Tag: Charles Lee

Maine Celtics coach Blaine Mueller, Boston assistant Jermaine Bucknor to join Charles Lee in Charlotte

Given Boston’s success in 2023-24, it is not hard to see why teams are looking to peel off a little of what led to Banner 18 being hung.

It seems former Boston Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee is going to thin the bench of the Celtics’ G League and assistant coaches a bit as Lee makes the move to Charlotte to take over as the Hornets head coach next season.

According to recent reporting from the Portland (Maine) Press Herald’s Drew Bonifant, Maine Celtics head coach Blaine Mueller will join Lee in Charlotte as an assistant coach. MassLive’s Brian Robb adds that Boston assistant Jermaine Bucknor will also join Lee on the Hornets’ bench, which will also have Celtics alum Kemba Walker making the leap to the other side of the clipboard this week.

They will have former Boston forward Grant Williams on the roster as well, making the new-look Hornets a distinctly Celtics-inflected ball club next season. 

Given Boston’s success in 2023-24, it is not hard to see why other teams are looking to peel off a little of what led to Banner 18 being hung.

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Report: Lakers meet with Sam Cassell as they up their coaching search

Sam Cassell has reportedly met with the Los Angeles Lakers in regards to potentially taking over as their next head coach.

Sam Cassell is considered a top contender for the vacant Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job. The Boston Celtics’ veteran assistant faces competition from JJ Redick and James Borrego for the role. The Lakers are reportedly casting a wide net in their coaching search. However, Redick is currently viewed as the front-runner.

Nevertheless, Rob Pelinka and the front office have reportedly begun meeting with some of their candidates, with Cassell among them. According to Shams Charania and Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Los Angeles has held or will hold ‘formal meetings’ with a slew of potential candidates.

“The Lakers have held formal meetings with JJ Redick, New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego and Boston Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell over the past several days,” Charania and Buha reported. “Team officials plan to meet with Denver Nuggets assistant coach David Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori and Miami Heat assistant Chris Quinn as they do their due diligence on the candidate pool.”

Boston will already be losing one of their top assistants at the end of the season. Charles Lee has agreed to become the next head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. The risk of losing Cassell could mean that Joe Mazzulla is forced to rebuild his coaching staff for the second straight season.

Nevertheless, Cassell has earned the opportunity to move into a head coaching role. He’s spent the last 15 years as an assistant coach, working with the Washington Wizards, LA Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers and Celtics.

Whether he lands the role with the Lakers or is forced to wait a while longer, it’s looking increasingly likely that Cassell will be leading a team in the near future.

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Reacting to the Charlotte Hornets hiring Boston Celtics assistant Charles Lee as head coach

Lee has reportedly been named the next head coach of the Hornets.

Boston Celtics assistant head coach Charles Lee has reportedly been named the next head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, replacing current Hornets coach Steve Clifford as he moves to a front office role next season.

Lee will finish the Celtics’ playoff run before transitioning full-time into his new role with the Hornets next season. Lee, who reunites with Hornets Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson, brings championship experience from his time with the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks under then-Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer. What does this mean for the future of Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla’s bench in future seasons?

CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning, reporting from the Cavs shootaround, provides his reaction to this significant coaching hire.

If you enjoy this pod, check out the “How Bout Them Celtics,” “First to the Floor,” and the many other New England sports podcasts available on the CLNS Media network.

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One of the Lakers’ coaching candidates is off the board

The Lakers can cross off one of their top coaching candidates from their list after he was hired by another team on Thursday.

After firing Darvin Ham last week, the Los Angeles Lakers seem ready to take their time when it comes to deciding who to hire as their new head coach.

It seems like the smart thing to do. There aren’t any extremely attractive candidates available, but there are a few interesting ones who could possibly get the job done.

LeBron James is widely expected to stay with the Lakers, which means they’ll still be in win-now mode. That means they will require a coach who has the ability to get them to succeed right now without needing time to grow into a winning coach.

One of their rumored candidates has been Charles Lee, who is currently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics. But Los Angeles will not be able to hire him: He has agreed to become the next head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.

Lee never played a regular season game in the NBA. He was a member of the San Antonio Spurs’ summer league roster in 2006 following four seasons at Bucknell University. But he, apparently, has been well-liked and respected by Celtics players during his lone season there.

He previously served alongside Ham on Mike Budenholzer’s staff for nine years, first with the Atlanta Hawks and then with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee hired as next Charlotte Hornets head coach: Woj

The Celtics assistant “will complete the Celtics’ playoff run before moving over to join the Hornets on a full-time basis.”

Boston Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee will soon be the head coach of his own team, according to recent reporting from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Per Woj, Lee has been hired by the Charlotte Hornets to be their next head coach, replacing their current coach, Steve Clifford, as the latter moves into a front office role.

The Celtics assistant will get a four-year contract, but “will complete the Celtics’ playoff run before moving over to join the Hornets on a full-time basis” according to the ESPN reporter. “Lee started his coaching career in 2012 at Bucknell, where he had been the Patriot League Player of the Year in his senior season of 2006.”

“After playing two years of international professional basketball, Lee joined (Mike) Budenholzer’s staff with the (Atlanta) Hawks in 2014 before moving to the (Milwaukee) Bucks in 2018 and the Celtics last summer,” adds Woj.

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Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee reportedly a Los Angeles Lakers coaching target

It is looking increasingly less likely that the Boston Celtics will have assistant coach Charles Lee on their sidelines next season.

It is looking increasingly less likely that the Boston Celtics will have assistant coach Charles Lee on their sidelines next season, with new reporting from the Athletic’s Jovan Buha suggesting another ball club is considering hiring him as head coach.

Lee, who is a candidate for the open Charlotte Hornets head coaching gig, is reportedly also a candidate for the now also-open Los Angeles Lakers coaching job recently vacated by Darvin Hamm. For this job, however, Lee is not one of the top candidates. That short list includes former NBAer and current podcaster JJ Redick, former Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer, onetime Brooklyn Nets head coach and current Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson.

Per Buha, Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue “would immediately become another candidate” if he were to split with his current employer, and Lee “is also an option.”

While that does not sound like the most ringing endorsement, that doesn’t mean Lee would not get the job, given his extensive experience and popular support in his current and prior coaching gigs.

One of the more popular names in coaching searches in recent seasons, even if this is not the gig he ends up taking, Celtics fans should expect one will open up soon.

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Report: Celtics assistant Charles Lee ‘front-runner’ to be Charlotte Hornets next head coach

It is looking more likely each day that the Celtics may have a Charles Lee-sized hole on their bench to fill this 2024 NBA offseason.

It is looking more likely each day that the Boston Celtics may have a Charles Lee-sized hole on their bench to fill this 2024 NBA offseason. The Celtics assistant is one of the hottest names out there in the Charlotte Hornets’ current search to replace current Hornets head coach Steve Clifford.

Clifford plans to transition to a front office role after this season, and Lee has been named as a top candidate by several outlets, most recently by the Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone. Per the reporter, Lee, Denver Nuggets assistant David Adelman, Miami Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Dallas Nuggets assistant Sean Sweeney and Brooklyn Nets assistant Will Weaver are all “early names to keep an eye on.”

“Two high-ranking officials on separate teams — one from each conference — believe Lee is a lead candidate and front-runner to be Clifford’s successor,” Boone notes, intriguingly.

The report makes sense, given the Celtics assistant was a hot name in coaching searches even before he left the Milwaukee Bucks to join Boston ahead of the start of the 2023-24 season.

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Report: Celtics assistant Charles Lee targeted in Charlotte Hornets coaching search

The news comes on the heels of word that veteran Hornets head coach Steve Clifford plans to step down from that role.

The Boston Celtics might need to be on the hunt for new talent to add to their coaching bench this coming 2024 NBA offseason, pending the coaching searches of other ball clubs. According to new reporting from ESPN senior reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, Celtics assistant coach Charles Lee has been named as one of several such assistants coaches in the mix to land the top coaching gig for the Charlotte Hornets.

The news comes on the heels of word that veteran Hornets head coach Steve Clifford plans to step down from that role into a front office capacity after the end of the 2023-24 NBA season.

Along with Lee, Woj reports that Sacramento Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez, Miami Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young and others are in the mix for the job.

At the very least, it is also expected that the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets will also be on the market for a new head coach, making it likely that several teams around the league lose assistant coaches from their ranks.

And with both Lee and Sam Cassell popular names in such searches, one of them very well could be Boston.

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How much credit should the Boston Celtics’ coaching staff get for the team’s hot start?

What is the role of the Celtics’ coaching staff in the ball club’s strong early-season performance?

How much credit should the Boston Celtics’ coaching staff get for the team’s hot start? Following the Celtics’ close 120-118 victory against the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden on Friday night, the hosts of the CLNS Media “Garden Report” podcast analyzed the significant role of the Celtics’ coaching staff in the ball club’s strong early-season performance to date.

Credit is certainly due in part to Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and his two new assistants in Sam Cassell and Charles Lee, but also veteran Boston assistant coach Tony Dobbins. Their combined efforts in crafting effective strategies for the team and building a resilient culture was particularly evident in the Raptors win, pulled off despite the absence of stars Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis.

Check it out the clip embedded below to hear what the Garden Report crew had to say about the role of coaching in the Celtics’ recent success.

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Celtics center alum Mike Muscala on what makes Charles Lee such a good assistant coach

“I could just tell early on he had a great energy for it,” said Muscala of Lee’s coaching acumen.

Earlier this week, CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning sat down with former Boston Celtics center Mike Muscala to talk to him about his time playing for new Celtics assistant Charles Lee.

Muscala had the unique experience of playing for Lee at their alma mater, Bucknell, and then again when both made the simultaneous leap to the NBA to the same club. Lee was hired by the franchise that drafted Muscala, the Atlanta Hawks.

“He was new to coaching at that point,” explained Muscala of their first stint together at Bucknell. “I could just tell early on he had a great energy for it.”

“We all respected him and valued what he said, (and) his opinions just because he had been there before, and he had been a part of good teams, been the leader of those teams.”

“So, for him having that experience, along with his upbeat, personal attitude, I think we could all tell early on that he was going to be a great coach,” added Muscala.

“He’s consistent with it, he brings a good volume to the room. He’s just assertive and confident; he brings the energy that is important throughout the course of the season … a lot of it just comes down to who has more of that positivity, more of that juice.”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

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