Report: Boston Celtics sign Charles Lee as Lead Assistant Head Coach

After the addition of former Celtic and longtime teaching assistant Sam Cassell to their employees, the Boston Celtics made one other sturdy transfer by including Charles Lee on Sunday. The signing comes on the heels of the Toronto Raptors hiring Darko Rajakovic as their new head coach, a place that Lee himself was vying for.

The report of Lee becoming a member of Boston comes from none aside from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who tweeted that Lee had been a finalist for the Raptors job in addition to the Detroit Pistons, who signed former Coach of the 12 months winner Monty Williams to a historic contract.

One attention-grabbing tidbit behind the signing is Lee shall be tabbed because the lead assistant head coach, a place that many had assumed can be Sam Cassell’s for the taking. Stephen Silas had lengthy been anticipated to hitch the Celtics after being noticed and photographed with the staff throughout their collection with the Hawks, however Silas went on to take the top assistant gig underneath Williams in Detroit.

Lee, 38, spent 4 years taking part in abroad in Israel, Belgium and Germany earlier than taking an assistant teaching place with Bucknell College earlier than making a transfer to the NBA in 2014. Becoming a member of on with the Atlanta Hawks as an assistant, Lee stayed on as an assistant till 2018, when he left to hitch the Milwaukee Bucks. He would go on to win an NBA championship there in 2021, and had been promoted to affiliate head coach final season underneath Mike Budenholzer. Along with Detroit and Toronto, Lee has beforehand been closely thought-about for different head teaching positions in Atlanta and New Orleans as nicely.

After speaking about bolstering the teaching employees behind Joe Mazzulla, President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens has stored his phrase by transferring rapidly to shore up the vacancies that had constructed up over the course of the previous 12 months. With Ime Udoka’s exit, Boston had moved Mazzulla to the interim, Will Hardy left for the top job in Utah, and Damon Stoudamire left for a head teaching place with Georgia Tech. What Boston was left with was the remnants of teaching employees that Ime Udoka himself had chosen, and the dearth of sturdy teaching behind the rookie head coach was noticeable.

Credit score to the Celtics for transferring quick, and scooping up a number of sturdy candidates that convey their very own set of expertise and expertise to convey the Celtics to a different degree. Right here’s hoping for extra information to return because the staff continues to retool on all sides through the offseason.