Drew Cannon
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Sports writer
Drew Cannon | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 21, 1990 |
| Education | Duke University, 2012 |
| Occupations | Statistician Sports writer |
| Employer | Boston Celtics |
| Known for | Applying advanced statistics to college basketball |
Drew Cannon (born April 21, 1990) is an American statistician and sports writer who currently works on the Boston Celtics staff.
As a child, Cannon was fascinated by sports statistics and, after reading the work of Bill James, began to design his own statistical projects to analyze sports. At age 15, he got an internship with well-known basketball scout Dave Telep. Over the next seven years, his research helped improve Telep's recruiting, while Telep worked to round out Cannon's personality. Cannon developed writing skills during college and his research was published by Basketball Prospectus, ESPN, and Kenpom.com. He graduated from Duke in 2012, and was hired by Brad Stevens to do statistical analysis for the Butler basketball team. Cannon produced regular reports on how to increase the team's efficiency. The success of his recommendations won over doubters and led to multiple reporters describing Cannon as Butler's "secret weapon".[1][2][3]
In July 2013, Stevens was hired by the Boston Celtics and brought Cannon with him.[4]
As a young child growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, Drew Cannon was attracted to numbers, in particular sports statistics.[2] At age eight, he read through his father's Bill James baseball books. By thirteen, he was designing his own statistical projects to analyze sports - for example, comparing Negro league baseball players to Major Leaguers from the same time period. Cannon "probably had about 25 [different] projects going on" by age 15, recalled his father Jim Cannon.[1]
Cannon played sports as a child, but was not athletically gifted. He was the sixth man for his junior high team, but did not play for his high school team. Cannon has a younger sister, Maria, and a younger brother, Chris.[1]
At a casual lunch with friends in 2004, Jim Cannon met recruiting specialist Dave Telep. Soon the conversation turned to basketball. Telep had just finished reading Moneyball and was intrigued with the idea of bringing advanced statistics to basketball. "My mind (was) wide open about how we can apply [Moneyball] to basketball", Telep recalled.[2] After lunch, Cannon approached Telep: "There's this kid in my house that I don't know what to do with. Can you help me?"[1] Telep met with Drew Cannon, then a 15-year-old sophomore in high school, and soon offered him an internship, paying $600 for the summer.[1][2]
Internship and college
Over the next seven years, Telep mentored Cannon. Cannon's analytical strengths were obvious, but he lacked the personality to be successful in the sporting world.[1] His first report was like "straight out of a scientific journal", Telep recalls.[5] Telep worked, teaching Cannon how to "communicating to the common man".[5] He forced Cannon to interact with coaches and players, rather than just crunch numbers behind the scenes. "If he was going to do this, he couldn't do it with a lab coat on," Telep explained.[1] Cannon spent so much time with Telep that his kids thought Cannon lived there. He joined Telep on recruiting trips, crunching numbers while Telep enjoyed the Las Vegas nightlife. "[Cannon] gets lost in his computer more than anyone that I've ever seen," says Telep.[1]
As time went on, Cannon's basketball savvy increased as he learned how to scout talent.[6] Studies conducted for Telep included determining which regions of the country were over or under recruited, analyzing the effect of landing top recruits on college programs, and determining the failure rate of foreign-born recruits.[2] A study he did on what constitutes a good mid-major recruit was featured on the first page of The New York Times' sports section.[2] Coaches began to expect Cannon's presence, asking Telep where he was when Cannon missed a trip.[1]
Cannon graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 2008 and attended Duke for college, majoring in statistics.[2] On the advice of Telep, Cannon took writing classes to increase his ability to communicate.[1] Starting his sophomore year, Cannon sought outside opportunities to publish his writing.[6] By graduation, Cannon had written articles on his statistical research for Basketball Prospectus, ESPN, and Kenpom.com.[6] While classmates did their senior projects on economic models and health care management, Cannon's was on high school basketball recruiting, leading his father to joke "Who are the slipshod parents who led him down this path?"[2] Cannon graduated with a degree in statistics in the spring of 2012.[1]
