The Kyle Bailey Show: Charles Lee

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports Radio ninety two seven wfn Z Back and cooking
on a Wednesday. Don't forget we got the Hornets tonight.
In fact, we're talking about it. Actually, don't forget. Roman
Harper's back at five o'clock. A lot of football to
get to and Panthers Falcons, plenty of that coming your way.
But Hornets tonight, they got the Bucks. In fact, they've
got the Bucks back to back tonight and Friday night,
and they're looking for some wins. Good news on LaMelo yesterday,

(00:22):
Konk Nipple's been playing fantastic, and our next guest knows
all about it. In fact, he's here to provide some
color and some context to all of it. Head coach
of your Charlotte Hornets, Charles Lee is back with us here.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
On a Wednesday. Coach, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Man?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I hear you're fired up today?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Oh I am? I mean, I'm coming off of an
amazing birthday and we get another chance to go out
here and compete tonight too, So I'm I'm hyped.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Wait a minute, I just forgot I remember that I
forgot or forgot that. I don't know which one it is.
We have the same birthday, right, yesterday, Yes.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
And it was Veteran's Day, So happy belated birthday to
you and happy Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
What was what was yesterday for you? Mine was the
Big four?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
To Oh, I was forty one.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Okay, so you're a year ahead of me. That's right,
you are, all right? So yeah, I entered the club yesterday.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Well, welcome, my man.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
How does it feel for you any different?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
No different? I just have to go to bed a
lot earlier realizing.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yeah, and I'm getting a couple more gray hairs. But
that is either age or having three kids.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Is it unk status? People kept telling me yesterday I've
officially reached unk status. Are are you good with that?

Speaker 3 (01:26):
I'm good with that. In our locker room, as young
as we are, I'm definitely young status. One of the guys,
you know, I said I was born in eighty four,
and he goes, word, I was born in O two. Oh,
you gotta be kidding me. That hurts.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, yeah, that hurts.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Stuff like and then watching the sons of the former
stars that we grew up on, you know, commit and
go to the pros. It's it's a rough thing to experience,
but we're also blessed, so we are we are. We
are blessed people. Well again, Happy lated birthday to you.
Let me ask you about your rookie. Speaking of the
young guns, I was saying yesterday that even kon Kin
Nipple's biggest supporters probably couldn't lay claim just to have

(02:02):
seen this coming this early. And I know he's you know,
the exciting part is he's got a ways to go here,
but my goodness, he's been fantastic. First player on NBA
history to one hundred and fifty plus points and thirty
plus threes through ten games.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
The numbers are great, Like, what are we watching right now?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, I think it's been really exciting to watch all
of our young guys kind of grow and develop in
front of us. It started, you know, in my opinion,
since day one though, since they've been here. They all
have great basketball backgrounds coming from the schools and the
coaches that they were previous with, and then I think
that all of a sudden during summer ly they came
in here, they hit the ground running. They're about all

(02:40):
the right things. Cohn being one of those guys that
I think, you know, on our Summer League championship squad
sets a tone for what it means to just try
to impact winning on every possession. And you know, he
goes down obviously, was getting his head banged on the floor,
gets stitches. In the next game, he's out there with
the headband, and I don't know he had that same
workman like me. Is he's come into training camp in

(03:02):
the early part of the season where he's competing on
every possession defensively and absorbing contact and then offensively. He
just he has such a great skill set where he's
well rounded. He's not just a shooter. He can put
the ball down and make decisions in the pain for
himself or his teammates.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
You know, I hate asking you about injuries, right, I
know you Hainte talking about him. I know you don't
want to answer the questions, but just so you know,
I don't like asking you about injuries. But you did
get good news yesterday on the LaMelo front about practicing
in Greensboro, and that would seem to indicate to us
that you might be getting your star point guard back
here pretty soon. How do you feel about that? And
obviously how big a deal is that for this team

(03:40):
to start to dig out maybe from three to seven
in their first ten.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, you know, I'm excited about the progress that Mellow
is making. I think that it really helps that he
was able to get some G League minutes yesterday or
some live action. I should say. I love what Coach
Bakers and that squatter doing and so it's really good
for us to be able to integrate and be able
to you know, compete with each other and help each

(04:05):
other continue to progress. And so I think he responded
well from yesterday's session. He participated in a little bit
of shoot around today, and so I'm excited about the
progress he's making. I think he's trending positively. I think
our performance staff has done a great job to try
to maximize his availability coming up.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
How does that I mean, I know it's probably got
to be exciting for the guys in Greensboro to get
LaMelo down to for a day to play with him
and things like that. But since you mentioned it in
Coach Baker and like, how does that benefit LaMelo? Why
not keep him, you know, here in Charlotte in the
practice facility and test him out that way? Why send
him to Greenborough? Greensborough for the folks who might not know.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yeah, you know, it was great that Greensboro traveled to
Charlotte to use our facilities, and so I think it
just shows you the alignment that we have gotcha in
the between the Swarm and the Hornets, and it just
gives us a chance to have more live bodies, you know,
right now, our Hornets team, as we are a little
bit in right now, and you're coming off of a
day where you just played a game. A lot of

(05:03):
those guys played heavy minutes or they're about to play tonight,
and so they can't go three days in a row
with heavy contact. And so I think that this just
allows us to be able to have some fresher, healthier,
livelier bodies for him to get a little bit more
game game speed action.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
This might be a silly question, but I have been
thinking about it just with with guys being out, you know,
injuries already. I'm watching you on the sideline, watching you coach.
I don't know what you're thinking all the time, obviously,
but has it changed the injuries and you know, more
guys having to step up into those roles, has it
changed anything that you're trying to do, let's say, in
the fourth quarter, especially, are you coaching different, you know,

(05:40):
with a different group of guys out there than maybe
you expected early in the season.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
No, I would say that I'm pretty consistent who I
am as a person and I think as a coach,
and so I'm pretty active and energetic and pretty talkative,
which is what I want our team to be too.
I want them to be passionate, I want them to
be I'm communicating at a high level, and so I
think that maybe I elevate how much more I have
to communicate or I have to elevate how much I

(06:05):
am directing or trying to help our team offensively and
defensively adjust and pick up things, because I do have
more reps at it, and we are playing a little
bit of a younger group right now, and so just
trying to raise their awareness. But I would say, we
are always keeping the main thing the main thing, and
how can we just get better every day? And how
can we find these moments where we can compete a

(06:26):
little bit harder or we can do something with better technique.
And then offensively, how are we playing with greater pace
and how are we making the right rim reads and
passing earlier before hands and deflections and turnovers are happening,
And so I would say a lot of my coaching
styles remains the same, which is to just be there
for the team, to be able to communicate at a

(06:48):
high level and make sure that we're focused on the
right thing.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
I want to Sad coach Charles Lee with us here
on Wednesday afternoon. Two quick things with more available minutes
because of the injuries, Like who do you think is
benefiting the most from the extra minutes out there?

Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think Liam has benefited and it's been great to
see him play a little bit more, to have a
little bit more game experience. I've seen him step up
to the plate, He's typically in the right spot. He's
a really like smart basketball player. He's got a really
good feel for the game. Sometimes he lacks physicality or

(07:22):
purpose with what he's doing, and I've seen that elevate
with more and more reps, and so I'm really happy
with what he's been able to give us. And I
thought that it was good for him to be able
to play in the fourth quarter last game. Trey Man
obviously has gotten the start in Miami and got to
play some increase minutes and you see him starting to
find his form and his rhythm a little bit more
on both sides of the floor too, So a ton

(07:43):
of guys are benefiting and that's the gift and the
curse of the injuries. He's sad to see the guys
go down, but it's a phenomenal opportunity for other people
to get a chance to play.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Absolutely all right, So Milwaukee tonight you get the bucks
for the first time this year. An exciting opportunity to
help get us ready for the matchup. What are you
expecting to see.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Astakoumpo a lot downfhill, a lot with the ball, and
you know, I think there's just got to be a
multiple effort mindset. How we're going to try to take
away the paint, take away his ability to get downhill.
It has to be a collective group to do it,
and then the multiple efforts to want to be in
a shift to help and then get out to They

(08:23):
have a ton of really good shooters, but can we
take away their airspace, make them a little bit uncomfortable.
And then offensively, I think they have a bunch of
guys that will be able to attack, but we also
have to be ready for potentially his own as you
really find a rhythm offensively, So looking forward to the
challenge tonight, and I think our guy is going to
be up for it, not a question.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
More in observation, you mentioned Grant Williams being of the
facto assistant coach a couple of weeks ago. I love
watching that guy jump up off the bench and argue
calls and street clothes. He's just so locked in all
the time. It makes me smile. It's got to make
you happy to do.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
And it saves my pockets too, so I don't have
to go crazy on the officials. And he's able to
pick up some of the slack and he probably speaks
to him a lot better than I do.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, I hear you, all right, coach, Good luck tonight.
We appreciate you all right.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Thanks God,