DURHAM, N.C. — The first time Charles Lee went paddleboarding, he could not stand on his feet. He was trying to ride the waves of the Mediterranean Sea near a Greek beach, mustering all his core strength to stay afloat.
At the time, he was an assistant coach for Mike Budenholzer, helping lead the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo to the 2021 NBA title.
Now, after interviewing for what he estimates to be 10 head coaching opportunities, Lee is finally a head coach.
He replaces Steve Clifford as the leader of the Charlotte Hornets, a franchise perpetually stuck in a precarious position in the Eastern Conference. The Hornets could never maximize their talent under Clifford and finished 21-61 last season.
Executive vice president Jeff Peterson picked Lee to get the franchise aligned in moving forward. Lee went straight from the Boston Celtics’ championship parade to Charlotte and hasn’t enjoyed a moment to sit back and soak in that championship.
Once Lee assembled his staff in Charlotte, he brought them to Lake Norman, where assistant Chris Jent has a home. This was a chance for Lee to relax, but he was still thinking about that paddleboard experience in Greece. So Jent stepped in to help, just like he’ll do for Lee on the court this season.
“(Jent) taught me how to get up. My balance isn’t great,” Lee said as he smiled wide. “So he was like, ‘I’m gonna bring you a better board.’ It was fun, but it’s tough.”
After 10 seasons of being an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks, Bucks and Celtics, it’s time for Lee to stand on his feet. Now that he’s responsible for managing the locker room, his balance has to be great. Everyone has to buy in, particularly on a team that has struggled for consistency in recent seasons. But if there’s one thing he learned from his one season in Boston, the head coach doesn’t do that by himself.
Joe Mazzulla was coming off a shaky first season as the interim coach of one of the best teams in the league. The franchise brought in Lee and Sam Cassell, two assistants who have been chasing the top seat for years, to support Mazzulla.
The situation could have led to turmoil, but the Celtics cruised to a shockingly smooth title with Lee standing right next to Mazzulla on the sideline. Lee spent the playoff run juggling his duties as a Celtics assistant while also interviewing for the Hornets job.
“You find a way. My biggest thing is I’m a problem solver, so I enjoyed having to figure out how are you going to balance these two things that you’re excited about,” Lee said. “You have a quest for a championship with the Celtics and you have a quest to become a head coach of an NBA team.
“So I don’t understand how you can’t be excited every day you wake up with that opportunity.”
When Lee roams the Hornets sidelines this season, he’ll have veteran assistants Lamar Skeeter, Josh Longstaff, Jent and others for that same support he used to provide as an assistant.
“I think you figure out what your core values are. For me, I wanted culture enhancers. I thought that everybody I picked was going to do that,” Lee said. “They were going to help us build a culture, they were going to enhance the culture with their hard work, creativity and energy.
“We know this is a young team right now, where we are in our life cycle. I wanted some youth and energy coming into the building every day because that is the most important thing to young teams.”
Lee’s approach to building culture takes some inspiration from Budenholzer — from their time together in Atlanta, too — and Mazzulla but also from the varying perspectives of his staff. When asked for the core tenets he wants his players to focus on, it all traces to being competitive and how that touches on everything they do as a team.
After Brandon Miller’s standout rookie season and LaMelo Ball’s return from an ankle injury, this team has plenty of offensive talent and solid depth. Lee’s task is to mold that into a team that can perform consistently.
“Just create good winning habits,” Miller said. “That’s what everybody’s trying to create around here. The bonds here are great. It’s all smiles around here.”
But few players in the rotation have serious playoff experience. They signed Grant Williams last season from Boston and acquired Josh Green from the Dallas Mavericks this summer, while Seth Curry and Taj Gibson will bring veteran leadership from the bench.
“I think that we try to talk about right now just our competitive habits and how we all affect each other,” Lee said. “Knowing that if one person isn’t holding up their end of the bargain or their end of the competitive bargain, then all of us are going to feel that.”
Lee’s approach is a reflection of his journey to this job. He learned how to deal with repeated rejection as he steadily worked his way toward the front of the line for coaching vacancies.
“I just learned from every interview I had. How can I keep improving? How can I keep growing?” Lee said. “Taking some of the feedback and not taking it personally, but how can I now address it as I keep going forward? I’d also say that there’s a resilience factor to me where it’s like, it’s going to happen or it’s not. I think the right situation will happen at the right time and if it doesn’t, I still, at the end of the day, get to be an assistant coach in the league.”
It took a long time, but Lee, 39, eventually broke through. It won’t happen overnight, but the Hornets are betting that he is the right energetic voice that can put the team on the path toward finally breaking through.
“I feel like he’s done a great job of being a true head coach, a guy that can have confrontation but also not take things personally. That’s the style of coaching this league needs,” Williams said. “He’s been preparing for this for years and he’s never had the opportunity.
“I’m thankful that he found the opportunity and I’m here with him.”
(Photo of LaMelo Ball and Charles Lee: Brock Williams-Smith / NBAE via Getty Images)
