Another Damn Seattle Supersonics Dynasty

[R1zzo23]

Would be interesting to see Charles Lee named as a head coach since he's a lead assistant for my hometown Celtics. Seems like there's a mini coaching tree being grown out from the Celtics' organization.

Minnesota is a great choice and one that is often overlooked. Makes sense to push them into the Central Division. The West will have a field day beating up on two expansion teams, though.

[RolePlayer]

Quote: Originally Posted by R1zzo23

Would be interesting to see Charles Lee named as a head coach since he's a lead assistant for my hometown Celtics. Seems like there's a mini coaching tree being grown out from the Celtics' organization. Minnesota is a great choice and one that is often overlooked. Makes sense to push them into the Central Division. The West will have a field day beating up on two expansion teams, though.

Charles Lee is definitely interesting and he's been on the bench as an assistant for some great teams, the 60-win Hawks, the championship Bucks, and now the Celtics.

Jordi Fernández is also a young and qualified assistant coach, who is currently the associate head coach for the Kings and the Canadian men's basketball national coach.

Kenny Atkinson of course is experienced and was somewhat screwed over in Brooklyn. But would he want to coach an expansion team? He backed out of coaching Charlotte.

With making the first coaching hire, I think having experience could be important with the team starting from nothing, especially since the general manager is a first-time GM. Although finding a young promising head coach and having him develop and grow alongside the team could lead to some great results.

[RolePlayer]

Seattle Supersonics hire Milwaukee Bucks Assistant Charles Lee as Head Coach

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The Seattle Supersonics have hired Milwaukee Bucks head assistant Charles Lee to be this iteration of the franchise's first coach, the team announced Monday.

The Supersonics finalized a three-year contract with Lee on Sunday after meeting with him several times over the past month, sources said. Lee will be tasked with coaching a team from the ground up, taking on the difficult task of turning a band of misfits plucked from the end of teams' benches in the expansion draft into an NBA team.

According to sources, Lee has been given permission to finish the Bucks' season before moving on to his full-time duties with the Supersonics.

Lee won the 2006 Patriot League Player of the Year award at Bucknell before playing overseas for several years. In 2012, he rejoined Bucknell as an assistant coach before accepting a job on Budenholzer’s staff with the Atlanta Hawks two years later. Lee has spent nine years on Mike Budenholzer’s staff in Atlanta and Milwaukee. He's been seen by his colleagues as a promising young coach and has interviewed for head coaching positions with several teams over the past two years.

When asked about the hire Blaine Mueller, who worked alongside Lee on the Bucks coaching staff from 2018 to 2023 stated “He’s always positive. Always optimistic. Like, he’s completely undeterred by anything going on. It doesn’t matter the stage of the season, won 15 in a row, lost five in a row. He’s going to come in with a positive spirit and attitude and approach. It’s just contagious, his enthusiasm for life in general but also the game and working.”

Something that should benefit Lee in coaching an expansion team is his ability to develop players, he's credited with playing a large role in the development of Khris Middleton and several other Bucks players.

The hiring of Lee was a shock around the league, many expected the Supersonics, who already have a young front office and had hired first-time GM Trajan Langdon last Fall, to hire an experienced head coach. However, Seattle felt confident in Charles Lee's resume and his ability to develop as a coach alongside the team.

[JoshNormanMane]

Good to see you go with the experienced Assistant Coach route rather than the re-tread head coach.

It can backfire similar to Adrian Griffin to Milwaukee this year but i'd rather take the chance on the upside of a Mark Daigneault rather than hiring Jason Kidd or Doc Rivers to coach my team to a 2nd round exit.

[R1zzo23]

Love the hire and hopefully his development ability plays huge dividends into the rebuild of the Sonics.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[marshdaddy]

Rizzo out here calling his shot! Love the hire, and the added restrictions. Made me a little wide-eyed with the decision not to allow them to be in the draft at all, but that sounds like something that owners would do. Get their millions from the expansion fees and not let the new teams be any good. Cut throat.

[RolePlayer]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshNormanMane

Good to see you go with the experienced Assistant Coach route rather than the re-tread head coach. It can backfire similar to Adrian Griffin to Milwaukee this year but i'd rather take the chance on the upside of a Mark Daigneault rather than hiring Jason Kidd or Doc Rivers to coach my team to a 2nd round exit.

I agree, can't beat the potential of the unknown, I was seriously debating Atkinson vs Lee for a few days in my head while I was bored at work, I kept coming to Lee though because while having an experienced head coach for an expansion team would be nice, the ceiling is much higher on Lee.

The team can also add a more tenured assistant to go alongside Lee to help him out and overcome some of the growing pains of experienced by a first time head coach.

Quote: Originally Posted by R1zzo23

Love the hire and hopefully his development ability plays huge dividends into the rebuild of the Sonics. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Glad I could deliver on Lee for you, I think his skills in developing players will be vital because with a team that will likely be full of young players under 75 overall, we're going to need it.

Quote: Originally Posted by marshdaddy

Rizzo out here calling his shot! Love the hire, and the added restrictions. Made me a little wide-eyed with the decision not to allow them to be in the draft at all, but that sounds like something that owners would do. Get their millions from the expansion fees and not let the new teams be any good. Cut throat.

He did, though I can't lie I was undecided when I made the initial post mentioning the coaching search, Rizzo's support for Lee might've been the thing that put him over the top over the other potential first-time head coach Jordi Fernández.

Yeah, it's going to be tough for the expansion teams, but hopefully, each will be able to find a few diamonds in the rough that can turn into valuable players. Despite the restrictions, there is some interesting talent in the name of former first-round picks who didn't pan out, some of the better G-League players and 2nd round-pick rookies teams weren't able to protect.

[RolePlayer]

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It's July first and the expansion draft is just one month away, as free agency has begun, one thing teams have had to factor into their signings is the expansion draft. According to the league, in just two weeks NBA teams will be required to submit the names of their 11 protected players for the upcoming expansion draft.

The NBA's two newest franchises, the Vegas Venom and the revived Seattle Supersonics, will be searching through a pile of bloated contracts, veterans way past their prime, and young players sitting at the end of teams benches to assemble a professional basketball team and hopefully find a diamond in the rough. It's not a position that any team would be envious of, but of course, any city without an NBA team would be dying to have it.

In March the NBA stated, that the list of unprotected players will not be released to the public but one can only expect names like Ben Simmons, Gordon Hayward, Davis Bertans, and some of the other worst contracts in the league available for the Venom and Supersonics.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Simmons will likely be left unprotected by the Nets. Would an expansion team possibly take a flyer on Ben Simmons? Looking to potentially revive his career and turn him back into the all-star level player he once was? Simmons is still just 26 years old, and an expansion team could strike gold if they are able to figure out how to put Simmons in a situation where he succeeds. However, if Simmons fails to play up to his contract or just doesn't play due to injuries, then almost half of the 90 million cap allocated to an expansion team in their first year is going to a bad contract.



An interesting name that could be potentially unprotected is Klay Thompson. A few years ago it would seem crazy to think the Warriors would be willing to let Thompson go for nothing, but as injuries have racked up and Thompson's play on the court decreased, the Warriors may be willing to do just that. It seems unlikely an expansion team would take Thompson, for the same reasons the Warriors may leave him unprotected but also because of Thompson's 43 million dollar contract that would likely be difficult to trade. If an expansion team did take Thompson, it would certainly give them instant star power and increase ticket sales.

Something else to consider is rookies; it's likely some teams will have to leave their second-round picks from the recent draft unprotected so as to protect the rest of their team. In the recent NBA draft, a second-round pick might not have been a hot commodity, but for an expansion team looking to strike gold they'll be seen as potential lottery tickets.