The Charlotte Hornets nearly stole the win against the Toronto Raptors on Monday, but some miscues from Charles Lee late in the game may have cost them the opportunity to finish the job. Unfortunately, his unjustifiable substitutions, ineffective after-timeout (ATO) plays, and inability to keep Miles Bridges in check have been too recurring for Hornets fans' taste.
For example, Lee inexplicably had Ryan Kalkbrenner playing 34 of the contest's final 42 seconds, even when Moussa Diabate helped catalyze their rally in the fourth quarter that turned a 104-98 deficit into a 108-108 deadlock. The rookie was caught in a bad position by Jakob Poeltl's body-blocking, leading to a layup by RJ Barrett that gave the Raptors a 110-108 lead with 18.4 seconds left.
The following possession then saw LaMelo Ball feeding an unguarded Kalkbrenner inside the paint. However, he was too slow to get up for the dunk, allowing Brandon Ingram enough time to catch up to him and reject the attempt at the rim.
Would things have ended differently if Diabate were on the court instead? It's tough to say for certain, but the Frenchman had been playing well before he was sent to the bench. He even had a game-high +9 plus/minus, and that should have been enough to convince Lee to ride with him in crunch time.
The second-year head coach's ATO schemes also need further refinement, especially since Charlotte was unable to get up a good shot after their final two timeouts of the match. The first of those two instances consisted of Ball badly missing a floater, which would have given the team a 110-108 lead had it gone in, with Immanuel Quickley and Poeltl crowding his airspace. Then, with the Hornets trailing by two with eight seconds left, the best shot they could come up with following a timeout was a contested 14-foot turnaround jumper from Miles Bridges.
Charles Lee has to make some adjustments
It's unclear why Lee has been letting Bridges have free rein on offense when he has been mostly inefficient from the field this season. Sure, he is scoring a career-high 22.1 points per game, but that is coming off a 42.2 percent shooting clip, the worst mark of his career.
In the third period on Monday, the veteran forward went 2-5 from the field when the rest of his teammates sank 54.2 percent of their field-goal attempts. The fourth quarter was even worse, as he took seven shots, converting just three of them. To put it into perspective, Kon Knueppel scored a total of 24 points, two more than Bridges finished with, despite attempting six fewer field goals, and didn't even have the chance to take a shot in the game's final five minutes.
Considering how the 2025-26 campaign has progressed for Charlotte and the thought that Knueppel has shown the potential to be the franchise player, it's already time for Lee to give him the keys to the offense whenever Ball and Brandon Miller are sidelined. Allowing Bridges to take control and not granting Knueppel enough space to improve and commit mistakes might not be beneficial for the rookie's development and the Hornets' long-term prospects.