Larry Drew life and biography

Larry Donnell Drew is the current head basketball coach of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association. He is also a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Detroit Pistons in the 1st round (17th overall) of the 1980 NBA Draft. A 6'1" point guard from the University of Missouri, Drew played in 10 NBA seasons. He played for the Pistons, Kansas City/Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers. In 1988-89, Drew played in the Italian League with Scavolini.

Marking his first season as a head coach in the NBA, Atlanta’s Larry Drew has certainly paid his dues, and he’s taking full advantage of the opportunity.

He has experience, having played with winners like Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Byron Scott. He has coached under individuals like Scott, Alvin Gentry and Doug Collins, and after 27 combined seasons as a player and coach, the work invested in those positions have set the stage for Drew to finally get the job he has desired for some time, and after 18 years on the bench as an assistant, that time is now.

Schooled in the fundamentals of the game as a youngster, Drew seeks to teach that knowledge to a Hawks backcourt that brings a nice blend of experience in the likes of veterans Mike Bibby, Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson, and youth in Jeff Teague and Jordan Crawford.

While he won’t forget about their teammates, he will instill a motion offense to utilize the skills of many multi-talented players on his roster, taking full advantage of one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses in the league, and defensively, Drew wants his players to be more aggressive and accountable for their roles, which he believes will make them a much improved unit.

He knows the personalities of the players after six years of work, as well as their strengths and weaknesses on the court, and that should bode well as he seeks to lead the Hawks back to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

Drew, who originally joined the Hawks coaching staff on August 24, 2004 as the lead assistant to then-coach Mike Woodson, was named as his replacement on June 12 of this year.

Before arriving in Atlanta, Drew was an assistant with the New Jersey Nets and Scott after spending the previous three seasons with the Washington Wizards in a similar capacity (2000-03) under Collins. Prior to that, he re-joined one of the teams he previously played for, the Detroit Pistons, as an assistant coach in 1999-2000. Drew returned to Detroit as an assistant under Alvin Gentry, for the first time since playing with the team as a NBA rookie with the Pistons in 1980-81. His coaching career began in 1992-93 when he broke into the ranks with another of his former teams, the Los Angeles Lakers, whom he played for from 1989-91.

An 11-year professional, Drew averaged 11.4 points and 5.2 assists in 714 career games for four NBA teams. After one season in Detroit, he played the next five years with the Kings, in Kansas City and Sacramento (1981-86), and his final four in Los Angeles (1986-91), for the Clippers and the Lakers. In addition, Drew spent one season internationally as a member of Scavolini of the Italian League in 1988-89.

Born April 2, 1958 in Kansas City, Kansas, Drew played four seasons at the University of Missouri, where he averaged 12.0 points and 2.8 rebounds and prepped at Wyandotte High in Kansas City. During the summer, Drew runs the Larry Drew Advanced Guard Academy in Los Angeles, and holds camps around the country.

Drew and his wife Sharon have three children, Larry, Landon and Lindsey. Larry II is a junior point guard at the University of North Carolina, while Landon and Lindsey play high school basketball in the Los Angeles school system for Fairfax High and Taft Middle schools respectively.

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