The Charlotte Hornets continue to round out their coaching staff for former Boston Celtics lead assistant Charles Lee. With a new era in Charlotte officially beginning under Lee and general manager Jeff Peterson, the next step is rounding out the staff that appears fully prioritized on player development.
Lee has brought aboard two lead assistants to Charlotte: Lamar Skeeter (Utah Jazz) and Josh Longstaff (Chicago Bulls). After diving into Skeeter’s profile earlier this week, why exactly was Lee attracted to bringing Longstaff onto his first head coaching opportunity?
Similarly to Skeeter, Longstaff has a well-known track record for helping on the player development front.
Recently with the Chicago Bulls under Billy Donovan, Longstaff played a pivotal role in the development of Coby White. Before arriving in Chicago, Longstaff worked alongside Lee on the Milwaukee Bucks staff under the guiding tutelage of Mike Budenholzer. Lee and Longstaff also crossed paths in the Atlanta Hawks organization way back when Longstaff was running their G League affiliate as head coach.
The Hornets are putting together a coaching staff that not only is one of the Associations’s youngest — Lee (39), Skeeter (35), Longstaff (41) — but one that’s innovative and forward-thinking.
Now helping mold an extremely young core of players headlined by LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, Lee and Co. appear on the surface to be the ideal mixture of strengths for a compatible coaching staff.