HANLAN’S HOOP DREAMS
Aylmer athlete shooting for NBA
In the overall passage of time, five or six years constitutes little more than the blink of an eye, but the distance Olivier Hanlan has travelled in the world of basketball in that span is more than a little eyeopening.
Back when Hanlan was playing for Ecole secondaire Grande-Rivière in Aylmer, his goal was to earn an invitation to play for Quebec’s provincial team. Then to play for the national team in his age groups. Then to find a spot at a U.S.-based prep school, followed by earning a scholarship offer from a major U.S. university program. Check, check, check and check. Now comes undoubtedly his loftiest goal ever: being selected in the National Basketball Association draft and joining the wave of Canadians earning the right to play for pay in the world’s top professional league.
“It’s definitely motivating for a guy like me and other Canadian guys coming up. It’s eye-opening,” Hanlan said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he was meeting up again with agent Michael Tellem.
Now 22 and a point guard listed at 6-4 and 190 pounds, Hanlan announced in April he would enter the NBA draft after three years at Boston College. With the Eagles, he was Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year for 2012-13, a third-team all-star in 2013-14 and a first-team all-star in 2014-15, when he led the conference in scoring at 21.5 points per game.
As of late last week, following a well-regarded performance at the NBA’s pre-draft “combine” in Chicago, Hanlan had worked out for the Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets. His schedule for the remaining days and weeks until the June 25 draft in New York City features another 10 workouts or so, although none, so far, with the Toronto Raptors.
There are only two rounds in the NBA draft, meaning only 60 players are selected annually, and historically few Canadians have been called. That has changed significantly with eight Canadians picked in the first round in the past five years, including Toronto’s Anthony Bennett (2013) and Andrew Wiggins (2014) at first overall. Four others went in Round 2.
Saskatoon-born Trey Lyles, who played one season with the University of Kentucky Wildcats, is regarded as a mid-first-round prospect this year.
The Raptors have the 20th pick in the first round, but their secondround choice has been dealt to the Atlanta Hawks. As well, Canada’s only current NBA franchise already has all-star point guard Kyle Lowry and veteran backup Greivis Vasquez on the roster, so, at this point in the draft process, other clubs would seem to be better fits for Hanlan.
Depending on the media source, he’s generally projected as a late first- or a second-round pick. Either way, he’d be the first athlete from the National Capital Region to be selected.
Given the lower profile of Canadian university basketball, it seems unlikely that graduating Carleton Ravens guard Philip Scrubb will be drafted despite three national player of the year awards and five Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships in as many years.
A much more likely destination for Scrubb and his older brother Thomas, also a five-time CIS champ with the Ravens, is one of the many European pro leagues. Because they have dual Canadian-British citizenship, they wouldn’t be “imports” under European league rules.
Hanlan, whose basketball résumé includes time with the Ottawa Guardsmen youth club program, says the pre-NBA draft process has been “going by fast, really fast, but I’m enjoying it. I like working out, and, the more workouts I have with NBA teams where I can show I can make an impact on an NBA roster next year, it’s quite enjoyable.”
With more than four weeks remaining until draft night, Hanlan acknowledges his possible NBA future remains uncertain. Different teams have said different things in various meetings, he said, but things should become much more clear.
“I’m expecting to get drafted,” he said.
Where Hanlan will spend draft night is also yet to be finalized, but he vows he’ll “definitely” get around to completing his studies in Boston College’s communications program. Because he left university after three years, he remains one year short of graduating.
“That’s another one of my goals in life, to get that degree,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that, too.”