Source: David Jensen / Getty
After a long coaching search, the Charlotte Hornets announced this morning they are hiring Boston Celtics assistant, Charles Lee, as their next head coach. Lee will take over the role once the Celtics’ season comes to an end, which could be in the middle of June. Lee, who has 10 years of NBA experience, is now tasked with turning Charlotte back into a winner, something that wasn’t possible the last couple of seasons due to a number of injuries.
Many times when hiring a coach, they specialize in a certain end of the floor. In today’s NBA, many teams are hiring offensive minded, analytic driven basketball coaches to coach their roster. There are teams like the Knicks, the Timberwolves, and the Thunder that focus on the defensive end of the court, but in the modern NBA, it’s a scoring league. In the case of Charles Lee, he may not specialize in offense or defense, but his speciality is player development, and that should be news to the Hornets fans. Brandon Miller is coming off a stellar rookie season, as he finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting. LaMelo Ball when healthy, is a capable All-Star caliber point guard, and Mark Williams has shown flashes of being the man in the middle for the next decade in Charlotte. Lee, who has a track record of taking players like Khris Middleton, and Grayson Allen’s game to the next level. Now we’ll wait to see what he can do with a young, talented core in the Queen City.
Lee was hired over former NBA player, and current ESPN analyst, JJ Redick, who was a a finalist for the job. For many Hornets fans, they wanted to see their franchise, take a risk on the unproven Redick, given his background of time playing in the league, and his ability to break the game down, on either television or on his podcast. While the hire of Charles Lee may seem to be the safer hire of the two, his connections with the Hornets new ownership, and Jeff Peterson, made him the favorite from the beginning and is a big reason why he ultimately got the job.
Here is what Jeff Peterson had to say about the hire, on the Hornets website:
“We are excited to welcome Charles Lee as the head coach of Charlotte Hornets. “His high character and his ability to connect with players while also instilling a culture of accountability will serve us well as we construct a competitive team built for long-term success. Charles possesses a championship pedigree with a wide range of basketball knowledge and NBA experience, has a tremendous work ethic and is a great communicator. He shares our vision for this organization, and I look forward to partnering with him in building something special here in the Carolinas. I can’t wait for our Hornets community to meet Charles, his wife Lindsey and his beautiful daughters, and feel Charles’ passion for the game and the intensity of his desire to win.”
For more coverage of the Charles Lee hire, and the rest of the Charlotte Hornets off-season, make sure to listen to Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ, from 6 AM to 6 PM.
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