Drew Hanlen on Jayson Tatum and how he motivates the Celtics star: "Always tell him to be the nicest a**hole" (Exclusive)

When he puts Jayson Tatum through film work, drills and informal conversations, trainer Drew Hanlen often stresses one thing that will continue to fuel his success.

“I’ve been trying to turn him into a cocky player on the court and an arrogant player on the court,” Drew Hanlen told Sportskeeda. “I always tell him to be the ‘nicest asshole’ – a nice guy off the court and an asshole on the court."

Drew Hanlen on Jayson Tatum

Hanlen spoke to Sportskeeda on how Tatum has strived for that persona, including his improved chemistry with Jaylen Brown, co-existing well with Kristaps Porzingis and the late Kobe Bryant’s influence. Hanlen also addressed the criticism surrounding Tatum’s clutch play despite the Boston Celtics entering the NBA playoffs with the No. 1 seed.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.

How does the Jayson Tatum of this year compare to other seasons?

Drew Hanlen:

“The biggest thing is when Jayson got to the Finals two years ago and fell short, the only thing that has been on his mind is getting back to the Finals and winning the championship and finishing the job. Every decision that he’s made with his game, everything that he’s done on the court, everything that he’s done off the court to prepare for games has all been about how can he impact winning at the highest level and how can he get back to winning a championship."

"The biggest thing we focused on [in the 2022 offseason] was his driving and finishing. We also wanted him to get back toward feeling comfortable in the mid-range and midpost. In the playoffs, that is a weapon Jayson needs to have in his game. That is what he grew up on. Early on in his NBA career, due to analytics, everybody wanted him to shoot more 3s and shoot fewer mid-range 2s. So, we went away from that. But then we added that back to his game. It started with his posture. Then we went in with his driving angles. Then we went to his pace. Then we went to his finishing. We’ve been really pleased with the results he has gotten from the work since then."

"In the era that we’re in, everyone just looks at numbers, box scores and stats instead of looking at the impact on winning games. Obviously, the Celtics were clearly the best team in the regular season. He was a big reason for that. Everyone on the Celtics had to sacrifice individual stats for overall team success. But when you look at it, Jayson averaged 28 [points], eight [rebounds] and five [assists] on 60.4% true shooting percentage while being a great defender and while sitting out multiple fourth quarters because they had big leads. If that’s not what you want in a player, then you don’t like hoop."

"He was really excited about KP because he always loved KP as a player. He loved the ability to run a two-man game with him. If you double him, Jayson can throw it back to KP. He’s an elite pick-and-pop shooter. If they switch, he can take advantage of either KP posting up a smaller guy or KP driving on a bigger guy. There are so many different things that would make the Celtics a hard matchup when those two guys got involved. There’s a lot of versatility that KP has provided on both ends of the floor.”

As a result, how has Jayson’s chemistry with Jaylen evolved this season now as they’re part of an offensive trio instead of a duo?

Drew Hanlen:

“Jaylen and Jayson both just want to win. The more unpredictable you are, the more the ball is moving and the more a player is moving, the more everyone feels involved. Then you are harder to guard. Ultimately, the harder you are to guard, the more likelihood you have a chance to win basketball games. They’ve really bought into winning. Both of them are doing a lot of things that don’t necessarily show up in the box score to help the Celtics be the best team they can possibly be. "

"There are little things like being in gaps on defense, setting good screens to free up their teammates or getting off the ball that might not lead to an assist but it leads to a swing-swing action. All of those little things don’t necessarily appear on the box score. But they contribute to winning.”

What things has Jayson Tatum done in recent years to adjust to all the defensive attention that he’s receiving?

Drew Hanlen:

“Joel[Embiid] was the first client of mine that really demanded higher teams’ focus on the defensive end. I’ve seen what every coach has thrown at him with coverages and schemes. I wanted to make sure that Jayson was prepared for it. From ball-screen stuff, we looked a lot at what I did with Bradley Beal. When John Wall went down, there were two years that Beal averaged 30 [points] on back-to-back seasons. Every team was throwing different ball-screen coverages at him to try to slow him down. Then in the midpost and the wing, there is nobody in the NBA that gets more thrown at him than Joel. So, I wanted to make sure that Jayson was prepared for all of those things that he may see when it comes playoff time.”

What’s your perspective on all the criticism about Tatum’s clutch play?

Drew Hanlen:

“There’s obviously always going to be things that people can improve and stuff like that. But if you look at Jayson over the last five years, I think he has one of the best clutch numbers in the NBA. If you look back at some of the big moments in his career, you think of Game 6 [of 2022 Eastern Conference Finals against Milwaukee when they’re down 3-2 and he scores 46[points] against Giannis [Antetokounmpo]."

"He ends up having a great Game 7, and the Celtics end up winning that. In Game 6 (last year vs Sixers), he scored 16 points in the fourth quarter to come back and then scores 51 [points] in Game 7 to send the Celtics to the next series. There are not many players in the world, if any, that I would want the ball in their hands at the end of the game more than Jayson.”

What does the room for improvement, though, look like for Jayson Tatum?

Drew Hanlen:

“At around Christmas time, we made an adjustment in his shot off the dribble. That yielded really good results. He’s continuing to make sure that his shot is exactly where he wants it. He’s continuing to grow as a playmaker. We know in the playoffs that teams are going to try to squeeze the ball out of his hands and make others beat them. So it’s about being able to find the right guy and make the right plays. That’s going to be important."

"It’s about continuing to impact the game on the defensive end. His finishing rate was something in the Finals that he struggled with, but he has since worked really hard on that. He’s got great results. His finishing has improved a ton in the last few years that he's now one of the best finishers in the game. He’s continuing to make sure that holds up. I always say the best shooter ever is Steph Curry. But he still misses 55% of his threes. So there’s always room for improvement.”

What window did you have into how Kobe Bryant mentored Jayson Tatum?

Drew Hanlen

“Jayson only got to spend two days really with Kobe. There was an article that came out a while back that when we had to turn Jayson into shooting more at the 3 and at the rim to become more of an efficient player. ESPN wrote an article about ‘de-Kobe-ing Jayson’s game’ They tried to spin it in a negative way toward Kobe."

"That’s something that Jayson really didn’t appreciate because that was just Jayson’s game. He really idolized Kobe. He had won five championships and was one of the most skilled players of all time. He had one of the most killer work ethics and mentalities. Those are the things that Jayson has always wanted to embody – the winning, the way he went about his work and the way he inspired people. But he didn’t have much interaction together in person unfortunately."

"We got one time in the gym with him, and there was another time that he met with him. But unfortunately he then passed away that winter [in January 2020]. When Jayson was inspired by Kobe, it was when he was winning championships and obviously doing it in a dominating fashion. That’s something that Jayson has wanted to do as well. There are so many iconic moments. When you think about those iconic moments that stick out, they involve winning. That’s what Jayson is after.”

Tatum’s mother has credited you for pumping up his confidence. What have you done from your perspective?

Drew Hanlen:

“I started working with Jayson Tatum when he was a freshman in high school. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to turn him into a cocky player on the court and an arrogant player on the court. I always tell him to be the nicest asshole – a nice guy off the court and an asshole on the court. It’s an ever-evolving thing."

"A lot of people think that being a trainer involves just putting people through drills. That’s maybe one percent of what I do. It’s the film work to prepare guys before games and make adjustments after games. It’s the conversations that you have to develop the confidence they need to be able to perform at the highest level. It’s being able to help them through out of slumps when things aren’t going their way and to keep things rolling when things are going their way."

"We have been together for over a decade now. I always tell people that the players are the ones putting in the work and deserve all the credit for their success. I’m just the GPS system. They’re the ones driving the car. I’m just the one trying to help them get to where they want to go. We’ve had a good relationship. I look forward toward continuing the work so Jayson Tatum can eventually be proud of what he accomplishes in his long career.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.