Hornets vs Jazz: Coach Charles Lee Postgame Media Availability | 11/2/2025

like you guys uh came out with the right approach and right energy there in that first quarter. I think uh maybe hit seven of 13 threes, something like that. What impressed you most about the way you you started this game? Uh love the uh response uh to coming off of a game where I feel like we, you know, we threw a great p punch in the first half and felt like we kind of let one slip away and I thought the guys did a great job of moving on to the next play, moving on to the next game. Uh, only way you can win the moment is to, uh, be in the moment. And I thought that they really were, um, really intentional with how we played tonight to start the game with a 25-point quarter, a 23 point second quarter. Um, the the thing that stood out to me, obviously, it’s a total team effort. Anytime you’re trying to guard anybody, but I thought Miles and Seion did a really good job of locking in on marketing and understanding his tendencies. And, you know, you’re not going to be perfect a whole game. that that that team their offball um activity is really good and all the flares and the slips and stuff, but I thought that our team pressured passers. I thought that we did a pretty good job of staying below and not allow in the back door. So, uh the physicality, the effort, the individual pride uh was really impressive by our group defensively. And then to follow that up, I know probably the end of the third quarter was not great in terms of the fouling, but the way you guys were able to kind of respond, I think you held him to 17 there in the fourth. Uh were you as equally impressed about the way you finished this game as you started even though there was a little bit of maybe uh some diceiness there at the end of that third quarter? Yeah, and that’s you know that’s every game. There’s gonna be some pocket of the game that doesn’t go your way and uh you got to be able to work through it and I thought our group did a good job of still trying to stay locked in on the most important things of um defensive intentionality and physicality and offball discipline. Um and then offensively I thought that our pace was pretty good throughout the night. the ball movement was like one of the that it’s it’s been the best that it has been in in the last couple games. So, I love that it wasn’t sticking. We were getting the multiple actions and so um just a total team effort for four quarters which I was happy with. Khan and Seion combined for 39 points and 11 assists with no turnovers. What do you like about the way that those two guys play off each other and the chemistry that they’ve carried to Charlotte from their time at Duke? Yeah, you know, uh, Coach SH might as well be on the staff. Like he did such a heck of a job of laying a foundation with those guys. I owe him uh a lot. Uh, but those they they just they understand how to play basketball. They understand um to not overdo it to kind of just, you know, whatever you practice and whatever the team needs, that’s what we’re going to do in the game. And like just because you get in front of a crowd or in front of a different defense, they’re not going to change. And I love that about them. And so, uh, Seion does a great job of connecting and understanding his DHOs and his drives. Once he gets a piece of the paint, I think he’s got really good vision while also still being able to finish down there. And his catch and shoot game is very confident and very it’s been very um an added bonus to his game as well. And then Khan obviously it’s a nice luxury to be able to put him in offball actions. I think we’ve got to see him as a screener. He’s got a really good feel for uh, you know, defenders feet open, slip, guy square, get a piece. Uh he’s even versatile in terms of he doesn’t have to pop all the time. Uh he’s playing in the seams and making some passes there. So uh just a really good basketball player with high basketball IQ and and both of them are just about team basketball and winning. Charles, is it has Kot surprised you at all with with how well he’s been shooting? I mean, he’s up among the league leaders, you know, from from shooting deep. And I mean, has it surprised you or did you kind of see this coming in in in training camp and preseason, all that? Yeah, it doesn’t surprise me. Um, I think obviously number one, he he works at it a ton and uh what he works on is game shots at game speed and then when he gets in the game he’s he’s taking the right threes a lot of times. You know, they’re they’re they’re uncontested or lightly contested. Um he plays really well off of his teammates and understands how to find windows as they’re driving. His defender turns their head. How do I slide to that corner? Um baseline out of bounds. He does a really good job of having a feel of all of a sudden when am I slipping to kind of get to that corner and get a shot off. So, um, no, I’m not surprised uh because of his work ethic. Also, his mechanics of his shot I think are really good. He’s a got a really strong base and strong leg. So, even as he drives it a lot of times, uh, he’s able to kind of play off a two and still get to some things. But, uh, not surprised and I think that his teammates do a good job of finding him, especially after he hits one. You mentioned it earlier, um, but I want to say it again. And Cion is a rookie and he at points was the primary defender for Lowi Markin. What made the coaching staff say, “Hey, we can entrust this guy with this responsibility on defense. And what’ you see from him? Not only from there, but getting the stop, boxing him out, getting the ball, bringing it up, and then getting an assist to Coniple on the other side.” Yeah. Um I think that he’s earned our trust. We’ve got to watch him throughout um the preseason and watching what he did obviously during summer league in the limited minutes, but um he guards the best players on our team and he identifies with like I want to get stops. I want to be a defensive-minded stopper. Uh good two-way player. And so um he does his homework. He understands tendencies. Uh and you know that you can trust him with a game plan. If it’s to make the guy go left, he’s going to do a really good job of doing everything he possibly can to make sure that guy goes left. and then same thing, go right, whatever it is, he will do it at the at the best of his abilities. And then he just brings a a physicality uh that allows him to guard uh one through five um and a relentlessness on the glass to make sure he’s finishing possessions. I think he has some of the best um defensive rebounding clips of the season so far where he’s boxing guys out and doesn’t matter if he gets it, he’s like, I’m just going to make sure my guy doesn’t. And so I I think that the the total package defensively is seen in Seion. Mentioned stacking possessions. It was 11294 and it went con hook shot cockrunner steel seon made layup. At the same time during the fourth quarter you forced nine straight misses and six straight three-point misses. How does it feel to know that not only is your message being internalized but it’s also being fully the rookies are fully understanding and following the message. Yeah, and it feels really good. And I think that not only are the rookies understanding the message, um they’ve got great teammates around them that are also echoing the message. And so when you hear Colin coming into a timeout, hey, we got to get stops and Miles talking about we got to get buzz kills and you know, Brandon saying something too, it’s it’s it’s really refreshing to know that the team they’re going to take ownership of the of of what needs to be done and hold each other accountable to it. Coach, you guys acquired Colin Ston from Utah. To see him today go out 10-point night. Just what have we seen from him off the court and just throughout this season? Yeah, seen a lot of really good things. Um, one of the things I love about Colin so much too is just how coachable he is and it’s a new situation, uh, new system, new environment, and it’s been pretty seamless because like he just wants to do whatever he can to like add to the group and and fit in. And so today, I thought he just played so under control. 12 assists. Um the defensively was really good. And so I I just think that he he just brings a work ethic, an attitude, a humility to him. Uh that’s like refreshing. In the first quarter, uh you I think Miles was shooting free throws and you brought Trey and Colin over and you were giving them a little talk there. You mentioned communication for the team, but can you talk about the communication from the coaching staff to the players in game as well? Yeah. Uh those conversations, they vary. uh sometimes they can be a little bit uh more stern and sometimes uh they’re helpful pointers or something to just get the group to understand what what needs to be done. And so um I also try to find moments to get them to not talk to the officials like we have to worry about controlling what we can control. And so um I I’ll make up something sometimes just to get them away to now, hey, let’s focus now on like this offensive play or something. U but they they’re so responsive. They’re so great. they recognize it. And um those those moments though um it’s good. We all got to be able to communicate, be on the same page, and uh I think that we’re all collaborating to help each other figure out how we can just win and put ourselves in the best position to be successful. Thank you.

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