Hornets Head Coach Charles Lee Introductory Press Conference | 6/25/2024

Hornets Head Coach Charles Lee Introductory Press Conference | 6/25/2024

good afternoon everybody my name is Sam Farber I’m the radio play-by-play broadcaster here for the Charlotte Hornets and it is my pleasure and privilege to welcome you as we officially welcome the new head coach of the Charlotte Hornets Charles Lee here to the Queen City typically we would host an event like this at home at Spectrum Center but as most of you know it is being reimagined right now so we want to give a special thank you to our friends here at Lowe’s Home Improvement for hosting us at the tech Hub Auditorium a beautiful space for a wonderful event whether you’re with us here in person or tuned in live on B sports Southeast 92.7 sports radio WFNZ nbv or on hornets.com we welcome you and thank you for joining us here today this day has been a long time coming Coach Lee has been one of the most successful assistant coaches in the NBA for a decade and has been a leading candidate for several head coaching jobs and we are thrilled that he’s accepted the one here with the Charlotte Hornets it’s also a long time coming because even though this announcement was made several weeks ago he had some work to attend to with his previous job winning his second NBA championship as a member of the staff for the Boston Celtics and we know that’s going to pair well with one he W earns here in the future here in Charlotte in addition to coach we want to welcome his family who is here with us today his wife Lindsay their children Karen Vivien and Josephine as well as his parents Jennifer and Charles senior and his mother-in-law Jill in addition to being an incredible place for basketball this is a wonderful place for family so welcome home to all of you joining Coach Lee on stage we have hornets Executive Vice President of basketball operations Jeff Peterson and he will tip things off with his opening statement great thank you Sam uh it’s a special day today um just want to tell you guys how excited I am to have Charles uh and of course his wife Lindsay Karen Vivian and Josephine here with our uh Charlotte Hornets uh family you know when Cliff informed me uh that he would not be returning this upcoming season I thought it was important to cast a w and talk to as many individuals as possible uh for giv me a different amount of background experiences um you know and through that process Charles did a tremendous job and he stood out for a variety of reasons and it became very evident that he was the right person to lead us going forward um you know at the beginning of the process I took the time to identify some key traits and variables uh that I thought the head coach would should embody for the Charlotte Hornets and Charles did a tremendous job in terms of uh embracing every one of those qualities and traits uh and again it just came very evident that he was the right person to lead us going forward Charles is a man of integrity uh he does a great job of communicating he’s very very passionate about his craft develop Player Development um he’s very authentic he’s been through amazing amount of experiences as Sam just touched on uh maybe most importantly he’s a he’s a winner two-time champ so so all of those uh characteristics were uh huge in terms of my evaluation our evaluation and wanting to bring him to the Charlotte Hornets um so again I I I can’t tell you how excited I am for for you guys to to see what I saw in Charles throughout the process he’s an amazing person um and he’s a pretty good coach as well but he’s he’s a he’s a very very good person a very good friend so excited to have he and his family here well thank you Jee uh appreciate those kind words hopefully I can live up to that b uh that you were so kind to say appreciate everybody being here today would love to kick it off with just a couple thank yous um as I’m overwhelmed with emotion right now I uh ask that you maybe bear with me because I have a feeling that I’m going get a little emotional uh but first want to thank uh Gabe Rick and Jeff for believing in me um I think Sam touched on it before I’ve been the leading candidate been a finalist in some other jobs and was finally to get the able to get this one over the finish line and I’m just extremely thankful that you guys believe in me uh that we can be aligned in a lot of our views um a lot of people always told me the right one will happen at the right time and I fully believe that this is the right job at the right time for me for my family and for this organization um I have very high aspirations for what we can continue to build here and I’m looking forward to building uh sustain success with the three of you uh ultimately uh next I want to thank my wife Lindsay um you know I think that I am proof that behind every great man there’s an even better woman behind him and she is that person when I told her in 2012 that I wanted to get into coaching and leave Wall Street she looked at me like I was a little crazy um but very quickly she supported me and also sacrificed her career here to be able to allow me to follow my dream and I just can’t thank you enough for that and this journey probably couldn’t have started without you um and not only do I have her behind me but I have these three wonderful young ladies that are always in my corner and after a tough game a tough practice or a great game or a great practice whatever the case may be uh when you get to come home to three amazing young ladies uh it it it warms my heart and so I’m really glad that you guys are here today and I appreciate your understanding of dad always being out and about and trying to work uh but I’m always thinking about you and I love you and I love those little gifts you put in my suitcases when I’m on the road uh also want to thank my mom and dad uh I think that I’ve had an unbelievable upbringing and the person that Jeff was so kind to talk about is because of them and so the role models that they were my whole life I’m extremely thankful and grateful and uh I’m so glad that you could be here today uh I also just want to shout out my brother who’s a little Finance busy today I know that he would have loved to been be here but shout out to Jeremy Lee uh for all of his continued support as well so without a strong family there’s no good coach or good human being and my mother-in-law Jill’s here with us today too uh everything that you do for me and the family along the way it’s greatly appreciated um the next one has to go to I want to kind of like touch on the organizations that I’ve had the opportunity to work with and so coach Bud called me in 2014 and started me on this NBA journey and asked me if I would be interested in coming to interview for a job on his staff and because of him uh I’m here now and so the last decade was started because of Coach bud and I I got to grow with him um I want to thank the Atlanta Hawks organization all the players that I got to coach in Atlanta but also the players that helped me continue to grow as a coach uh I think that we always learn from like the best players or just the players in general are always giving you feedback on how you can continue to grow and get better uh next I want to thank the Milwaukee Bucks uh Team I obviously got to win a championship with and see what it looks like on a day-to-day basis but that organization was also great to me the players with the Bucks uh you know lifelong friends there as well and then lastly uh in a year of transition I want to thank Joe Missoula uh Brad Stevens in the Boston Celtics organization uh you get to see something different outside of the coach bud tree but you get to work for a historic winning culture and that was big for me and it’s hopefully something that I can continue to learn and grow from and bring some of those experiences uh here to Charlotte as we continue to build exent thank you both uh for the media here today if you want to raise your hand we’ll get a mic to you and let you ask some questions to our new head coach go with Scott in the front here Sam ply hello uh Charles S perly with hornets.com congratulations and welcome to Charlotte um just kind of a little bit of a two-p parsh question I know this has been a a long path that you alluded to in in kind of your opening statement have you I know and again it’s been a whirlwind of I’m sure a week transitioning here have you been able to reflect upon the your tenur and an assistant as as an assistant and kind of all the times maybe you were you were told no and and just how it all feels worthwhile then and then as a followup to Jeff just having to after announcing Charles uh as a head coach then waiting seven weeks um your excitement to just to kind of finally get him here and it was a little bit of a delayed situation but uh to kind of really get going now how excited are you goad sounds good um first and foremost I would say that like my time as an assistant coach helped me grow uh with a lot of different experiences and Jeff touched upon all the success I’ve been able to be a part of and so the biggest thing that I’ve learned as an assistant coach is the importance of relationships the importance of um consistency and daily Improvement and then also togetherness and part of that togetherness is having a group of guys that I think to go to battle with each other every night and the preparation that we’re going to put in with each other is so important uh there’s going to be ups there’s going to be Downs uh but how are we going to just come together and help uplift each other and part of what excites me about this opportunity is those guys that are sitting over there and I appreciate them being here today and this is part of the togetherness that a lot of us have talked about as we’ve had conversations and they’re here to support me today and I can remember going through some of the Celtics playoff run calling them texting them they’re texting me uh messages of encouragement congratulations and all I could feel was I was letting them down cuz the hiring had happened so long ago and like I’m leaving them hanging and they were like n coach you got to go do what you got to do and we can’t wait till you get here after you win it and so like that togetherness has already kind of started and I think that’s one of the key uh ingredients of what we need going forward yeah I mean you touched on it it’s a unique time right we uh had those seven weeks that that little Gap but um again it’s not like he he wasn’t he wasn’t doing anything during that time he was gaining more experience and ultimately reached his ultimate goal of winning a championship um I put him to work a little bit though in between times I would have him work on some projects and get his thoughts with certain things and he’s been amazing just in terms of uh the time commitment because that’s not easy right he’s balancing going to win a championship but at the same time he’s focused on these these guys as well and that’s the priority so uh but yes I am excited to have him finally here in Charlotte Rod Boon Charlotte Zera Charles just wondering your time in Milwaukee won a championship there and also in Boston a championship with the Celtics how did that time those two organizations help you prepare you for where you at right now it helps show me what is important to winning and to winning at the highest level and I would say at both those stops we’ve also won consistently and it takes a lot of work um I think it takes a lot of work from the player standpoint from the coaches standpoint um even from the front office how are you structuring a team and and making sure that all the pieces fit properly and that’s what I know that we’re going to have here um Jeff and his team they worked so hard the last couple days even as I’ve been here I’m like yo bro you okay like can I help you can can I get something off of your play do you just need to talk so their group is so diligent with everything they do he’s such a hard worker I think he’s got a great eye for talent and so like from a front office standpoint we’re in a really good place and it’s really exciting and I think that from the player standpoint these guys want to work all they’ve said is hey coach what do you need from me um I I got a text from a couple guys hey I’m going to work out today what would you like me to work on and that’s exciting like when you have self-motivated and driven guys that’s what I’ve seen at two of the best two of the championship caliber organizations that I’ve been been a part of is that all the players from your two-way players to your best player they all just want to work um and I think that I’ve been able so far to put together a coaching staff that has to be able to help in that process too um identifying the right skill sets the right um leadership qualities that we’re going to need from our players uh scouting wise um and also just keeping me on track you know what I mean making sure I’m not falling uh going off of the Rails uh along our journey and then Jeff just for you just wondering just you mentioned the obviously Charles hiring him just what made him the right guy for this job right now in your mind yeah I I think uh again prior to the search beginning I took some time to really identify those key traits and um characteristics uh that I thought would make a successful head coach so I did that at a objective time and you know when the process actually started and I got to talk to various candidates Charles just again he he he blew me away and he really stood out for V uh for variet of reasons so again his um just the level of Integrity that that he has as a man like I said earlier he’s an excellent Communicator which is very important uh for us to have that that partnership and relationship uh he’s competitive um he’s constantly trying to figure out ways to get better like I know at at at night he’s going to sleep how can I make the Charlotte Hornets better um and like I said earlier he’s a winner so not everyone can say that they’ve won two championships in the NBA and um that says a lot Michael set charlott Sports Live Queen City News obviously just to touch on what he just said I know you’re thinking about this a lot how challenging was it for you to kind of balance the two jobs while you’re still with the Celtics and then but at the same time know that you’ve got a whole other plate of you know things to think about no it was I told somebody it it was exciting like I didn’t feel overwhelmed by any stretch with the imagination because I finally get to do those things like you get to be a part of a championship caliber team and you’re on a deep playoff run um and then I also get to be the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets like just even saying that gives me chills a little bit like knowing the the the fans and the ex uh the the the feeling of the Carolinas and how excited uh they are about basketball I would say about sports in general so knowing that as we get this thing really moving trying to get the Carolina back to support us and and just getting it at a really high level uh because I know it’s there and uh I’m excited to to be a part of the leadership group that’s going to help us get to a point that every night it’s gonna be fun to come watch Charlotte Hornet’s basketball Charles Nick Carboni from NBC here in Charlotte welcome um wondering when you talk about leaving that Wall Street job what was pulling at you to come back to basketball uh my love for the game um and that’s you know one thing that when people ask me about hey you know you you didn’t get it over the Finish Line a couple times before a head coaching job for me when I left Wall Street it was because of the Love of the Game and it was because I wanted to just help players be as good as they possibly can be and I wanted to compete with the team to try to win at the highest level and so yeah you’re not a head coach but you still have an opportunity as an assistant coach to still be around the game you get to help a team try to compete for a championship and I get to try to help players continue to be as good as they possibly can be on and off the court so the main thing stays the main thing and so uh leaving Wall Street that’s what I wanted and that’s what I get uh is to just be back with my passion Charles stev from the Associated Press welcome to Charlotte first of all um you’ve been to the The Mountaintop I guess the NBA Mountaintop twice and most recently in a few weeks few weeks ago you come to a team that has struggled uh to get to the postseason um how far away is this team what does this team need to do to you know to to get to that ultimate level uh I think we have a very very good team uh we’ve been snake bitten I think with some injuries um but I’m looking forward to this like talent-rich group doing everything they can to be healthy and and some of that’s going to obviously be on us as coaches and performance staff um but this group is focused on the right things and so the only expectations that we’re going to put in front of our ourselves are that we’re going to compete every night on a night to night basis no matter Road game home game who’s playing there’s going to be a competitive group on the floor and not only that it’s going to be a group that’s together on both ends of the floor offensively and defensively we’re going to just play the right way and do what’s necessary so our teammate understands I have your back in all situations and then lastly win or lose we have a opportunity to learn grow and get better and like getting better every day is going to be our main focus so um I’m really excited about this group because they embody a lot of those qualities and now we just need to be able to sustain it and do it for longer periods of time coach in terms of your previous experience with Coach bud and uh obviously most recently with Coach Missoula you know you watch those teams very distinct different styles the way that they play is there something from coach Bud that you want to incorporate into your philosophy and then also like coach Missoula is there something that that stood out this past season like hey I need to incorporate this with my team offensively or defensively yeah both coach coaches phenomenal coaches and I would say even the assistant coaches that they’ve had have been really good for me to learn from as well and so the biggest thing that I want to be able to take from both of them is they created a culture of work and we just knew every day no matter what the situation was we were coming in work and we created an environment where it was fun for the players to come and they understood that there was going to be a preparation from the coaches and like we were in the fight with them um on a day-to-day basis so that’s what I want to bring here and and I know that these guys will buy into that fully coach darl Horwitz Queen City nerve you just came from championship team obviously with Boston they had a smothering defense there that’s probably their signature and you’re coming to Charlotte and defense has always been an issue and with being with a new Organization for that one year and winning the title what do you feel you’ve learned from them about what they do with the players uh the the training camp practices things along those lines that could make this Charlotte team a perennial playoff team and hopefully a contender too in the future yeah Boston defense was very good and um there’s a lot of things that you can take from it but I think that our Personnel is a little bit different and so we’re going to find a way to have our own identity defensively that’ll be different than Boston’s but the three things that we’re going to continuously come back to are our effort our communication and our open-mindedness to just doing a bunch of different things defensively um and that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to change coverages all the time or but it’s hey I want you to guard this guy with one possession coming out of a side out of bounds let’s change it up a little bit because they just drew up an ATL to try to attack one of our players so just being open-minded to the different strategies uh the different matchups that we may have and no matter what scheme we’re in if we don’t have effort and we don’t have communication in it probably not going to be that good Jeremy granison ESPN Charlotte question for Charles Jeff mentioned how he you fit the characteristic and traits of what he wanted in coach as you build your coaching staff what traits are you looking for um and whoever you want to assemble yeah I want to culture enhancers is what I call them um I want guys that can understand the vision that Jeff and I have kind of put forward and what’s important to us and I want these guys to be able to have those same characteristics and then be able to just enhance the environment um one of the things I talked about earlier about just creating uh an environment for our players to have fun in want to come to work every day and so I think en positivity guys that are going to actually coach and teach the game which we’ve seen in some of these individual workouts where a coach is not going to be afraid to stop a workout and say hey think about your footwork being this or you know you need to go at this pace to be able to actually get a feel for what game speed feels like um that’s what I want out there every day Just Energy um and also just some creativity guys that like want to be able to push me and hold me accountable while also holding the players accountable too hey Charles scy count with Sports Illustrated and I guess this question could really be for for both of you guys basketball and other sports are kind of changing in terms of how decisions are made analytics are are becoming a big part of it how much will an analytics play into not only on the court situations but in terms of formulating the roster I’ll go first uh I think the analytics they are definitely gonna be a part of our decision-making process um as we think about our team and as we think about a scouting report but I’m going to say from my side it’s not going to ultimately uh be the last determining factor I think that there’s an eye test that we have to go through uh we have to figure out does it make sense for our team at this point of the season does it make sense um for the growth of this guy so there’s so many other factors I think that have to go in the decision-making process um but there there is a piece of analytics that that we’ll consider I don’t have much much to add than that um I think context is very important right when you when you get down to some of these decisions that you have to be made it’s not black and white it’s not linear um so you have to be open-minded to yeah use that you know information as as a piece to the puzzle but it’s not the uh the end all be coach Hunter Bailey with the highway 49 podcast I want to ask you about one of your players on the team now Mark Williams you spent a lot of time with Brook Lopez and Milwaukee kind of that seven foot rent protector who could also step outside when you think about Mark’s game where does that development leave in your mind and what kind of player you you want to see him become here moving forward yeah um just like all the players that I’m really excited about um you know your question being about Mar I what am really hopeful uh for him first and foremost that we can get him to a place where he’s healthy can play more games can get some more reps um and we can really see him be the Mark Williams that I know when I was in Boston he destroyed us um when we played here in Charlotte and that’s the type of dominating force that we just want on both ends of the Court uh hopefully defensively we can unleash him a little bit more to to that rim protector that you just talked about you know coming over blocking shots going vertical um changing other other team’s ability to just finish in the paint and then rebound at a high level um and you know as as you kind of pointed out a comparison to Brook Lopez sometimes that commanding the pain isn’t always coming up with 10 rebounds but it’s also making sure the other team doesn’t get the rebound um and then offensively I think that he has a great ability to be able to do a lot of different things in terms of being a pick and roll screener um with as much Pace that we want to play play with hopefully we’re playing with Pace uh off of misses and less off of makes cuz obviously it’ll make us a little bit more dangerous and and and a lot faster um but I think that him as a pick and roll screener and just that ability to kind of finish in the paint too uh is going to be a trademark of his so Domina in the paint is gonna be his middle name hey coach John Tre wccb Charlotte two championships but three daughters how does being a prolific girl dad influence you now as a head coach why isn’t that five championships then cuz I mean having three daughters has been absolutely amazing how does being a dad impact you no uh being a dad has for one thing it’s helped me with my patience um you have to have a lot of that and I love that Vivian’s the one that’s laughing because she’s the one that I have to have the most patience with uh but it does it carries over to coaching like sometimes uh especially have a very young team so there’s going to be some things where I’m like man why could we get that on the first try but I have to remember that you know they’re young and they need some more reps and uh you have to go about a different way of explaining it to them because they might not understand it the way that you’re trying to explain it um but also just having this pure joy that they have when I get home is kind of like the same Joy you get around being with the young guys uh lamelo and I today were joking about music and so like I listen to different music than he listens to uh but we can still find a Bond and actually just enjoying music uh so I think that just having kids just keeps me youthful and fun and having a lot more patience Charles Richard Walker with the Carolina Sports Hub as really for both of you guys warp speed draft is tomorrow how do you assess the team’s needs moving forward and do you see obviously you’re later dad two players do you see yourself being active in the free agent market after you add those two players to the draft yeah I feel great about the draft preparation so far because like I said uh Jeff and his team have been grinding in that area and I think every now and then he’ll he’ll ask us to watch some film or impart some wisdom of what we think of some players but I don’t want that to ultimately uh hold too much weight because they have done so much work over the last few months and years and you know there’s just an ultimate level of trust um wi with Jeff and his group and he understands our team I think he got to get here a little bit earlier than I did so he’s had time to evaluate wait where maybe some of the needs are um and he’s going to do a phenomenal job yeah super excited about the draft and free HC for that matter um and I think at the right time we’ll get into that but today I want to keep it about Charles and and this opportunity that he has Jeff in in in talking about Charles I’m just curious was there a moment uh something that happened where you and um you know Rick and Gabe that that that something went off in your head that said this is the guy I mean was there something that somebody said to you was there something in the interview that just all a sudden you’re like you went home that night and said this is the guy yeah that’s a good question I I think look over time um you know after talking to that again it was a talented group uh some of the other candidates and you know I got to the point and I told Gabe and Rick like I’m sitting here trying to figure out why why we shouldn’t hire him you know and I felt pretty good about that in terms of just checking my words and um figuring out again why why we wouldn’t go that route so I think just being able to be privileged in terms of excuse me in terms of talking to members of the Celtics organization um members of the Milwaukee Bucks organization and of course my experience with him in Atlanta just kind of crystallized everything and um like I said very confident that he’s the right person in coach to lead us going forward Jeff when you came and you want to make this a top franchise in the NBA talked about making this one of I guess the premier franchises and everything like that how do you see I guess how’s it gone so far in your mind how do you make sure you keep going toward your vision and then for Charles also how do you make sure the Hornets are perceived differently than maybe they were when you were around different franchises yeah I think again just throughout the process Rick and Gabe and I you know we’ve talked a ton about just it’s all about the people it’s all about the human beings you want to have really really good people and from there good things typically happen so um I’m very process oriented I try not to worry about the results you know I try to control what I control on a daily basis so adding Charles again it was just another step in the vision um and that’s why I’m so excited to be up here today with him Scott Charles Scott Fowler from the Charlotte Observer welcome uh this is a team that hasn’t made the postseason since 2016 so their fans have gone through a long dry spell here if you were just to if I could ask you to just address those fans directly what would you tell them they’re going to see and what can you promise them um what I would say to the fans right now is that as I went through this interview process Gabe Rick and Jeff made it clear to me that they wanted this to be one of the Premier NBA franchises in the NBA and they explained to me how passionate of a fan base the Carolina can be and as soon as I heard those two things I was all in and me being Allin my coaching staff being all in the things that we can promise from this team is that they’re going to be very competitive they’re going to be very together and we’re going to be focused on what we can control which is Our Daily Progress process and like effort and so that is what I can promise you awesome and that’s going to do it for the Q&A for now we’re going to move the table away and have a quick photo up here one’s got it awesome well thanks everyone for being here thanks for our staff our players all the media it’s uh a busy week drafts tomorrow so we’ll be doing much more of this but thank you all for being here

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