Wall Street background. Girl Dad. Hornets coach.

CAMERON WILLIAMS | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Charlotte Hornets coach Charles Lee (left) shows off his team jersey presented by director of basketball operations Jeff Peterson during his introductory press conference on June 25. Lee was the top assistant coach at Boston, which won the 2023-24 NBA title. He also won a championship ring with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Twelve years ago, Charles Lee left Wall Street to chase his dream.

Now he’s head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.

The former Boston Celtics’ lead assistant finished his run there by helping them to an NBA-record 18th title, but now is in Charlotte to work at turning the Hornets into a contender.

“First I want to thank Gabe [Plotkin] and Rick [Schnall] for believing in me,” Lee said in his opening remarks. “A lot of people have told me that it would happen at the right time, and I fully believe that this is the right job for me, for my family and for this organization.”

The Hornets believe it, too. As an assistant coach in Milwaukee and Boston, he won NBA titles, which justified his decision to return to the game he loves.

“[My wife Lindsey] was the person that I told in 2012 that I wanted to get into coaching and leave Wall Street,” Lee said. “She looked at me like I was a little crazy, but she very quickly supported me and sacrificed her career to allow me to follow my journey.”

Hornets’ director of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said Lee checked all the boxes and when he tried to find a reason not to hire him, couldn’t find one.

“[Lee] really blew me away,” Peterson said. “Prior to the search beginning I took time to really identify those key traits and characteristics that I felt would make a successful head coach. He’s competitive. He is constantly trying to figure out ways to get better in life. Like I said earlier, he is a winner. Not everyone can say they won two championships in the NBA. That says a lot.”

Lee plans on bringing a winning culture to the Hornets, and he hopes to help craft the team into a consistent playoff participant and ultimately a title contender.

“[Being with Milwaukee and Boston] showed me what is important to winning and winning at the highest level,” Lee said. “It takes a lot from a player’s standpoint and from a coaching standpoint. From a front office standpoint, we’re really in a good place and it’s really exciting.”

Lee understands turning the Hornets around won’t happen overnight, but the father of three girls realizes building upon the team’s young core includes similarities to parenting.

“Being a dad has taught me one thing called patience,” he said. “You have to have a lot of that. I love that [daughter] Vivian is the one laughing, because she is the one I have to have the most with. But it carries over as a coach, especially being a very young team, there are going to be some things where I’m going to be like, ‘Dang, why couldn’t we get that one the first try?’ But, I have to remember that they are young and just need more reps.”

The Hornets haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, so it is safe to say the fan base may be disgruntled. Lee promises he will work to build something sustainable in Charlotte, which includes making the playoffs.

“What I’ll say to the fans right now is that through the interview process Gabe, Rick and Jeff [made it clear to me that they wanted to make this one of the premiere franchises in the NBA,” he said. “They explained to me how passionate that our fan base can be. As soon as I heard those two things, I was all in. Me being all in and my coaches being all in and the things we can promise from this team is that they are going to be very competitive. They are going to be very together, and we are going to be focused on what we can control, which is our daily progress, process and effort. That is what I promise you.”

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