The Charlotte Hornets announced Thursday that they have hired Boston Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee as their new head coach.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Lee will finish the Celtics’ playoff run before officially taking over in Charlotte. Wojnarowski also reported Lee agreed to a four-year contract with the Hornets.
Lee has been considered a head coach in the making for a few years. He was a longtime assistant of Mike Budenholzer, first with the Atlanta Hawks and then the Milwaukee Bucks. Following Budenholzer’s ouster in Milwaukee, he took a job on the Celtics’ coaching staff ahead of the 2022-23 season.
The Hornets’ search for a new coach began on April 3, when Steve Clifford announced he was stepping down at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Beyond the fact the Hornets went 21-61 and finished 13th in the Eastern Conference, Clifford watched as a new ownership regime took over and general manager Mitch Kupchak vacated his role. He might have seen the writing on the wall when it came to his future.
This offseason presented the first real opportunity for new team governors Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin to execute the plan they laid out when they obtained control of the organization last August.
“Our vision is to take the Hornets to the next level, both on and off the court,” they said at the time. “We will look to build a highly competitive basketball team, develop innovative business practices, give back to our community and connect with our fans.
“We plan to further invest in the team, the facilities and the fan experience, with the goal of delivering a winner to our fans throughout the Carolinas. We are confident that our successful business backgrounds and our previous experience as NBA minority owners will be beneficial as we shape the future of the franchise as a best-in-class organization.”
Lee will have a lot of work ahead to turn around a team riding an eight-year playoff drought.
The Hornets have paid dearly for a series of misfires in free agency and the NBA draft. They’ve experienced plenty of bad luck, too, with LaMelo Ball the most obvious example.
Charlotte made Ball the cornerstone of its future when it signed him to a five-year, $204.5 million extension last summer. The deal was certainly defensible because a small-market franchise has to hold onto its homegrown stars, and the dynamic guard averaged 18.3 points, 7.0 assists and 6.4 rebounds per game through his first two years.
But Ball is now coming off a 2023-24 campaign where he played in only 22 games due to an ankle injury. A right ankle fracture also limited him to 36 appearances in 2022-23.
The Hornets need the 22-year-old to not only stay healthy but also get back to his best to contend with this current core.
Lee will continue his duties with the Celtics during their playoff run — which could very well extend into June — before taking over in Charlotte. He has been given a four-year contract, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Lee takes over for veteran coach Steve Clifford and is the first big move for new general manager Jeff Peterson as he starts to reshape the franchise.
Lee has been an NBA assistant for more than 10 years, most of that under Mike Budenholzer, first in Atlanta and then Milwaukee, where Lee was part of the 2021 NBA championship staff. When Budenholzer was fired from the Bucks last summer, the Celtics hired Lee as a lead assistant for Joe Mazzulla in Boston. Lee has interviewed for a number of NBA head coaching jobs, including with the Hornets back in 2021 (when the team was under different ownership and had a different front office).
Lee will be focused on player development to start, the Hornets are a rebuilding team that went 21-61 last season and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016. There is talent on the roster: LaMelo Ball is a dynamic point guard when he can stay healthy, and Brandon Miller impressed as a rookie and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. This is also a team focused on the future that traded away veterans this season — Terry Rozier and P.J. Washington — to focus more on that future.
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