Charles Lee (born November 11, 1984) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and assistant coach for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). A 6'3" guard from

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering. ...

, he spent most of his professional career in Israel and Europe.

College career

The 2006

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

Player of the Year, Lee helped guide Bucknell to two straight Patriot League Championships and two straight NCAA tournament second-round appearances. In four seasons with the Bison, he earned First Team All-Patriot League honors twice (2004, 2005) and Second Team All-Patriot League honors once (2003). He finished his career at Bucknell with 1,147 career points (11.0 ppg), 568 rebounds (5.5 rpg) and 167 steals (1.61 spg).Bucknell Alum Charles Lee Signs with Israeli First Division Team
Lee enrolled at Bucknell a year before the school started offering

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United Stat ...

s, and never received anything more than partial financial aid.Lee gets grades, not scholarship checks
/ref> ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called him "

ne of NE, Ne or ne may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Neutral Evil, an alignment in the American role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' * New Edition, an American vocal group * Nicomachean Ethics, a collection of ten books by Greek philosopher Ar ...

college basketball's best nonscholarship players". At Bucknell, Lee majored in business.

Professional career

After graduating from Bucknell in 2006, Lee played with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

during the NBA's summer league and pre-season, but he did not make the regular season roster. He has since played for

Hapoel Gilboa/Afula Hapoel Afula ( he, הפועל עפולה) was a basketball club in Israel. The club was formed by a merger of Hapoel Gilboa and Hapoel Afula B.C., Hapoel Afula. The club played in the Israeli Basketball Super League until 2008 when it was relegate ...

in Israel, Verviers-Pepinster in Belgium and MEG Goettingen and

Artland Dragons QTSV Quakenbrück, representing its professional team as Artland Dragons, is a basketball club based in Quakenbrück, Germany. Their home arena was the Artland Arena, which has room for 3,000 spectators. From 2003 till 2015 the club played in the ...

in Germany.

Coaching career

On June 25, 2012, Bucknell announced that Lee was returning to his alma mater as an assistant men's basketball coach. On August 20, 2014, the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

announced that Lee had been hired as an assistant coach on head coach

Mike Budenholzer Michael Vincent Budenholzer (born August 6, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before joining the Bucks, he spent five seasons as head coac ...

’s staff. After Budenholzer parted ways with the Hawks and became the head coach of the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

, Lee would move to Milwaukee and join Budenholzer’s staff as an assistant coach in 2018. After the departure of top assistant coach

Darvin Ham Darvin Ham Sr. (born July 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas Tech R ...

to the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

in 2022, Lee would ascend to become the associate head coach of the Bucks.Celtics finalizing deal to make Charles Lee top assistant, sources say
/ref> On June 11, 2023, it was reported that Lee would be hired by the

as their top assistant coach.

Personal life

Lee is married to his college sweetheart Lindsey and have three children together (Corinne, Vivian and Josephine). Both attended and played basketball at Bucknell.

References

External links

Bucknell profile
1984 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Israel American men's basketball players Artland Dragons players Atlanta Hawks assistant coaches Basketball coaches from Washington, D.C. Basketball players from Washington, D.C. BG Göttingen players Boston Celtics assistant coaches Bucknell Bison men's basketball coaches Bucknell Bison men's basketball players Hapoel Gilboa/Afula players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches RBC Pepinster players Shooting guards {{1980s-US-basketball-bio-stub