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2026-27 · Preseason · Preseason
Joe Mazzulla calls Charles Lee ‘a hell of a coach’ as Celtics host Hornets — and both praise Payton Pritchard
Ahead of Boston’s preseason rematch with Charlotte, Joe Mazzulla called former Celtics assistant Charles Lee “a hell of a coach,” discussed Lee’s offense on camera, and joined Lee in praising Payton Pritchard after his extension.
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BOSTON — Oct. 14, 2026 — Joe Mazzulla did not need a long scouting report when the Charlotte Hornets walked into TD Garden for a preseason rematch with the Boston Celtics. Asked about Hornets coach Charles Lee — his former top assistant and a championship staffer from Boston’s 2023-24 title run — Mazzulla kept it blunt.
“I think he’s a hell of a coach,” Mazzulla said.
Lee’s offense, with his own spin
Reporter Owen O’Connor asked Mazzulla pregame where he still sees Lee’s philosophy in Charlotte’s offense — and how Lee has put his own spin on it after leaving Boston. Mazzulla’s full answer is on camera below; the short version of his appraisal did not change from the one-liner: he rates Lee as a hell of a coach, and he is watching a Hornets group that has already taken on Lee’s competitive stamp.
Lee spent one season on Mazzulla’s staff before Charlotte hired him in May 2024. He arrived in Boston after nine years on Mike Budenholzer’s tree in Atlanta and Milwaukee, including the Bucks’ 2021 title. Mazzulla has long framed Lee as a friend and a coach he learned from — not a branch on a Mazzulla “tree” — and Wednesday’s presser fit that pattern: praise without claiming ownership of Charlotte’s identity.
Both coaches on Payton Pritchard
The reunion also circled back to Payton Pritchard, one day after Boston locked in the guard on a two-year, $44.2 million fully guaranteed extension (with a mutual option for 2029-30). Mazzulla described the 2025 Sixth Man of the Year as the kind of Celtic who does not need constant affirmation.
“When people think of a Celtic, he’s one of the first people that comes to mind,” Mazzulla said. He later added that Pritchard is “one of the guys that doesn’t have an ego.”
Asked about coaching Pritchard’s balance of edge and humility, Mazzulla went further: “Plays with a chip on his shoulder, but doesn’t have an ego, and I think that’s a balance that’s difficult for people to be able to have… he doesn’t need the affirmation to be an elite competitor, and so I think as a coach, that gives you the freedom to just do what gives you the best, makes the most sense at that particular time.”
Lee, who coached Pritchard in Boston, sounded the same theme from the visitors’ side after the extension news.
“I don’t want to speak for him. I’ve been around him a while, but you probably take the money out of — he just loves to hoop,” Lee said. “He loves the game, genuinely loves it.”
Lee also pointed to Pritchard’s work habits: “He works so hard, and so when you say like what drives him, number one, I think he just like he loves the game, like genuinely loves it.”
Why the rematch mattered for both benches
Wednesday was Boston’s last home preseason game before the regular-season opener in Detroit on Oct. 20. Mazzulla started Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Paul George, Jayson Tatum and Mitchell Robinson, giving the new frontcourt more live reps against a Lee-led Hornets roster still sorting rotation answers. Charlotte entered 1-1 in the exhibition slate; Boston was chasing a clean preseason home finish after Saturday’s blowout of Philadelphia.
For Lee, a return to the building where he helped install a title offense is a measuring stick against a staff that already knows his teaching voice. For Mazzulla, Wednesday’s answer stayed simple. He already decided Lee can coach. The video clip is the longer version of that vote of confidence.
More on WhyNBA: Celtics lock in Payton Pritchard with two-year, $44.2 million extension · Joe Mazzulla says Paul George has had a ‘tremendous’ Celtics camp.
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