Drew Cannon (born April 21, 1990) is an American statistician and sports writer who currently works on the Boston Celtics staff.
Cannon developed writing skills during college and his research was published by Basketball Prospectus, ESPN, and Kenpom.com.
The success of his recommendations won over doubters and led to multiple reporters describing Cannon as Butler's "secret weapon".
[4] As a young child growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, Drew Cannon was attracted to numbers, in particular sports statistics.
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.
Telep had just finished reading Moneyball and was intrigued with the idea of bringing advanced statistics to basketball.
"[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.
[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.
[1] Cannon graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School in 2008 and attended Duke for college, majoring in statistics.
[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?
[1] His father remarked that Cannon had earned the right to pursue his passion, joking "if he had to live in the basement for a year, we could feed him.
"[5] Cannon soon moved to Chicago where he lived with family and considered tending bar on the side as he freelanced for the websites he wrote for during college.
[6] Butler was among the first schools to subscribe, and soon head coach Brad Stevens was contacting Cannon to discuss potential recruits.
[1] In reality, Cannon was well qualified - Sports Illustrated called him a "perfect match" for Stevens, who is known for his use of statistics to aid his coaching.
Over time, Cannon has developed a series of substitution rules designed to maximize the team's performance.
Stevens called Cannon's work on lineup and substitution patterns "very impactful" and said "He's really an invaluable resource.
"[5] Cannon is hesitant to take credit for advancing the statistical movement in basketball, saying "Hopefully I don't screw it up and other teams think it's a good idea still.