CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charles Lee joked that his wife thought he was a little crazy when he decided to quit his job as a single-stock equity trader on Wall Street to become a full-time basketball coach.
Turns out it was a great career move.
Since moving from Bank of America to coach at Bucknell in 2012, Lee has won two NBA championships as an assistant coach, including last week’s win with the Boston Celtics in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Now, at age 39, he gets his first chance to be a head coach at any level with the Charlotte Hornets, a perennially disappointing franchise that hasn’t been to the postseason in eight years — the longest active drought in the NBA — and It has not won a playoff series for nearly a quarter century.
But like leaving Wall Street, Lee isn’t afraid of a new challenge.
He realizes that with the support of his wife Lindsay and a strong family structure behind him, he can overcome anything.
He called the Hornets a “talent-rich group” with a lot of unrealized potential, even though they only won 21 games last season.
“We have a very, very good team here,” Lee said. “We’ve been snake bitten with some injuries. … But this group is focused on the right things. The expectations are that we’re going to compete every night, whether it’s home games, road games or No matter who is playing, this is going to be a group that is together offensively and defensively, no matter who is on the floor.”
Lee’s introductory press conference on Tuesday came nearly seven weeks after he replaced Steve Clifford, who announced at the end of last season that he was stepping away from coaching.
Lee has been busy juggling dual duties since then, helping Jayson Tatum and the Celtics reach that ultimate goal while also spending time developing relationships with his new players in Charlotte, as well as this week’s NBA Draft. and evaluating personnel ahead of the upcoming free agency signing period. ,
Hornets general manager Jeff Peterson said Lee “surprised” him during interviews and after talking about him with members of the Bucks and Celtics organizations.
“He’s an excellent communicator,” Peterson said. “He’s competitive. He’s constantly trying to figure out ways to get better. I know he goes to sleep at night thinking, ‘How can I make the Charlotte Hornets better?’ And, he’s a winner.”
Hornets forward Grant Williams was one of about a dozen players attending the news conference along with LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller.
Williams believes Lee’s winning pedigree has already caught the attention of his teammates.
“It definitely holds some importance, some respect, because he knows what it takes to win it all,” Williams said. “He was the associate head coach on both championship teams, so he had a direct influence on the development and style of play. He’s been around a lot of great players and he’ll do wonders for guys like LaMelo and Brandon who are trying to become ” Specific.”
Lee’s joining follows some dramatic changes to the Hornets organization over the last 12 months.
Since Michael Jordan sold the team to Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin last August, the Hornets have hired a new general manager, a new head coach and traded away several of their veteran players, including Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward and PJ Washington. Have done.
They drafted Miller, who has shown star potential.
The Spectrum Center is also undergoing major renovations, causing the news conference to be moved to a rented building in Charlotte, across from where the team plays home games.
Lee made no guarantees about when the Hornets could return to the playoffs, but he likes the attitude of the players he has met and feels they are ready to “buy in” and do something to turn things around. Are ready to do also.
“What I can say to the fans is that when I went through the interview process, Gabe, Rick and Jeff made it clear they want to make this one of the premier franchises in the NBA,” Lee said. “…The things that we can promise this team is that they are going to be very competitive, they are going to focus on what we can control with our daily progress, process and effort. Are.”
Williams said he believes the Hornets are going to turn things around.
“The energy is being transferred here. You can just feel the vibrations,” Williams said. “And I think people here will be really shocked at how quickly this is going to happen.”
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