Lakers News: LA Set to Interview Another Milwaukee Bucks Assistant; Charles Lee
The Lakers already have one Bucks assistant on their ever-growing list of coaching candidates. In addition to Darvin Ham, The Athletic's Shams Charania reports that the Lakers front office has been granted permission to interview Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee.
Lee played for four years at Bucknell (2002-2006) and was the 2005-2006 Patriot League player of the year. The 6'4" guard helped lead the 14-seed Buffaloes to a shocking first-round upset of the 3-seed Kansas Jayhawks in the 2005 NCAA tournament.
Unfortunately, Lee never played a regular season game in the NBA after his college career. He played professional basketball in Israel, Belgium, and Germany before hanging it up.
Like Ham, Lee has been a mainstay on Mike Budenholzer's staffs dating back to Coach Bud's time in Atlanta and more recently, the defending champion Bucks. Lee has served as an assistant on Budenholzer's staffs since the 2014-2015 season.
For the most part, Budenholzer's coaching tree has been mostly successful. Quin Snyder, Taylor Jenkins, and Kenny Atkinson have all produced some level of success as head coaches in the NBA.
As has been noted time and time again, the Lakers aren't in a hurry to ink a new head coach. The search, purportedly led by general manager Rob Pelinka, not Jeanie Buss whisperer Phil Jackson or senior basketball adviser Kurt Rambis, has been labeled as slow, deliberate approach.
Other candidates that have been known to have interviewed with the Lakers front office include: Ham, Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin, longtime Blazers head coach Terry Stotts, and Mark Jackson.
Lakers fans are hoping that slow-playing the hire results in inking the ideal candidate for a team entering a pivotal offseason.
