Charles Lee sets defensive tone, talks first day of Hornets training camp

Charlotte Hornets head coach talks about his first day of practice.

Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee spent a handful of minutes with the media following the first training camp practice at Duke on Tuesday to discuss how things went. Here are a few quotes from that availability.

A strong first day of practice

"You could see it in their energy and their passion. On a few of the plays today there was an extra level of competitiveness I thought. A lot of guys hitting the floor, teammates running over to grab them. But I thought overall, they made the most of the opportunity, and it's a heck of an opportunity to start our season at Duke - one of the most historic basketball programs in the country."

Setting the tone defensively

“We talked about we want to be really good in transition, we want to protect the paint, and we want to finish possessions at a really high level. I thought a lot of the drills that we put in place today were to address every area of that and to really fine-tune the techniques that we want in each of those areas too. I thought the guys brought a level of competitiveness to it and open-mindedness because we have to change some habits, change some terminology, and do things a little bit differently.”

Seeing LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Miles Bridges on the floor together

“It’s special. Coaching one of the other teams, I had to go up against them in practice and to see how they battled back in that one scrimmage and kicking the ball ahead, playing some defense, being the M.I.G., and getting some stops, I thought we got a really good early look at what that threesome can do.”

What M.I.G. means

“Most. Important. Guy. A great acronym that I learned and I’ve put a little bit of a twist on it now where it’s the guy on the ball. Early on it was the weakside bottom guy that’s got to come over and be there as the safety valve. But now, it’s to keep the ball in front of you. Taking that individual challenge and that individual pride to want to keep the guy in front of you."

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