"I focus on how I can help these players get better individually"- Associate head coach Charles Lee talks about his role with the Milwaukee Bucks

Charles Lee has been a key member of the Milwaukee Bucks coaching staff since 2018.

© Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

The Milwaukee Bucks are searching for a new head coach after parting ways Mike Budenholzer. Many names have been mentioned as possible replacements for Budenholzer, and one of the reported front-runners for the Bucks' head coaching vacancy is very close to the organization.

Charles Lee, a trusted deputy of Budenholzer since 2018, is supposed to have an inside track for the head coaching vacancy owing to his years of service with the Bucks.

To underscore his value to the team, the Bucks management promoted Lee to the position of associate head coach in 2022. The promotion came after the Bucks lost assistant coach Darvin Ham, who was hired as head coach by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Key role to play

So what is Lee's specific role with the Bucks? In one of the Bucks Film Room sessions, he explained his tasks.

Lee said his ascension to associate head coach was a major change career-wise. What didn't change was his commitment to helping the Bucks improve.

"A lot of things are really the same. I think the title changed but how I approach the day-to-day is I'm supposed to be a faithful servant to Coach Bud and just really focus on how I can help these players get better individually then it's going to turn over and be able to help us as a team as well," Lee said.

Aside from helping Budenholzer with the Xs and Os, Lee handled the development of Grayson Allen, Khris Middleton, and rookie MarJon Beauchamp.

"Those are kind of like my guys so it's a cool little dynamic too because you have two veteran players, Khris and Grayson, and then for myself like..remind myself how to work with a young guy and the attention to detail it takes and the consistency," Lee said.

One of Lee's key roles was to help Middleton get back to form after being sidelined by various injuries.

"For Khris, it's really been like body management. I would say it's been a big piece of it because he's coming back from two injuries with his wrist and knee, but he still approaches every day with like he doesn't have to do things at game speed all the time, but how do we just get him to just get some consistent reps like a low intensity level so he's able to play more and more minutes as the season goes on," Lee said.

Road to the NBA

At 38 years old, Lee has developed into becoming one of the league's bright young minds. In fact, Lee has been interviewed for head coaching vacancies in other teams.

The former Bucknell University stalwart said he felt beyond blessed when the Bucks took him in some five years ago.

"I'm blessed like there's so many things that I never thought that I would get the opportunity to do whether it be traveling, whether it be work in the NBA and meeting certain people. And so I'm just thankful for the opportunity to have the athletic skills," said Lee.

From Bucknell, Lee played professional basketball with Hapoel Gilboa/Afula in Israel, Verviers-Pepinster in Belgium, MEG Goettingen, and with Artland Dragons in Germany.

After playing overseas, Lee temporarily walked away from basketball. He then worked as an equity trader on Wall Street, but the desire to be in basketball was always there. Lee scratched that itch and with the help of some connections, he was able to land a coaching job in his alma mater.

Lee then found his way to the NBA when Budenholzer recruited him to be one of his coaching staff with the Atlanta Hawks in 2014. After years of being an assistant coach, it looks like becoming an NBA coach is just within Lee's reach. Whatever success that he has achieved, Lee credits it to the hard work that he has put in.

"My parents put me in the position to be able to have a good work ethic and the resources that I need to kind of succeed," he said.