Everything Charles Lee Said at His Introductory Press Conference

The Hornets' new head coach has officially landed in Charlotte.

Tuesday afternoon, the Charlotte Hornets officially introduced Charles Lee as the team's new head coach. Below are some notable quotes from today's press conference.

What it takes to be successful in the NBA

“The biggest thing I learned as an assistant coach is the importance of relationships, the importance of consistency and daily improvement, and then also togetherness. Part of that togetherness is having a group of guys that want to go to battle with each other every night. The preparation that we’re going to put in every night with each other is so important. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs, but how are we going to come together and uplift each other? Part of what excites me about this opportunity is those guys that are sitting over there. 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. I can remember going through some of the Celtics playoff run calling them, texting them and they’re texting me messages of encouragement, congratuations. And all I could feel was I was letting them down the hiring had happened so long ago and I’m leaving them hanging. They were like nah, coach, you got to go do what you got to do. That togetherness has already started and that’s one of the key ingredients.”

Balancing the Celtics’ playoff run and getting started with the Hornets

“It was exciting. I didn’t feel overwhelmed by any stretch of the imagination because I finally get to do those things. You get to be a part of a championship caliber team and then I also get to be the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. Just even saying that gives me chills a little bit. The fans and how excited they are about basketball and knowing that when we get this thing really moving, trying to get the Carolina’s back to support us at a really high level because I know it’s there.”

Leaving Wall Street job to return to basketball

“When I left Wall Street it was because of my love of the game and I just wanted to help players be as good as they possibly can be, and I want to compete with a team at the highest level.”

What the Hornets need to do to get back to the playoffs

“I think we have a very good team. We’ve been snakebitten I think with some injuries, but I’m looking forward to this talent-rich group doing everything they can to be healthy. Some of that is going to be on us as coaches and performance staff. But this group is focused on the right thing. The only expectations that we’re going to put in front of ourselves are that we’re going to compete every night on a night to night basis. No matter home game, road game, who’s playing - there’s going to be a competitive group on the floor. Not only that, but it’s going to be a group that’s together on both ends of the floor.”

What he learned from Mike Budenholzer and Joe Mazzulla

“Both coaches are phenomenal coaches. And I would even say the assistant coaches that they’ve had have been really good for me to learn from as well. The biggest thing that I want to be able to take from both of them is they created a culture of work. We just knew every day, no matter what the situation was, we were coming in to work. 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 we were in the fight with them on a day to day basis.”

How much analytics will play into the formula both on and off the court

“I think the analytics, they are definitely going to be a part of our decision-making process as we think about team and as we think about a scouting report, but I’m going to say from my side it’s not going to ultimately be the last determining factor. I think that there’s an eye test that we have to go through. We have to figure out does it make sense for our team at this point of the season? Does it make sense for the growth of this guy? There’s so many other factors that I think have to go into the decision-making process but there is a piece of analytics that we’ll consider.”

Mark Williams' potential

“I’m really hopeful first and foremost that we can get him to a place where he’s healthy, can play more games, can get some more reps. We can really see him be the Mark Williams that we know When I was in Boston he destroyed us when we played here in Charlotte. That’s the type of dominating force that we want on both ends of the court. Hopefully defensively we can unleash him a little bit more to be that rim protector and then rebound at a high level. Offensively, I think he has a great ability to do a lot of different things in terms of being a pick-and-roll screener with as much pace as we want to play with and being able to finish in the paint too is going to be a trademark of his. Dominate the paint is going to be his middle name.”

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