Hornets Head Coach Candidate Profile: Charles Lee

Everything you need to know about the betting favorite for the Hornets Head Coach position

Background

Lee was a four-year player at Bucknell University between 2002-2006, culminating in winning Player of the Year for the Patriot league in 2006. After a cup of coffee with the Spurs summer league team and pre-season in 2006, Lee carved out a multi-year playing career in overseas. Lee’s playing career took him from Israel to Belgium, before finishing up in the German league in 2010.

In 2012 at the age of 28, Lee returned to his Alma Mater as a college assistant coach at Bucknell. That was until Atlanta Hawks Head Coach Mike Budenholzer noticed his talents and added him to his staff in 2014. Lee followed Budenholzer to Milwaukee, becoming the Associate Head Coach in 2022 after Darvin Ham took the LA Lakers head coach position. Every summer when the NBA coaching carousel started, Lee’s name was floating around as a hot candidate. He finished runner up to Willie Green in New Orleans and Wes Unseld in Washington, as well as being interviewed by the Hornets before they hired James Borrego.

After the 2023 season, Lee moved left Milwaukee after the Bucks parted ways with mentor Mike Budenholzer. Lee remained a strong candidate on the head coaching market, receiving consideration from Phoenix, Detroit and Toronto in the 2023 off-season. Ultimately, Lee had to settle for another assistant role, but landed one of the top jobs on the market bolstering Joe Mazzulla’s staff as the Associate Head Coach for the Boston Celtics.

Links to the Charlotte Hornets Organisation

Charles Lee has strong links with Hornets VP of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson from the time they overlapped in Atlanta. Between 2014-18, both Peterson and Lee were experiencing their first roles in the NBA and reportedly established a good relationship and have remained in touch. Lee also overlapped with current co-owner Rick Schnall who was a minority owner with the Atlanta Hawks at the time. The nature of that relationship is unclear, but if it wasn't in a good place you wouldn't expect Lee to be drawing interest from the Hornets for their coaching vacancy.

What People Say

• The Athletic listed Charles Lee as one of the top NBA coaching talents under 40 years old

• According to multiple reports (ESPN/Yahoo Sports), Lee appears to be in pole position as the favorite for the Hornets Head Coaching position.

• NBA Veteran Al Horford, who was coached by Lee in both Atlanta and Boston has been impressed by his impact on the Celtics. "His leadership has been great. He's just a guy that cares about winning and transmits that to the team. He's been a big part of what we've done here. It's no secret he's one of those guys that it's just a matter of time until he's in a position to get a head coaching job." 

Coaching Strengths

Wherever Charles Lee has coached, the team has found success. In his 10 seasons as an assistant he has amassed an impressive 508-289 record (64% winning percentage). Lee has been part of well-rounded teams, with both the Hawks, Bucks and Celtics achieving a top 10 offense and defense multiple times in his coaching career. He coaches both ends of the floor and has avoided being labelled as a defensive or offensive specialist.

As a former point guard, he has focused on working with perimeter players in his role as an assistant. He could provide valuable mentorship for LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller who could make up Charlotte’s starting back-court next season.

At just 38 years of age, Lee is young enough to relate to NBA players but with already a decade of coaching in the league in three different franchises has a wealth of experience to draw on. He appears to be in the "Sweetspot" to successfully manage relationships with modern day NBA players while also having the experience and character to hold them too account.

Coaching Weaknesses

Some may argue Lee has benefitted from great situations in his coaching journey so far. How would he fair working with an NBA bottom dweller like the Charlotte Hornets? Coaching a team with multiple all-stars and playoff expectations is a different type of challenge from coaching a young rebuilding team.

No matter the amount of experience, going from an assistant to head coach is a challenging jump. It’s a different challenge being the leading voice, carrying the weight of the fans, players and dealing with the media on a daily basis. Look at former Bucks assistant coach Adrian Griffin, he didn’t last his first full season despite 16 years’ experience as an assistant and a winning record. There is always a risk when appointing someone with no previous head coaching experience for the first time.

Why has Lee not been appointed elsewhere already? His reputation has managed to get him a lot of interviews, but he has failed to convince decision makers so far he's the right man for the job. His youth is the most likely answer, There are only three head coaches in the NBA right now that are younger than Lee, two years ago there weren’t any. The good news, some of the best coaches currently in the NBA such as Utah’s Will Hardy (34), Boston’s Joe Mazzulla (34) and Oklahoma’s Mark Daigneault (37) are all on the younger side.

Conclusion

Overall, Lee has as strong a résumé as you can have without having previous NBA head coach experience. Not only does his strong track record speak volumes of his impact, but his prior relationship with ownership and the Hornets front office make him a very strong candidate for the Hornets Head Coaching vacancy.