Star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has long had a close relationship with his trainer Drew Hanlen of Pure Sweat fame, and when the St. Louis native found his Celtics squad sent fishing in Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, one of the first people Tatum heard from was his trainer.
Hanlen made a point of reaching out to the Duke alum after the soul-crushing loss — but more out of preparation for the campaign to come than out of pity, according to the man himself in a recent interview with Basketball News’ Alex Kennedy.
“The first text message I sent to him was, ‘Hey, you’re going to be back. And you’re going to be better because of this,'” shared Hanlen.
Boston’s Jayson Tatum rises to third in frontcourt fan vote for 2023 NBA All-Star game; Jaylen Brown still fourth in backcourt https://t.co/t5VpKKsGpW
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 12, 2023
The popular NBA trainer shared that the unorthodox nature of Tatum’s schedule with regard to basketball over the last few seasons has made training in the offseason difficult.
“When we look at the last couple of years, he hasn’t really had offseasons as much,” offered Hanlen.
It shook him up enough that his mother Brandy Cole also let the teacher in charge of the classroom know just what she thought about their reaction to the teasing. https://t.co/5cVgPlIsWP
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 12, 2023
“The one year, they go in the Bubble and they go all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals; we had like two weeks that offseason and then he goes and plays and he starts off really slow,” he added.
“Then, (next summer), he goes to play with USA Basketball and wins a gold medal; we have a couple-week offseason and he starts really slow. This year, we finally had a full offseason so that he can start the season strong instead of kind of working his way in.”
Tatum’s focus this past offseason has been “driving through contact, playing through fouls, and finishing at the rim,” per Kennedy, and we’ve been seeing the results on the court with the leap the Chaminade alum has made to put himself close to the top of the 2023 MVP conversation.
What is behind all of the absurd scoring going down in the NBA right now? https://t.co/XIJQh2Bx6A
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 12, 2023
For Hanlen, Tatum getting his due is only a matter of time, even when he was in the midst of watching his collapse in the 2022 Finals.
After the loss, Hanlen says he spent “an hour of my time screen-shotting all these notable analysts or notable people with big followings that were criticizing, hating, and doubting Jayson, and I put them all in a folder.”
“I cannot wait to arrogantly send them out when he finally holds up a championship trophy,” he said, we imagine with quite the wry grin.
Celtics alum Kendrick Perkins on growing up poor after personal tragedy in new memoir https://t.co/9DSwdRmY0x
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 12, 2023
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ
