Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishBOSTON — It was early February when Charles Lee lost yet another player. This time, it was for something nobody taught him before going into coaching.The first-year head coach of the Charlotte Hornets had worked to build a strong relationship with Mark Williams, the uber-athletic 23-year-old 7-footer who had only played 106 games in his first three seasons. After making his season debut in December, Williams was beginning to blossom, averaging 15.6 points and 9.6 rebounds in his first 20 games of his third NBA campaign.It was enough of a step forward to convince the Lakers to come calling. On the eve of early February’s trade deadline, Williams was, surprisingly, traded to Los Angeles for rookie wing Dalton Knecht and draft picks. The Lakers wanted a young dynamic lob threat to pair with recently acquired Luka Dončić, and the Hornets decided they couldn’t pass up the value they were offered. Williams, one of Lee’s pet projects, was heading to a ready-made contender.Until, two days later, he wasn’t. The Lakers failed his physical, undoing the trade and leaving Williams to process the jarring situation and the insult of failing a physical despite being relatively healthy after his December season debut.Reintegrating Williams would have been challenging for anyone, much less a 40-year-old first-time head coach. Lee had called Williams just after the trade to wish him the best and convey his desire to maintain their relationship. Little did he know the relationship was far from over. When the Lakers announced Williams failed his physical — which he maintains was unwarranted — and he returned to Charlotte, Lee saw it as a seamless process because of the bond they had built from day one.“There was so much work on the front end with him,” Lee told The Athletic. “The relationships that were built were genuine. So it’s been moving forward and we haven’t even had to revisit that.”Call it a small, but meaningful victory for Lee in a debut season devoid of many others.The first-year Charlotte Hornets coach, brought in to usher a renewed culture, spirit and approach to the downtrodden franchise, dealt with blow after blow to the roster. The Hornets started the season 4-5, fourth place in the East by Nov. 9. Then, guard Tre Mann injured his neck, veteran leader Grant Williams tore his ACL and second-year franchise pillar Brandon Miller tore his wrist. LaMelo Ball, the oft-injured face of the franchise, played in just 47 games while battling ankle, calf and wrist ailments. The constant injuries and roster disruptions forced Lee to use 27 different players over the course of the season.One year ago, Lee was the top assistant for a Celtics team that only lost 18 regular-season games. A year later, he sat on the other bench at TD Garden as his old team handed his new one its 62nd and 63rd defeats.As he had done all season, the Hornets coach stuck to the mantra: Keep moving forward.“You can say the ups and downs of the season, but he’s been steady, as far as I’m concerned,” 16-year veteran Taj Gibson said. “He’s been our general and he’s been knowing how to manage everybody’s emotions. He adapted by building up the players that he had in front of him. Each night, whoever’s available, he went with who is ready to play. But he made sure the system was in place every single day.”
LaMelo Ball gives head coach Charles Lee a high five as he leaves a January game. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)Lee, hired by first-year general manager Jeff Peterson, is part of a new regime that wanted to use this season to get a glimpse into the franchise’s future. To do that, Lee needed to develop and accentuate the enigmatic Ball while also building an identity that could endure Ball’s inevitable injury absences.Progress on the Ball front was inconclusive, largely because of his injuries. At first, many signs pointed to this season being a step forward. Ball entered the season finally agreeing to wear ankle braces, play real defense and channel his creativity into concrete results. Lee gave him full clearance to launch as many 3s as he wanted, and his 11.2 attempts per game would have tied Steph Curry for the league lead if Ball played enough games. He was the league’s second-leading scorer early on, averaging 31.1 points in his first 18 games before missing two weeks due to a left calf strain.Then, Ball got hurt, and much of that progress stalled. That’s been the catch over and over again for him: If only he was healthy. Lee challenged his star directly during his season-ending news conference with reporters.“He’s got to get stronger and more conditioned to be able to play both sides of the ball and sustain efforts,” Lee told reporters Monday. “When you’re one of the best players in the league, you have to be ready for physicality. In order to combat that, you have to be stronger.”There were some early baby steps. Members of the coaching staff cited Ball’s uptick in defensive commitment throughout the season, noting that he is now defending beyond the first action of a play. That’s a low bar to clear, but not a novel one for young star guards.“You saw LaMelo guard this year. That’s something that in the past four or five years in this league, no one’s ever said, ‘Oh, he’s a good defender,’” Grant Williams said. “He might not be the No. 1 guy on our defense, but he’s competing, he’s trying and he’s really staying in front of guys. That’s something that’s valued growth and shows Melo wants to win as well.”Even as the Hornets struggled to win, Lee was figuring out how to push Ball. He benched his star in crunch time in a one-point loss to the Nets on Nov. 19. While Lee explained his decision by saying Mann had it going in the fourth quarter, Ball responded by averaging 40.3 points, 8.3 assists and 7.5 rebounds in his next four games before hitting the shelf with another injury, this time a calf strain.Lee will have another chance to maximize the team around Ball, but it will be on the Hornets star to do the same before rival teams start pushing trade offers Peterson’s way. The GM gave Ball a strong endorsement after the season ended, saying Ball can be as good as he wants to be and does things on the court no one else can do. Ball told reporters he loves being in Charlotte and is not feeling the need to push his way elsewhere.“So all that you need to leave and this and that, I mean, when you build something, it’s never just going to pop up and be the best thing,” Ball said during Monday’s exit interview. “So you got to stay here, work it out, do what you are going to do, and see what happens if you’re gonna try to make it work.”Beyond Ball, Lee earned internal praise for doing his part to hold the group together with Miles Bridges being their only key starter to remain healthy most of the season. After spending years on Mike Budenholzer’s bench and then one championship season with Joe Mazzulla in Boston, Lee took on the Hornets’ job with a breadth of influences but his own distinct demeanor. He brought competitiveness without the furor, trying to make it fun for the Hornets to actually give a damn about every aspect of the game.“I think he did a great job of pushing us to be great,” Mark Williams said. “Obviously we didn’t get the wins and losses results we wanted, but we definitely showed some promise going into the offseason.”That was not easy considering the talent on the floor was often a mix of green prospects and bench veterans that could put in a good effort for 48 minutes and still lose by 20. Often, their process was decent, but they kept missing shots and didn’t have the skill to create better ones. Lee recognized the reality of his team’s roster situation, yet still had to hold their feet to the fire when transition defense was disorganized or they settled for mediocre shots.“The way I usually operate, it’s a perfect balance. I think that we need to look in the mirror,” Lee said. “Addressing those things is really important to me because I think when you let them go, they eat at your core, they eat at your foundation.”The Hornets’ 2024-25 season offered less clarity than they had hoped. They have Ball locked into a max deal for four more seasons, another high draft pick this June and several teams’ future picks at their disposal. They have a long-term project in Tidjane Salaün, who they selected with the sixth overall pick last summer, and Miller, the 2023 No. 2 pick who will be returning from wrist surgery next season. Mark Williams conceded at his exit meeting Monday that he isn’t 100 percent sure he will be a Hornet next season, saying the rescinded trade has given him a whole new understanding of the league as a business. There will be plenty for Lee to navigate over the next few months, particularly with most of the roster spending its offseason in Charlotte.Internally, though, one lasting impact from this season was Lee’s ability to keep the locker room engaged, no matter who was in uniform.Despite a losing season, Lee didn’t look in over his head. Even at the Hornets’ final shootaround of the season before losing to Boston, Lee took the team into the film room and hammered home their game plan. It didn’t matter that it had lost 12 of their last 13 games, or that many of the players who would see the floor would not be on the team next year. Lee wanted to leave them with the lasting impression that every moment matters.“You call him a first-time head coach, but s—, it doesn’t look like it,” Gibson said. “Looks like he’s been around forever.”(Top photo: Jim Dedmon / Imagn Images)
