Charles in Charge: The Charles Lee Thread

[Bassman]

I’m going to speculate on something, basing this on my many years of experience as a manager of several business teams at many levels.

Every new coach/manager/leader has to establish the culture, the path, the rules and the strategy. He has to gain trust, get buy in, work his azz off to help his guys perform and produce results. There were times when I thought Coach Lee was sounding far too fake, too much “corporate speak” and buzzword dependent. And maybe he was a bit too squeaky tight early on. But clearly the plan is working; his behind the scenes efforts have generated some dedicated players who have clearly bought in.

Still work to be done, as these are youngsters. They came out HORRIBLY flat today against the Pels. Coach has to push different buttons at different times. They don’t always respond. But what I’m seeing since getting the guys healthy, and even before with the early crash course development and heavy use of the 3 rookies being required, Lee has done some good work.

[Diop]

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[GoBobs]

Lee led us to a 4-14 record in the first 18 games. The wins were the Nets, Wizards, Jazz and Bucks, so he could really only beat the tanking teams.

...and then what happened?

we clawed our way back to 23-28 and people are prancing around like we won the championship and aren't even allowed to call out bad coaching

[RichBoy923]

Charles Lee has most certainly been a factor and has had an impact on this team. Beyond the "vibes" and getting this team to buy into his messaging, he's done a good job of altering his offense and adding wrinkles to the system.

The prime example of this has been placing Kalkbrenner (or Diabaté) in the corner and then using the gravity of the guards/wings to generate looks for the bigs. This shows he's been reflective and looking to make the most of the team in any way he can.

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The offense flows smoothly, and there's a great deal of balance.

[Diop]

Also while it’s easy to mock “vibes” a big part of Phil Jackson’s success was managing players and egos. Tex was the triangle offense guru, Phil was the zen master that got the best out of Rodman and managed to get Shaq and Kobe to play together for a bit.

That crap is definitely part of the head coaches job.

[yosemiteben]

Lee led us to a 4-14 record in the first 18 games. The wins were the Nets, Wizards, Jazz and Bucks, so he could really only beat the tanking teams.

...and then what happened?

we clawed our way back to 23-28 and people are prancing around like we won the championship and aren't even allowed to call out bad coaching

That's because in the last 15 games we've literally been playing like the best team in basketball, and we've played better than any 15 game stretch in at least the last 10 years. We have a coach that took a team that has not had even league average defense in years and has them playing the best defense in the league over that time period.

Yes, we started slow this season. We had 3 rookies and one project sophomore in our rotation, Melo and Brandon were both dealing with injuries, and our team initially struggled to adapt to and execute a system designed for fast twitch decision making.

We clearly have turned a corner offensively and defensively. But I don't think it's any secret that Lee's job to date has not been just to get wins at all costs, it's been to help this team grow up and learn winning habits. He's not throwing out junk defenses or spamming PNR actions just to manufacture offenses. We're playing sound basketball, particularly on defense where you see obvious signs of discipline - lowest volume of corner 3s allowed in the league, highest DRB%, elite ORB% while top 10 in transition defense. The wins are coming not just because we are hitting 3s, it's because guys are getting more and more comfortable with Lee's system and understanding and learning what they are supposed to be doing on the floor. That's a credit to Lee.

[GoBobs]

...and then what happened?

we clawed our way back to 23-28 and people are prancing around like we won the championship and aren't even allowed to call out bad coaching

That's because in the last 15 games we've literally been playing like the best team in basketball, and we've played better than any 15 game stretch in at least the last 10 years. We have a coach that took a team that has not had even league average defense in years and has them playing the best defense in the league over that time period.

Yes, we started slow this season. We had 3 rookies and one project sophomore in our rotation, Melo and Brandon were both dealing with injuries, and our team initially struggled to adapt to and execute a system designed for fast twitch decision making.

We clearly have turned a corner offensively and defensively. But I don't think it's any secret that Lee's job to date has not been just to get wins at all costs, it's been to help this team grow up and learn winning habits. He's not throwing out junk defenses or spamming PNR actions just to manufacture offenses. We're playing sound basketball, particularly on defense where you say obvious signs of discipline - lowest volume of corner 3s allowed in the league, highest DRB%, elite ORB% while top 10 in transition defense. The wins are coming not just because we are hitting 3s, it's because are getting more and more comfortable with Lee's understanding and learning what they are supposed to be doing on the floor. That's a credit to Lee.

Defense is better because Josh Green and Grant Williams came back form injury.

Lee does not understand how to attack the weak points of other squads. Yesterday we had Queen and Fears, two of the worst individual defenders in the league.

Instead of exploiting their weakness we took 50 threes and almost lost the game by only hitting 12 of them. We are very lucky they only managed 31 pts in the 2nd half because we should have lost that game.

Taking 50 threes also gives the other team a bunch of long rebounds that can turn into transition opportunities. When playing a bad team you don't want to give them those chances.

[yosemiteben]

"We have been playing like the best defense in the league because Josh Green and Grant Williams got healthy" is not a serious argument.

[yosemiteben]

Taking 50 threes also gives the other team a bunch of long rebounds that can turn into transition opportunities. When playing a bad team you don't want to give them those chances.

We are top 10 in limiting transition points and top 5 in ORB%. These are things that point to the remarkable job Lee is doing.

[Bassman]

I don’t know if the habit of taking lots of 3’s early in a game is part of Lee’s strategy, or if it’s the players taking the easy route. If the 3’s are going in, creates openings to drive. If they’re not, makes it a struggle…like we saw against the Pelicans. But no doubt Lee’s offense leans into high 3 point usage à la Boston.

[GoBobs]

"We have been playing like the best defense in the league because Josh Green and Grant Williams got healthy" is not a serious argument.

The current trend in NBA defense is to play very physical and mug it up all the time and just hope you don't get called for a foul. Teams do this with their role players.

Okc has Dort, Wallace, Caruso

Memphis did it with Jalen Wells last year

Suns have Dillon Brooks making a big difference this year in that role

Warriors have had Draymond for years

We just didn't have to many other mug it up guys until we got Green and Grant Williams back.

[yosemiteben]

We had a bottom 10ish defense at the start of the season. Green and Williams (2 bench guys neither of whom plays more than 20 mpg) are not the difference between a bottom 10 defense and the best defense.

[Diop]

A manager is only as good as his workers but never underestimate how much damage a bad manager can do. (Cough Larry brown cough)

So, yes defense improves when defensive players are active, but you still need to recognise the leader when things go right, as at a minimum he isn’t stuffing everything up. He has found a way to get the players to win.

[JMAC3]

"We have been playing like the best defense in the league because Josh Green and Grant Williams got healthy" is not a serious argument.

The current trend in NBA defense is to play very physical and mug it up all the time and just hope you don't get called for a foul. Teams do this with their role players.

Okc has Dort, Wallace, Caruso

Memphis did it with Jalen Wells last year

Suns have Dillon Brooks making a big difference this year in that role

Warriors have had Draymond for years

We just didn't have to many other mug it up guys until we got Green and Grant Williams back.

Which one of the rage baiters on twitter are you?
I can't believe the Charles Lee sucks is the biggest media feud the team has right now given how well we are playing.

I have to believe this is more engagement farming then real takes at this point.

[fatlever]

I can't take the Lee sucks crowd seriously. Not here or on Twitter (which is usually just the Melo stans.... usually)

Gotta find something else about the organizations to complain about. It Ain't Lee.

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[Chapelchilla]

It’s ok folks, trolls are everywhere in 2026. Just laugh at the bad takes and call it what it is. Attention seeking negative Nancy stuff.

Lee has definitely improved his coaching with experience. I also thought he was just a cheerleader and glad gander type at first but he is developing his own chops on the job.

[fatlever]

I think the credit goes a lot deeper than lee. He is just one piece in the puzzle right now. I think for the first time in decades we are seeing what a functional organization looks like, top to bottom. Not to say everything has been perfect or without rough patches, but the difference between ownership is almost night and day. Look no further than summer league and G League to see the difference that a competent organization can have across the board. Or The fact that we have a new medical staff that has seemingly found some type of magic Elixir to keep Melo on the floor. Having a system and an identity that is aligned between ownership, front office, scouting, Hornets coaching staff and swarm coaching staff.


That's not to say that in talent and health isn't a massive part of the equation because it always is for any coach and any team. You got to have both of those things to do anything in this league, regardless of coaching

When all of the things are in sync then you finally get a product on the court like what we've been seeing.

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[amcoolio]

Lets be honest here, Lee had a really rough first season and beginning of this season. He coached like he was in over his head.

I will credit him for playing and starting Kon immediately and Kon has worked so well in his system that its came together, the players bought in, and Lee has been much better. He still makes strange decisions and has a long way to go before I fully trust him. It's the same situation as the Panthers/Canales. Both are young and green, still have a lot to prove, but when its working, its really fun. Just need consistency

[yosemiteben]

Lets be honest here, Lee had a really rough first season and beginning of this season. He coached like he was in over his head.

He coached like he had a bunch of guys who couldn't execute his system and didn't deserve to be in the rotation, because that was true. He was forced to rely on a rookie Salaun, a rookie KJ, Micic, NSJ, and guys like Isaiah Wong and Seth Curry. Like half our rotation last season including multiple starters are collecting DNP-CDs or are straight out of the league right now.

Having seen what system Lee wanted to implement, there is no question that last season's team was not competent to run it.

I really struggle to blame Lee for that.

[Braggins]

I think the franchise has shown a lot of improvement. The medical staff and GLeague team are the most obvious examples. I have less confidence in the coach and GM than most other aspects of the franchise right now.