Charles Lee Receives Low Coaching Ranking from NBA Analyst

New Hornets head coach Charles Lee isn't getting any love just yet.

Austin Leake | Sep 17, 2024

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Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets are heading into the season with a new head coach in town and his name is Charles Lee.

Lee has been an assistant coach for three teams in the NBA since starting his coaching career in 2014 with the Atlanta Hawks. Across the 10 seasons that Lee spent as an assistant coach, he made the playoffs nine times and won two NBA championships, one with the Milwaukee Bucks and the other most recently with the Boston Celtics. Pretty remarkable accolades for the 39-year-old who is tied currently as the fourth youngest head coach in the NBA.

With all that being said, Lee is more than qualified to be the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets as he brings competitiveness, experience, toughness, physicality, and so much more to a team that has pretty much lacked all of it. However, in a recent article by NBA insider Sam Quinn on CBS Sports, he placed Lee 28th in the coaching rankings just ahead of Brian Keefe for Washington and JJ Reddick for Los Angeles.

This ranking doesn't really come to be a surprise since it's well-known that this will be Coach Lee's first year as an actual head coach in the NBA, but there is certainly a case to be made that his experience coaching as an assistant with top programs in the NBA will make a substantial difference and can't go unnoticed. It's unfair to rank a coach or make a prediction before they've coached their first game as head coach in the NBA, which most likely led to such a low ranking. Nonetheless, it will be exciting to see where Lee lands in next year's rankings after he has a full year of coaching under his belt. It won't take very long for him to start getting the recognition and love he deserves.

Below is a look of just how much of an impact Lee made on Jrue Holiday and Al Horford in his time coaching them throughout their careers, which should have Hornets fans more than excited.

Jrue Holiday on Charles Lee getting the Hornets HC job:

"Sad to see him go, but extremely happy. He deserves it. I've been with him for a minute now, so to see him as a head coach and to beat him every time we play him is going to be great."

😅 #LetsFly35 (📹 @CelticsCLNS) pic.twitter.com/NCTwoMCEUm
— /r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) May 11, 2024

Al Horford on Charles Lee:

“His leadership has been great. He’s just a guy that cares about winning and transmits that to the team. He’s been a big part of what we’ve done here.”

Lee is reportedly in the running for the Hornets gig.

More @WEEI ⤵️https://t.co/h7PRjsmdsP pic.twitter.com/uSWnQi8hcf
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) April 3, 2024

It should be an exciting season in the Queen City as it feels like there is a new buzz and sense of hope surrounding the team with the additions made to the coaching staff, training staff, roster, and in the front office. Lee looks to end the Hornets playoff drought that extends back to the 2015-2016 season, which is currently the longest drought in the NBA.

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