![]() ![]() ![]() On late night journeys to and from the gym, Hanlen is forced to drive as the four-time All-NBA second-teamer sits in the passenger seat and watches every possible ‘meaningless’ League Pass game on his phone. Hanlen smiles while explaining how ‘The Process’ had watched every single Nowitzki field-goal on tape and was still asking for more footage of the former Dallas Mavericks star.Įmbiid’s obsession doesn’t stop there. ![]() Trainer Drew Hanlen and Embiid have become a formidable team during their time together. This is another of the countless examples Hanlen has to emphasize Embiid’s need to be better. “We’ve watched every single made field goal of Kobe Bryant, of Shaquille O’Neal, of Hakeem Olajuwon, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Durant,” Hanlen stops before naming any other greats. “He’s the biggest film nerd there is in the NBA,” Hanlen laughs. Hanlen reiterates this and says the Sixers big man is constantly searching for ways to improve. The 67-year-old saw “a lot of sweating with assistant coaches and anybody else who dared to put a body on him.” Zumoff was the Sixers’ play-by-play man for over 25 years and saw Embiid’s desire to improve from up close. This work ethic has stayed with the 29-year-old throughout his time in the NBA and is something that Zumoff says was always plain to see. The pair sorted a time, and the next day Embiid was in LA having his first of many workouts with Hanlen. “Joel had basically told them, ‘Figure it out, I want to work.’” “A couple of hours later, I was getting calls from his agent and his manager,” Hanlen tells CNN Sport. When hearing the trainer was on his way back to Los Angeles, the 76ers star joked that he would join the young coach in the City of Angels – at least Hanlen thought he was only joking. “Two months later, I was on a plane to Florida to go to high school in America.”Įmbiid had been hooping for less time than many middle-schoolers, but Hanlen knew from that very first conversation it would not be long before the newly crowned MVP would reach another level. “They could see something in me I got a spot at the Basketball Without Borders camp in South Africa,” Embiid explained to The Players’ Tribune. Hailing from Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, Embiid only picked up basketball in his mid-teens when he was invited to a camp hosted by then NBA player and fellow Cameroonian Luc Mbah a Moute. The center was an unrefined talent when he was drafted out of the University of Kansas. You wondered, ‘Well, yeah, there’s potential there, and physically he has the chance to grow into a body that could be pretty imposing. And everybody knew he took up the game at 15. “He was an unpolished product to begin with, having played really part of only one year at Kansas. “He missed the first couple of years, and nobody really knew what to think,” long-time Philadelphia 76ers play-by-play commentator Marc Zumoff explains to CNN Sport. The Cameroonian was also coming off the back of missing two whole seasons through injury and there were doubts over how long he had been playing the game. “I already know who you are,” Hanlen retorted – the formidable figure needed no introduction.īy the time the pair met, Joel Embiid had made a name for himself as one of the most exciting young prospects in the NBA, but he was still an unrefined talent. At a Summer League in Las Vegas, a towering figure perched next to basketball trainer Drew Hanlen and introduced himself. ![]()
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