you know, talking trash in the group chat.

And, um, yeah, it's just a really, it was a really enjoyable experience.

So I want to get more into that with you starting up pure sweat, getting your NBA clients.

But before we do that, I would love to take.

All right, people were brought to you by Caesar sports book, the greatest sports budding

app ever, and honestly, the only one you need.

All right.

It's time for the second half.

And I want to jump into more with what you are doing now.

Everybody knows you from social media, from your unseen hours series, from pure sweat

basketball, from all of your NBA all-stars that you have in your roster.

What is going on in Drew's life now?

Yeah.

So it's weird.

So I have like.

Two parts of my life now.

Um, the one aspect is what I'm most known for, which is the work that I do with the

NBA guys.

That is like a full-time job.

Like I joke around all the time.

I say I have like three kinds of responsibilities and that's one I'm their trainer, their skills

coach, their, you know, basketball consultant, uh, which requires me to do on court workouts,

uh, off the court film stuff, analytics stuff.

Um, that's one piece of it too is I'm like their life coach slash therapist slash somebody

that they can trust.

You know what I mean?

Cause there's not many people that they can trust with their, their deepest, darkest secrets

or people that they can really relate to and have those heart to heart conversations that

they know that they can, um, you know, they can feel safe around because I'm not going

to share anything and I'm going to help them and give them advice and give them ideas to

kind of bounce around.

The number two is the most important one.

And that's something that I, I think that not as many people understand because when

a client has a great game, my, my mentions and my DMS are flooded with fans that are

like, Oh my God.

You're the best.

You're the goat.

Like unbelievable work with so-and-so.

And when they have a bad game, they instantly flood it the opposite way.

And they're like, you suck.

He needs a new coach.

You know, I can't believe that you are stealing money from this client.

And what they don't understand is it's not a, um, it's not a one-time thing.

It's like, I've been with all my guys, like Jason Tatum and Brad Beal started with me

when they were 13, RJ Barrett, when he was 14 or 15, every one of my other guys, Zach

Levine, Kelly Oubre, uh, Joel and B.

All those guys started before they were ever in the NBA.

So we've been together for their entire career.

So I always say judges by the body of work, instead of just like a night, a random night

in February where they're playing, you know, one of the 82 games, no one's going to remember

next year.

Um, we had a life coaching side, the mental side, the being able to, to help them off

the court is even more valuable than on the court.

And one of the things that I think is really cool is, you know, David Lee was my first

client that retired.

And, you know, it was kind of weird for me because I'm like, you go from talking every

day about basketball to now they don't need you anymore, right?

They don't need you for what they needed you for then.

Yeah.

But we talk just as much now, but it's about golf and life and, you know, and stuff.

It's becoming an old man golfing now.

That's like an old man hobby, Drew.

But it's, it's one of those things where it's cool because we've built those relationships

that are beyond the game of basketball and we're going to be friends for life.

And so, um, you know, and that's.

That's the one aspect of, of my world right now.

And the other aspect is actually doing that life coaching, corporate coaching, motivational

speaking.

I'm writing a book, doing podcast, um, just because I know basketball is such a small

piece of the general population.

And, um, I really want to help more people find like inner peace.

Like if you look, anxiety numbers are through the roof, depression numbers through the roof.

People just aren't happy.

And even people, the funny thing is some of the people I consult for are.

A hundred millionaires and a couple of billionaires, they have everything that everyone dreams

of having, but they don't have the one thing they need, which is inner peace.

And so, um, I've started to shift my focus on just being able to help the general population.

Yeah.

Sorry, I'm just showing you my bracelet inner peace.

Like that's what I'm all about though, because I feel like, you know, there's so many people

that are striving for more and it's like, that's great.

I love ambition and you, I mean, you know, I don't really sleep much as much as I should.

And I just, I'm always working, but.

You don't sleep or eat.

But I always have energy, you know, positive energy.

But he's always like so amped up for like, no matter what we're doing, if we're like

going to play golf or in the gym, if we're, I don't know.

Just randomly, like people always laugh, but it's, I get that from my family.

Like, you know, my mom's one of those people where the other day she actually has to have

surgery.

She tore her hamstring and she tore her hamstring and she's getting ready to have this big surgery

and she's still answering the phone.

She's like, you know, Drewie, like, and then everyone's like, isn't she?

Like down and out, like, and like, oh yeah, she can't walk right now.

She's like, I don't know how people do this.

She's like, I'm crawling everywhere.

She's like, don't worry.

I'm going to try to drive with my left foot.

And I'm like, she's just like a, doesn't matter what's thrown at you.

You got to deal with it.

And so, um, being able to help more people in that regard, because I think that, I think

that a lot of people don't have the, don't have consistency with what they say their

life is like and what their life is really like, you know, and I always say you can't

outrun you.

And I think there's so many people that have these inner struggles, inner, uh, problems

and issues that they're not willing to voice.

And so they ended up dealing with them throughout their entire life.

And so, um, hopefully I can tap into that and be able to help more people find that

inner peace.

And so they can finally like love themselves and love the life that they're living instead

of having to portray that they're, um, you know, living some, some great life on social

media and, and to their friends and family.

Yeah.

So you talked about that.

You're writing a book.

That's something that you shared with me.

Um, and, and I said to you, I was like, oh, you're the Tim Grover of 2022, you know, relentless

is one of my favorite books.

And you came back to me and you were like, well, kind of, but I'm taking a different

approach and that's something that you mentioned.

You were like, I'm taking an approach of like how we can put this to our actual life because

relentless is one of my favorite books.

I've read it like three, four times.

And that's one of those books that.

Kicks my to shape when I need it because I feel like I still kind of have that like

athletes mentality.

If I'm like feeling sorry for myself or whatever, I read a few pages of that and I'm just like,

okay, let's do it.

Like no excuses.

Let's go for it.

Um, but one thing in that book and I wanted to get your take on it a little bit is he

talks about the dark side and that's kind of like what you're talking about is like

people holding onto things.

He said that everybody has that.

And even the, the athletes at the top of their game.

Have something that is what you would consider their dark side or maybe what the public doesn't

know.

It can either destroy you or make you stronger.

What do you think?

So here's the cool thing.

So for those of you guys that don't know, Tim Grover was basically the original kind

of independent basketball trainer.

He did more of the body than I do more of the skill.

So we're a little bit different in that aspect, but he worked with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant,

Dwayne Wade, the list goes on.

So when it comes to the independent training world, I mean he was the guy and now he does

a ton of motivational speaking.

We actually spoke together in Orlando last month and we spoke back to back and it was

funny because when it comes to our athletes, we have such a similar message as far as like

you have to be so mentally sharp that nothing can rattle you.

You know, you can bend but not break.

I call it unbreakable faith.

Like where it's like nothing that can be thrown at you can stop you.

You know, for him, he calls it a closer, you know, a cleaner, a closer and stuff like that

where you just have this different level of mentality.

Yeah.

And I think that's what I want to differ on is I believe that if you look at all the

best athletes, the goats, they've all had almost big time life problems because they

didn't know how to turn it on and off.

So if you look at, you know, golf for instance, we talked about that.

Tiger Woods had huge life crisis.

If you look at Michael Phelps, the best swimmer of all time, he's went through a ton of public,

you know, issues.

You look at Michael Jordan, he's had his own, you know, things that he's had to deal with.

And so I look at it and I say on one end, you know, if you have no off switch, it does

help you be, you know, a kind of relentless for lack of better terms in your field.

But I also want to help my athletes win off the court as well as on the court.

And so being able to, um, when on the court does require that kind of ruthless, like just

like all in mentality.

But then also I want them to be able to have that inner peace.

Where they can live, you know, happy lives outside of basketball because most athletes

retire before they're 40, you know, you have the Tom Brady's of the world, you know, Michael

Jordan might push that 40 edge, but so that means you're going to have, you know, maybe

20 to 40 where you're in a professional athlete, you got 20 years chunk of your life.

And that's like, that's on the long end because what's the average lifespan for like an NBA

player, not lifespan, but you know what I mean?

Like let's say, let's say, let's say that most, most like, um, and we're talking about

the highest level of athletes.

They might retire when they're 35 so they may be at 15 year careers if they're like,

that's if they're really elite.

And so then the rest of your life and even during those 15 years, like one of the things

I always do with my guys is try to snap them back in reality because you know, some of

my clients, my clients have collectively made $3 billion.

None of them are 30 years old.

So it just shows you they have a ton of money and they're all young, but a lot of them have

gone through things where they're like, Oh my God, they're stressed or whatever.

And I'm like, timeout.

Let's go back.

If you were 15 years old and somebody told you that you could have $400 million in contracts,

you were going to be an NBA all star, you were going to be this, what would you do?

And every single one of them just smiles and I'm like, you are literally living your dream.

I saw it in Santa Barbara with the guys, they wanted just some new J's and now look at them.

And so the thing is, I look at life as a bigger picture.

I look at basketball as just such a small piece of, of the puzzle.

And so.

With a lot of the work that I do, that's what I try to do.

I just try to get them to appreciate all the blessings that are in their life instead of

stress about all the ones that aren't in their life.

And you know, my grandma had a saying that, uh, I'll never forget.

I always say it, but she used to always say, Drew, you're, you're never going to have everything

that you want, but you're always going to have more than you need.

And when you think about that, it just puts everything in perspective because like we're

in LA right now in LA, a water problem is that a water costs $15.

Yeah.

At a club.

Yeah.

Whereas a water problem in Haiti where my little sister's from is that there's no clean

water to drink.

Those are the same.

They're both water problems, but they're different water problems.

And so I think that too many of us stress and struggle about things that really don't

matter.

Yeah.

And so, um, yeah, that's, that's kind of the second phase of my career is that's going

to be just helping people kind of achieve.

Not only what they want as far as success, but like really defining successes, just being

able to live comfortably.

We talk about Michael Jordan or even Kobe, like back in those days, you didn't have even

the different pressures that the guys have now with social media where like they're accessible

24 seven.

And then even somebody who's not in sports, not an entertainment, but is constantly like

scrolling and comparing and seeing other people's lives that are better or seeing like, Oh,

they look happy.

I'm sitting at home and I'm not happy.

So when you talk about like the anxiety and the depression, all of those things, I think

play.

Into each other and then not to mention, we just like, are still kind of like going

through a pandemic.

There's just a lot of like heaviness right now.

And the other thing is I have some clients sometimes, um, or business guys that are very

successful and they'll talk about this new deal and it's stressing them out and I'm like,

just don't do it or retire.

I knew you were going to say, I'll be able to retire.

And I feel like you've said this to me before you've just been like, uh, why are you doing

it?

And I'm like, yeah, I don't know.

My golden rule is if I don't want to do something, I don't do it.

Yeah.

Like, that's why I don't drink.

I don't smoke.

I don't do it.

Like, and people laugh, but like, you know, I mean, there's times where I show up to a

club and I'll be in like a, a sweatsuit and people are like, what are you doing?

Yeah.

They're like, what are you doing?

And I'm like, I'm not here to impress people, you know, I'm here to have fun.

So, um, I just wish more people kind of dropped all the stress and stop doing things they

don't want to do.

And there are things you have to do sometimes to provide for yourself or your family that

you don't want to do, or there's little pieces of a business that maybe you don't necessarily

like doing.

Um, overall things, if they stress you out, just find something to replace them that,

you know, provide the same benefit that those, those things do.

So your book that you're writing, can you share the name?

It's called stop BS in yourself.

Stop BS.

And it's funny because when, when people thought, when, when people hear the name, the original

thought is, oh, he's talking about like be disciplined, lock in.

That's what, well, that's what I said when you told me you're writing that book.

I was like, oh, this is relentless part two, but like a new wave of it and like, I obviously

respect you and think that you are up there with Tim, you're just, you know, a lot younger

and in this new way.

But like, I was like, oh, like you can really do this.

That's what I was thinking.

It's part that it's the biggest part is like, stop BS in yourself.

Like actually follow through with the things that you say you're going to do.

Yeah.

I think that confidence comes from keeping the promises that you make with yourself.

I think that if you tell yourself that you're going to eat well for a certain period of

time, you actually doing those, those small wins over time.

Yeah.

Build up to confidence.

I think that when you are living a life that's consistent with the life that you're telling

or showing to other people, that also brings confidence and self love.

But it's, it's weird because I asked this to people all the time.

I say, would you do anything for the people that you love if they were in need?

And they always are like, of course, and I'm like, do you love yourself?

So why aren't you doing the things for yourself that you would do for other people?

And there's so many things that, I mean, people stay in bad relationships.

That they shouldn't stay in.

People stay in bad jobs that they absolutely hate.

People continue doing things that they know aren't beneficial for them.

And so that's what Stop BSing Yourself is about.

It's like, Hey, what do you really want?

And then how do we achieve that?

And then are you willing to do the things that you need to do to achieve that?

That's what I've seen also with your career is it seems like you are building this team.

Obviously we didn't talk about Pure Sweat too much, but check it out.

He has a whole team of trainers that work with you.

And then obviously you have your, your roster of NBA guys.

Yeah.

And college guys coming up, but what I see you doing and tell me if I'm wrong is you're

building up Pure Sweat and you still have like your core guys that you're working with, but

you are kind of taking a little bit of a step back and making sure that your trainers under

you can kind of handle the load, I guess, of that day to day on the court practices.

And I see you doing a lot more in this space of like, it, it takes all of life.

For sure.

I mean, I think that, you know, the first phase of my career was transforming players,

coaches, trainers, games.

And the second phase is just transforming people's lives.

You know, I, I just think I see the holistic approach and I see the DMs from players were

like, oh my gosh, coach drew, you've completely helped me with, you know, my game, make a

team, you know, whatever.

And these are people that I haven't met and I'm like, wow, like it's, I've been able to

impact so many players and I'm like, there's so many people out there though, that need

somebody to kind of, you know, pat them on the back or, or pull them out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Or, or pull them in a certain direction or push them in a certain direction.

And so I want to be that voice to everyone.

And I just, like I said, I mean, I just think so many people are fighting internal battles

that they can't win with themselves.

And so hopefully I can be a little assistance to, you know, them finally beating those demons

and, and, you know, finding that, that piece that we continue to mention.

But can you still help me for my celebrity games on the court?

For sure.

I'm never going to step away.

Listen, I have, I have a celebrity game at Final Four.

The last one is going to be my next game.

Or the last celebrity game I was in, I was like 0 for 6 or 7 from 3.

I've never, ever been that, but I didn't play.

I'm guessing you blamed the ball or something.

No, I definitely had an excuse.

I definitely had an excuse, but I can't tell that to you

because you're just going to be like, you know, whatever.

But I'm not going to have an excuse this time

because I'm going to at least get on the court.

Yeah, no, I'm definitely going to be around the game of basketball

because it's something I love doing.

I love helping, you know, players out.

But I really do love helping people through basketball

more than I love the actual basketball,

which is hard for some people to believe.

You know, they'll be like, hey, do you want to come play pickup?

Hey, do you want to do it?

And I'm like, no, like I don't really enjoy playing basketball anymore.

I enjoy what I can do through the game of basketball,

which is help put a smile on people's faces.

And so just being able to do that in another manner is going to be,

you know, it's exciting for me.

You say that, but you're going to play pickup later with Drake.

We're having a little pickup run.

He's so humble, but he really, like, knows.

Everybody and has played with celebrities across the world.

But we are at the end of our game.

So before I let you go, I have some buzzer beater questions for you.

Do it.

What is the best game that you've ever sat courtside for?

Oh, there's been a lot of them that are fun.

I think my favorite one, not the best one,

but my favorite one was Jason hit a game winner.

Jason Tatum hit a game winner.

And I was sitting courtside and I remember that it was when we had the mask on and I remember just ripping the mask off and just going crazy.

So there is a picture of Jason and his teammates tackling him.

And you see me looking like Superman behind him.

Like you would have thought I hit the shot the way I went crazy.

So, yeah, that's up there.

I mean, it's been fun.

The thing that people don't realize when I sit courtside is I only cheer for my players.

So there will be times where, you know, two of my clients are playing against each other.

So the other day I was at Boston versus Philly.

And so Joel and Jason were playing against each other.

And Joel came over and he was asking me for some advice during the game.

And I'm giving him some advice, but I'm sitting next to Jason's mom.

And she's like, don't help him out.

Like, you know, my baby, you know, whatever.

And and then the next, you know, a couple of plays down later, Jason's like, oh, what am I doing on my elbow?

And the people behind us are like, first of all, yeah, who are you cheering for?

You're like cheering every time Joel scores.

You're cheering every time Jason scores.

And then second off, like what kind of conversation?

Conversations are we having during the game?

Why are they listening to you about their jump shot?

So I think that's always funny, especially when I'm not sitting courtside and I'm sitting with the fans.

It's always funny because I'll be like, yeah, there we go.

Or yeah, there we go.

And they're like, you're a front runner or you have both those guys on your fantasy team.

Right.

But I would say the Jason game winner was was my favorite just because I felt like I hit the game winner because I went so crazy.

I need that photo.

Yeah.

Send it.

I got it.

It's a good picture.

So what is your ideal food and drink combo while sitting courtside?

Oh, while sitting courtside.

Well, lemonade's always going to be my my go to drink if I'm ordering.

Or wait, where's your.

Yeah, I've already went through about five of them.

Lemon Perfect.

Lemon Perfect.

So the reason.

So here's the thing.

Lemonade.

Yeah.

Lemonade was growing up.

I that was how I made money.

That was also what I drank when I went out because everybody else was drinking alcohol.

I would drink lemonade.

And so when it was actually funny because normally brands reach out to us, I actually reached out to Lemon Perfect because I was like, hey, listen, I tasted one.

It's a good one.

It's a good one.

It's amazing, but it doesn't have all the sugar and the bad stuff in it.

So I was like, it's basically like lemonade without, you know, being lemonade.

But yeah, I would say lemonade would be the drink.

I don't know about snack, like maybe chicken tenders or something like that.

I'm not a big courtside eater.

I'm more like focused on the game.

But if I had one meal, it would definitely be my mom's homemade fried chicken or my dad's steak.

So like I'm like a homemade kind of guy.

That's like a Midwest Southern thing.

Yeah.

You know, I just.

I spend way too much money on Postmates every year because I travel 200 plus days a year.

Same.

And so I just value a home cooked meal.

Yeah.

And my last question.

What is one event in history that you would have loved to sit courtside for?

It could be a sporting event or other.

No brainer.

Michael Jordan game winner on the Utah Jazz game six.

Yeah.

I mean, I grew up and I've, as you mentioned, I mean, there are not many celebrities that I haven't met.

I've met pretty much.

I've met pretty much everyone and I know a lot of them on a first name basis or on a text basis.

Yeah.

Michael Jordan, Jason Tatum and I went and golfed with him two summers ago and I had met him before.

You did?

Yeah.

And so, but still.

So that's why you're golfing.

Still.

I figured it out.

That's why you're picking up golf.

But still, it was just like, it's like, this is still Michael Jordan.

You know what I mean?

And so it was funny because we were golfing and like 13 holes in, there was a rain, like a big rain delay, like thunderstorms came down.

So Jason's like, dang, man.

Like we're five holes away from finishing, but I'm over here because I grew up idolizing him.

I'm like, rain delay means we get to hang out with Michael Jordan more.

Yeah.

And it's just cool.

Did he talk shit on the golf course?

Oh, for sure.

He has to.

That's why I like it.

I mean, as we don't do it on the podcast, but like, as you know, my, my greatest gift besides helping people is trash talk.

That's what I enjoy more than anything, you know?

And so you do it to me.

And that's why I like the mental side so much.

Like it.

It's funny because actually here's a good story real quick, but Tyrese Halliburton is somebody I've never worked with on the court.

And he was in Philadelphia the other day and I was there working with Joel Embiid and his agent is a good friend of mine and said, Hey, is there any way we could grab dinner together with Tyrese?

Because I think that he could really learn from you mental side, you know, the mental side of things.

So we go to dinner and I start, I have my phone out and I start naming off players and I'm not going to say him, but I started naming off players.

I'm like, what do you think about this guy?

He's like, bum.

What do you think about this guy?

I'm like, he sucks.

What do you think about this guy?

And I'm like, oh, well, they all average more shots a game than you.

So, and he was just like, we froze.

And I started talking to him and I was like, dude, I was like, he started talking about basketball.

I was like, we got to get the mental side first.

And I was like, just get to 14 shots.

He wore the number 14 in high school.

So I photoshopped a picture of him.

He had got his jersey retired and he was like almost like in tears looking at his jersey.

So I photoshopped it instead of having his name on the back.

It said 14.

I put shots per game underneath.

And I said to him.

You're also like a photo.

I photoshopped with it.

Yeah.

And I didn't, I don't even know him at this point.

And I said like, oh, this is amazing.

This is what 14 means.

14 shots per game.

So he says, all right, I'm going to do it.

I'm going to be more aggressive against Philly.

That night, his career high was 28.

That night he had 38.

And after the game, he was like, oh my gosh.

Like, I just got to be aggressive.

And I'm like, exactly.

So for me, trash talking is a way to get people to own the things that they normally kind of find justifiable excuses for.

You know, there's a million reasons why, oh, the team doesn't call plays for me or this or that.

And it's like.

I just care about results.

That's all I care about at the end of the day.

So yeah, trash talking is.

You know what buttons to push.

That's like a skill that you have.

I don't know where you got that, if it's an innate ability.

But you know like how to get under people's skin when you need to.

And it's not in like a negative type of way, but you know how to pull things out of people.

And I know this because you're my friend and you do it to me.

Yeah.

I just say like, I always say like, I'm the nicest asshole you'll ever meet in the aspect of I truly care about people, but I don't care.

My saying in pre-draft is hate me now.

Thank me later.

Yeah.

I don't.

I don't care if somebody hates me.

If it helps them get the result that they want, that eventually they're going to thank me for.

And so, I mean, there's been times where I've went months without talking to clients because I've went off on them.

So as soon as the season ends, they're like, I'm like, I don't want to talk to you.

I don't want to hear from you.

Like, don't text me.

Don't call me.

Yeah.

And I don't care.

I'm like, that's fine.

But then once they need me again, it's right back to it.

So yeah, I'm all about the end result.

And I really don't care if people like me or love me or if they hate me.

I just want to help.

I just want to help them get to where they want to get to or beyond it, which is the

thing that I live for most.

I appreciate that.

Before I let you go, let everybody know where they can find you.

Yeah.

Easy.

I mean, for basketball stuff, it's at pure sweat for personal stuff.

It's at Drew Hanlon, my name.

But yeah, we're putting out a ton of cool stuff.

So far, my entire career has been all basketball and we're getting ready to put out a bunch

of life stuff, which will, I think, help the greater population.

When can we expect the book?

My birthday, September 28th.

That's like my goal.

September 28th.

So.

So I've been working hard on the table.

There's like the, you know, the kind of manuscript behind it.

So writing is so different than anything I've ever done before because, you know, it's one

of those things where you really want to articulate what you're trying to say, but you also have

to be very, you can't be repetitive.

And normally as when we're on camera, we're used to repeating the same stories and delivering

the same messages.

And so, and also trimming the fat.

Like that's one thing I don't like when I read a book and it's 400 pages and I'm like,

oh, I got like five pages.

So I'm really trying to trim the fat so that when people read it, it's like they want to

highlight the whole thing.

It's going to be lean and mean September 28th.

I'm excited for it.

Thank you so much.

I truly appreciate it.

It was a great chat guys.

Make sure that you stay tuned, like, and subscribe and I will see you next time.

What's up guys.

It's Rachel Demita.

Thank you so much for watching this week's episode of Courtside Club.

Make sure that you like rate and subscribe to ESPN's YouTube channel and wherever you

listen to your podcasts.

I'll see you next time.

We have new episodes coming to you guys every single week.

So stay tuned for that and I'll see you soon.