Drew Cannon

As a young child growing up in Raleigh, North Carolina, Drew Cannon was attracted to numbers, in particular sports statistics. 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. 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. 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?" 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. ==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. On the advice of Telep, Cannon took writing classes to increase his ability to communicate. By graduation, Cannon had written articles on his statistical research for Basketball Prospectus, ESPN, and Kenpom.com. 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?" Cannon graduated with a degree in statistics in the spring of 2012. ==Professional career==

After graduation, Cannon was leaning towards becoming a writer. In July 2013, Stevens left Butler to become the new head coach of the Boston Celtics. One of his first decisions as coach was to hire Cannon, although his role was not immediately defined. Stevens said that's the way he wants it, remarking "I like the idea that it’s not really defined ... I don’t want it to be restraining at all." 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." Others have been less hesitant. Telep jokes that he will surely work for Cannon someday. "You don't put limits on people like him", he explains. Ken Pomeroy sees a bright future for Cannon. "Certainly he's going to be the guy people look at in the next 10 years who want to get into this business." he remarked. According to Pomeroy: Telep, meanwhile, has retired the internship position, believing he would never find talent comparable to Cannon's. ==References==