Drew Cannon

Drew Cannon (born April 21, 1990) is an American statistician and sports writer who currently works on the Boston Celtics staff.

As a child, Cannon was fascinated by sports statistics and, after reading the work of Bill James, began to design his own statistical projects to analyze sports. At age 15, he got an internship with well-known basketball scout Dave Telep. Over the next seven years, his research helped improve Telep's recruiting, while Telep worked to round out Cannon's personality. Cannon developed writing skills during college and his research was published by Basketball Prospectus, ESPN, and Kenpom.com. He graduated from Duke in 2012, and was hired by Brad Stevens to do statistical analysis for the Butler basketball team. Cannon produced regular reports on how to increase the team's efficiency. The success of his recommendations won over doubters and led to multiple reporters describing Cannon as Butler's "secret weapon".

In July 2013, Stevens was hired by the Boston Celtics and brought Cannon with him.

Early life 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. 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.

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.