Bucks promote Charles Lee to associate head coach

Lee went undrafted by the NBA when he graduated from Bucknell. Despite playing for the San Antonio Spurs in their summer league and preseason, he did not make the team. Afterwards, he played professionally in Israel, Belgium and Germany.

In 2014, the Atlanta Hawks hired him as an assistant coach on Mike Budenholzer’s staff. Ironically, the job that Lee is being considered for, the Utah Jazz head coaching job, was vacated by Quin Snyder. It was the same Snyder that Lee replaced on Budenholzer’s staff in Atlanta.

When Budenholzer was hired by the Bucks, Lee followed him. Over the past three seasons, ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz has included Lee on his list of names NBA circles are talking about as potential head coaches.

The following is an excerpt of what Arnovitz wrote concerning Lee earlier this year:

“[Charles Lee] has established himself as a multitool coach who projects confidence, emotional and tactical intelligence and affability. Colleagues marvel at his ability to relate to everyone, be it a two-way player (Lee played professionally overseas for four seasons) to an owner (he worked as a trader on Wall Street).

“A number of executives and coaches say that had Lee played one minute in the NBA (or had NBA bloodlines), he’d be gainfully employed as a head coach today. Such is the case in the NBA circa 2022, where owners and front offices increasingly favor those who have an NBA entry on Basketball Reference.”

The Milwaukee Bucks hope that the promotion to associate head coach will convince Lee to stay, at least for now. There is little doubt that he will be a head coach someday. However, the Bucks still need to fill the position left by Ham when he took the Lakers job.