NBA Notebook: How Charles Lee became the top Celtics assistant coach behind Joe Mazzulla

Spurs legend Tim Duncan and other scrimmage teammates swarmed Rich Melzer after he converted a fadeaway bank shot for the win by driving past Mike Finley on the baseline. Melzer attacked instead of hitting the big man, believing he couldn't complete the entry pass. Duncan high-fived Melzer as another player trying out for the San Antonio Spurs, 21-year-old rookie Charles Lee, joined the embrace. They celebrated a short-lived victory when a voice boomed across the gym. 

"What the f*** are you doing?" Hall-of-Fame head coach Gregg Popovich yelled. "Who the hell do you think you are?"  

"All of us, me and Charles, are looking at him like, 'What did I miss here? Did I travel?' Melzer said, remembering the moment.

"You got the best power forward of all time standing down there on the block and you drive and shoot that bulls***?" Popovich continued.  

"It totally deflated the elation that I had at the time of winning that game," Melzer said. "We're about to jump on a plane the next day and go to Europe. That was when I realized, I think that's when a few of us realized, we were there to play a role and it probably wasn't one that's well celebrated." 

The Spurs later waived Melzer and Lee after acquiring veteran guard Jacque Vaughn, ending Lee's NBA aspirations and beginning his journey toward coaching. Lee reunited with Melzer in Israel for a season, then played three more years in Europe before returning to the US to work on Wall Street and coach at his alma mater. An old connection from that summer in 2006 called nearly a decade later when the Atlanta Hawks hired an assistant from deep on Popovich's bench named Mike Budenholzer. Budenholzer worked closely with Lee at the Spurs tryouts and they stayed in touch over email. Budenholzer hired Lee as a developmental assistant and he spent the next nine years by Budenholzer's side, winning a championship in 2021 with the Bucks and nearly scoring multiple head coaching jobs before Milwaukee fired Budenholzer this summer. Now, he's becoming the Celtics' top assistant coach behind Joe Mazzulla entering a critical year for a Boston team disrupted most by coaching upheaval last season. 

Lee's teammates at Bucknell University never imagined Lee's ascent when he arrived on campus recovering from a high school knee injury at 6-3 and over 230 pounds. Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery recruited Lee from the Washington D.C. area as part of the final Bucknell class that didn't offer athletic scholarships. Lee and others received financial aid and nothing more, his family mostly financing his four-year stay at the school before ensuing classes received full rides. 

Flannery liked Lee's instincts and defense along with his ability to track rebounds in the air and his high school grades. Lee's personality outgrew the impact of all those areas, lighting up each room he stepped into with jokes and conversation. He flashed an ability to connect with anyone and rarely took himself too seriously. As he fought to get into shape, riding the stationary bike, the team teased his love for gummy bears and Swedish Fish. He took it in stride, but grew too casual with class and landed on Flannery's bench. 

"His first semester, he came back from California, he was on the all-tournament team," Flannery said. "That's how good he was, but he wasn't serious enough academically and I ended up sitting him second semester. Imagine doing that nowadays with a player of his caliber. We would have lost him immediately ...(but) he went to every practice (when) he knew he wasn't gonna play. He manned up, he got serious ... and by the time he was a senior academically, he was on the dean's list. His story isn't one where he just came in there and he was a star and he was the man. It didn't happen that way. He went through some adversity and I probably have the greatest respect for him, not as a player, even though he was a great player. I respect what he did as a student-athlete ... his numbers speak for himself. He probably could have been in a different system if I cut him loose. He probably could have scored 25-30 (points) a game, but we were a team that dug in defensively. We were a team that upset a lot of big people, because the kids bought into playing together and defending." 

As Lee worked on his conditioning, studies and habits, playing only 10 games as a freshman, Sojka Pavilion, a new 4,000-seat arena, rose nearby on campus. Bucknell's basketball team moved into it from a facility half its size that year and only drew several hundred fans. That changed quickly. Flannery utilized scholarships for the first time in 2003 and drew 6-11 German big man Chris McNaughton to Bucknell, one of league's tallest players who otherwise wouldn't have attended the school. It rounded out the core that'd fill the arena by Lee's senior year and leave other students who camped outside for tickets without a seat for the Villanova home game. Lee recruited many fans, whether by signing autographs in restaurants, greeting them in public,  talking in class, but mostly through his play. The scholarship conversation never emerged between teammates who meshed as big personalities that further drew the small college town and campus to their games. Their ability to fight with college powers soon made them must-watch basketball, Lee's Bisons toppled No. 10 Pittsburgh on the road to begin his junior year. 

Lee played the wing for Bucknell, formed a knack for grabbing offensive rebounds and overpowered opponents with brute force. That Bucknell team knocked off Holy Cross on the road to win the Patriot League and reach the NCAA Tournament, where they stunned Kansas playing defense-first basketball with a chemistry hardened by the team's internal competitiveness. They argued over Call of Duty when Lee stared at an opponent's screen, Texas Hold'em games and in practice when Flannery shook up the lineups. They could also laugh off the spats. Kevin Bettencourt, Endicott College's head coach who starred alongside Lee at Bucknell, never saw Lee a bad mood, even when they trailed Holy Cross by double-digits in the championship game. Lee flashed his signature smile while a teammate shot free throws and told Bettencourt - we're going to win. 

Beating Kansas weeks later earned Bettencourt and Lee a trip to the ESPYS as the winners of best upset. They shrugged off getting seated in the back. At the party before the ceremony in LA, they ran into the reigning champion New England Patriots -- including Troy Brown and Tedy Bruschi. Bettencourt, a Peabody, Massachusetts native, hoped to see Tom Brady. They never spotted him. 

"I never saw Charles get out-played. In our last win, which was against Arkansas, they had Ronnie Brewer, who got picked in the top-15 (of the NBA Draft), had a pretty long career and Charles had 24 in the head-to-head match up, that kid had (14). Charles was elite," Bettencourt said. "He didn't turn 18 until November of his freshman year. He was really young going into Bucknell. In today's world, he would have probably gone to prep school, done an extra year. The kids that are going into college are a lot older now. I think that goes with his development from his body transformation. He was young and once he started learning how to eat, work out, exercise, get all the resources Bucknell had around him, he just took off ... Charles was always smart, always easy to talk to, always had thoughts on the game, always was positive with his teammates and with his coaches. He had that natural charisma ... we didn't take ourselves too serious. We were very humble. We loved being a part of Bucknell ... we created a cool environment and culture around the program." 

Bettencourt and Lee, who became roommates, never talked about the coaching profession they'd eventually join. Bettencourt believes their competitiveness naturally carried them back to basketball after they finished playing. Lee graduated in 2006 with enough momentum to earn an NBA tryout with the Spurs through Summer League and into the preseason. San Antonio brought Lee and Melzer, an overseas star after emerging as the best player in Division-III at Wisconsin-River Falls, among others to camp alongside future Hall-of-Famers Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, who'd lead the Spurs to a championship over the Cavs the following summer. 

They all lined up as one at the bottom of man-made hills in Texas heat behind San Antonio's practice facility for runs each morning, Lee alongside Robert Horry, Finley alongside Melzer, with the team's big three regularly taking part. The Spurs stressed that community. Lee and Melzer never missed a session, knowing they needed to show every effort to the team's staff to improve their long shots at the league. They ran until a brief lunch, then did so again in the afternoon following practice. Lee and Melzer joked to pass the grueling workouts -- they were f***ing hard. Melzer knew Lee as Chuck. Lee called Melzer Buns - because I got no ass. 

"Damn, coach really let you have it," Lee joked after Popovich unloaded on Melzer. 

"He had a voice as a young rookie that even a lot of veterans didn't have," Melzer recalled. "This guy is a rookie with a slim chance of making the team and he's out there carrying himself as a spokesperson for some of the other guys in the same situation and for the team itself. I thought that was really admirable. He was mature, he was a very, very mature rookie, and the NBA is a tough league to crack...all the talent that Charles had, I think the work even took precedence over that. We worked man and that's why we really identified with each other...but we knew when to turn it off too and when we turned it off, it was enjoyable...there was a culture created that summer...there was just a real brotherhood and cohesion that I think Chuck and I in our group was partly responsible for. We worked our ass off, but we had a ton of fun too." 

Both landed on Hapoel Gilboa/Afula in Israel in 2007 before Lee played two more seasons in Belgium and Germany. He retired in 2010 to work at Merrill Lynch as a stock trader for two years, having studied business and psychology at Bucknell, which would later help him understand different player's personalities and how to coach everyone differently. Bettencourt, who already entered coaching at Bentley, heard Lee's urge to get back in the game when they met in New Orleans at the Final Four. Lee returned to Bucknell on Dave Paulsen's staff during Mike Muscala's senior year when the future Celtics big man became the program's all-time leading scorer. Muscala remembered Lee's energy and conversations about having starred at the school proved as useful as anything they did on the court while Lee learned coaching. 

Muscala joined the Atlanta Hawks, after spending a year playing professionally in Spain, the same year as Lee did. The Bucknell assistant took another leap from the stability of his finance job to accept one in the NBA that didn't cover housing. Melzer passed up a similar opportunity for that reason. Lee used it to further grow his best attribute, relationship-building at the highest level while utilizing his still-sharp playing skills to walk players through drills. That Atlanta team, featuring Al Horford in his prime, emerged as the east's top seed and eventual runner-up to the Cavaliers in Budenholzer, Lee and Muscala's first seasons. 

"I got a chance to work with him a lot," Muscala told Boston Sports Journal this week. "He was my coach, my assistant, and then we always had really good, low-minute games where guys who weren’t playing a lot. We’d play 5-on-5, he would join us along with Ben Sullivan, and (Lee) was still playing at a high level at that point. I think his consistency ... for me, personally, working with him, I felt like I was playing some of my best basketball, walking me through different finishes and different footworks ... finishes off the roll, some one-dribble finishes, catching the ball in the short roll ... some good ball-handling stuff that he was able to show ... for me as a four or five." 

They stayed together for four years, finishing top-five in the east twice more before Horford's departure and other losses sunk the team out of the postseason picture in 2018 and ended Budenholzer's tenure. The Bucks, having fired Jason Kidd and losing to the Celtics in the first round, hired Budenholzer, who brought Lee along in hopes of pushing Giannis Antetokounnmpo to the next level. Three seasons later, they became NBA champions as part of the first Milwaukee title in 50 years. Bettencourt texted Lee throughout his NBA rise and always heard back. Melzer sent Lee screenshots of his funny faces along the sideline and sometimes called Lee to rub it in after losses. He could still take a joke. 

Following another lost opportunity at a championship, Lee now enters a high-stakes coaching role at 38 on a Celtics team that saw most of its coaching staff depart over the past year. He made it to the late stages of the Pelicans' last hiring process.  Lee and Brad Stevens spoke several times in 2021 during the search that landed Ime Udoka in Boston as Stevens' replacement. Lee nearly became the Detroit Pistons' head coach this summer before the team offered Monty Williams the largest contract for a coach in league history. The Raptors took a long look at him. He's ready. 

Stevens served as a Butler assistant while Lee emerged at Bucknell and followed his coaching career since, so Lee even surpassed former Celtics champion Sam Cassell as top choice assistant to enhance Joe Mazzulla's bench. Several teams pursued Lee for the same role. Lee and Cassell's most valuable skill could prove to be lowering the temperature in a high-stress environment for a locker room facing the highest level of expectations. In turn, Boston provides Lee a preview of the hot seat, where the fans care like almost nowhere else. 

"I tried to explain to (Lee) that Boston is a little different than what Milwaukee's like," Bettencourt said. "He went out to dinner to Strega and somebody sent me a picture of him and I had a friend that noticed him."  

"You're gonna get recognized a lot more here," Bettencourt told Lee. "The Celtics are kings here...I don't know how it was in Milwaukee, but ... if you go out to dinner with your family, now people are gonna know who the hell you are." 

"But he'll take all that in stride." 

Here's what else happened around the NBA this week...

Atlanta: Bogdan Bogdanović's stock rose in a summer where he earned Serbia a silver medal, preparing to begin a long-term extension with the Hawks that made De'Andre Hunter expendable. Jake Fischer expanded on earlier reports of failed trade talks with the Pacers and Pistons regarding Hunter, whose uneven development and injuries made his four-year, $90 million deal difficult to move. He also recalled the Bucks' sign-and-trade for Bogdanović, then a member of the Kings, thwarted by tampering charges against Milwaukee that landed the shooter in Atlanta. Young wing Trent Forrest returned to Atlanta on a two-way contract. 

Boston: An approved rule that allows teams to rest no more than one star (defined as an all-star or All-NBA player within the last three years) only impacts Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. A welcome change along with requirements that mandate award winners appear in at least 65 games come as the first major attempt in the load management era to increase participation in the regular season. Boston can still comfortably rest one of its two stars when necessary, along with its big men Al Horford, Robert Williams III and Kristaps Porziņģis, who don't fall under the rule. 

“This is ultimately about the fans,” Adam Silver said. “And that we’ve taken this [load management] too far. This is an acknowledgment that it has gotten away from us a bit.”

Former Celtics draft pick Brandon Hunter died at 42 in Orlando. 

Cleveland: Added a few fliers in former first-round pick Zhaire Smith and notable second-round Shariffe Cooper. Smith fizzled out with the 76ers after landing there in a trade for Mikal Bridges in the 2018 NBA Draft due to numerous medical issues. He last played in 2020 and competed this summer with the Thunder in Summer League. Cooper, an excellent passer, played well for the Cleveland Charge after his height undermined the start of his career with the Hawks. Lamar Stevens remains a free agent, with the Celtics among the teams still interested in the defensive wing, according to Michael Scotto. 

Dallas: Markieff Morris, who joined the Mavericks this summer, appeared on a podcast with brother Marcus Morris and reignited tensions with Nikola Jokić after their infamous spat that left Markieff severely injured while playing for the Heat. Morris missed most of the 2021-22 season with the injury suffered from the shove, and promised to get back at Jokić. Tyson Chandler also appeared on All the Smoke recently, previewing some intriguing work with essential Mavs rookie Dereck Lively II. 

"Sucker shot. That's what we call it in my hood," Morris said. "So the shot was, it was a little hard. It was like a little whiplash. So I mean, to be 350 (pounds), catching me off guard, it really ain't do s***. But you know, at the time, I was a little off. It was more so with the Miami Heat. They was just trying to protect me from, you know, against me from myself. But I was cleared to play like two weeks after that. They just held me out. So it really wasn't one of those things where I was injured or in pain or anything like that." 

Golden State: Continuing to search for fliers at the end of their roster that could include Dwight Howard, who loudly dominated in Taiwan last season after last playing in the NBA with the Lakers in 2021-22. Howard played well in Philadelphia in 2021, but struggled in his return to LA where he won his lone championship in 2020. He'll meet with the Warriors next week, following other summer workouts with veterans like Dion Waiter and Glenn Robinson III, who played in the NBA years ago. Golden State added a more recent castoff on a two-way contract in Usman Garuba, the Spanish forward who the Thunder waived after he moved from Houston to Atlanta to Oklahoma City in separate moves this offseason. Howard also appealed to make the US national team roster for next summer's Olympics, threatening to play for Taiwan in the tournament if he doesn't receive a roster spot. 

The Warriors also began contract extension talks with Klay Thompson, who will become a free agent after his $43.2-million deal expires next summer. 

Houston: New York police arrested Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. on Monday and charged him with felony assault and strangulation, which Porter Jr. plead not guilty to. Prosecutors alleged Porter Jr. assaulted his girlfriend and former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick by punching her in the face repeatedly in a hotel room and choking her forcefully enough to fracture a vertebrae. The NBA is investigating, during which Houston cannot act on his contract, which only guarantees him roughly $16 million over the first two seasons of the four-year extension he signed last year. The incident led to criticism over the league's handling of domestic violence after Miles Bridges returned to the Hornets this summer after facing similar charges and will miss only 10 games after the NBA credited him for 20 served last year while sitting out the entirety of the season in free agency. 

Previous concerns regarding Porter Jr.'s behavior, including past incidents involving women, led the Cavaliers to trade Porter to Houston, where he signed a carefully structured extension with the Rockets. His career stands in jeopardy, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, and Shams Charania noted Houston began talks with other teams to dump his contract. The Rockets could move draft picks to return a rotation player in a deal with a rebuilding team.

Indiana: Myles Turner recalled playing against Kobe Bryant during his final appearance in Indianapolis where fans rooted for the Lakers legend and against Turner's Pacers during their home game. Paul George and Indiana held off Bryant's comeback attempt in the closing minutes, as Turner recalled on a recent podcast appearance. Buddy Hield, still playing alongside Turner in Indiana, will switch his uniform to No. 7 this season, which shocked Pacers great Jermaine O'Neal. 

Clippers: Brian Windhorst reported that the Clippers decided to move on from James Harden conversations earlier this summer before the 76ers reportedly ended their attempt to comply with the guard's trade request. ESPN also indicated that Kawhi Leonard and Paul George appear in good shape and spirits in their offseason workouts following season-ending injuries last spring. The need for playmaking beyond Russell Westbrook remains in LA, which connected the Clippers to the Celtics in Malcolm Brogdon talks this summer, but nothing matters more than George and Leonard's health.

Lakers: Signed defensive, rebounding big man Jarred Vanderbilt to a four-year, $48 million extension. Vanderbilt had played on one of the NBA's great bargain contracts, making just over $4 million annually between the Timberwolves and Jazz, who traded him to the Lakers at the deadline as a throw-in to the deal that sent D'Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley to LA for Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick. The bump to around $12 million per year maintains the depth around LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the front court, and at 24 this season, Vanderbilt maintains some upside to grow his offensive game. 

Miami/Philadelphia/Portland: The everlasting Damian Lillard trade saga continued when Lillard shared an Instagram post describing him as the next Miami Heat superstar, quickly deleting the tweet after NBA scrutiny increased on his efforts to guide himself to the Heat and cut off other trade contenders. Adam Silver expressed relief that public dialogue regarding Lillard and James Harden's trade requests calmed toward the later stage of the offseason, and maintained his stance that teams and players should resolve such matters behind the scenes. The league warned against and ultimately fined Harden for comments alluding to withholding service from a team. In Harden's case, holding out from training camp or games could disqualify him from free agency.

The Blazers increased efforts to organize a multi-team trade that suits their needs over the past two weeks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. If Lillard would embrace landing in Philadelphia, a larger trade could resolve the Harden and Lillard disputes in a three-team deal with the Clippers.

"Don't like (trade demands), as a league," Silver said. "I want players and teams to both honor their contracts. I'm watching everything going on in Portland and Philadelphia and hoping they get resolved to everyone's satisfaction. I'm glad it seems to have calmed down as far as public discourse."

Milwaukee: Giannis Antetokounmpo continued his preseason media tour with a podcast appearance that reiterated his comments to the New York Times that he would consider leaving the Bucks if it gave him the best chance to win a championship. Antetokounmpo will likely decline an opportunity to sign an extension this fall in favor of better terms next summer, but that'll fall one year short of his potential free agency in 2025. Antetokounmpo, famously reclusive in his offseason workouts, branched out to learn from NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwan, famous for his footwork and post moves, this summer. Khris Middleton appeared on J.J. Redick's podcast to talk about his health entering this season and challenges ahead for the Bucks.

"As long as we are in for a championship, as long as nobody's comfortable, as long as everybody's sacrificing the same amount of time and sweat and blood that I've sacrificed for this city to win a championship, we are all good," Antetokounmpo said. "The moment I feel like people are complacent and they're OK -- because at the end of the day, this is the NBA, you are taken care of. You stay in a five-star hotel, you eat the best food, lobsters. You go and ... drink wine. I don't drink, but you know. You get in a charter, your plane. On the 15th and the 1st, you get your paycheck. Everybody is comfortable. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No way, no way. By being comfortable, I cannot reach my full potential. As you guys have seen, every year I try to get better. Better every year. Every year. That's the approach I have for the game and that's the approach I have for life. I don't want to be comfortable. I want us to win another championship." 

Minnesota: In search of guard depth behind Mike Conley entering this season. The Timberwolves trade D'Angelo Russell for Conley in February to gain another year of reliable point guard play under contract and avoid free-agent negotiations with Russell. Now, kicking back that need maintains the position as the Wolves' biggest uncertainty with their other starting positions locked up. Conley should provide solid minutes, but enters this season at 36 after shooting 42.8% across the entirety of last season before getting hot upon arrival in Minnesota. Only Jordan McLaughlin backs him up.

New Orleans: Brandon Ingram will wait to engage in contract negotiations with the Pelicans until next summer following a disappointing World Cup stint with Team USA cut short by illness. Ingram is owed $33.8 million this season and $36.0 million next season before becoming a free agent in 2025. He'll become an intriguing test case for the league's new 65 games played rule for awards like All-NBA status, which Ingram needs to achieve to earn a super max contract, which the Pelicans may need to offer to retain him, similar to the Celtics' dilemma with Jaylen Brown. Ingram played in 45 games last year due to a toe injury and hasn't appeared in more than 65 games since his rookie season in 2016-17 with the Lakers. It's unsurprising now that Ingram's name appeared in conversations between the Hornets and Pelicans regarding the No. 2 pick in last year's draft.

New York: The Knicks face a hard deadline to complete a rookie extension with Immanuel Quickley following a season where he both appeared in trade rumors and later became the runner-up for sixth man of the year. Teams need to extend players entering the fourth and final year of their rookie deals by Oct. 24, though multiple reports point toward little substantive talks between the Knicks and Quickley to this point. Analysts expect Quickley to earn north of $80 million in his new deal, a bargain compared to some of the max-level scoring guards like Tyler Herro and Jordan Poole. 

Oklahoma City: The city of Oklahoma City unveiled an arena plan to keep the Thunder in town until 2050, proposing a $900-million stadium that the team committed to play in for at least 25 years. The deal is contingent on a one cent sales tax hike that voters will consider in December. The largely public-funded construction will receive $50 million from Thunder ownership. The Seattle Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City in 2008 following a stadium dispute in Washington, and have played in the 21-year-old Paycom Center since. The team's commitment to its new city ended this year, ramping up pressure on city leadership to draft an agreement to keep the team in town as cities like Seattle, Las Vegas and others chase NBA teams. Expansion will likely fill those vacancies in the future, while the Thunder can look forward to a future with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed long-term and a new arena by the 2029-30 season. The Oklahoman assessed the financing of the stadium compared to recent developments in other cities. 

Phoenix: Gave local fans new-age television antennas to watch Suns games over the air when the team transitions to local Gray Television-owned Arizona's Family. The Suns became the first team in any of the four major American sports leagues to move on from cable television in its new deal. Cable giant Bally Sports filed for bankruptcy, and held rights to a plethora of games, including those of 15 NBA teams, 12 MLB teams and 12 NHL teams that creates a vacuum for many teams that'll diminish the NBA cap over the short-term as the league tries to establish alternatives as Phoenix did. 

Sacramento: Waived Nerlens Noel and Neemias Queta before training camp, setting up a battle between recent addition Javale McGee and Alex Len for minutes backing up Domantas Sabonis. 

San Antonio: Rookie Victor Wembanyama immediately becomes a glaring exception to the league's new rule regarding load management, which only bans sitting stars qualified through all-star and All-NBA appearances. The Spurs could theoretically rest Wembanyama as often as they want given his rookie status, but he'll reportedly play often this year despite San Antonio holding limited potential to compete this season. Waived veteran guard Cam Payne after the Suns sent him along with a second-round pick to the Spurs in a salary dump. He's ineligible to return to Phoenix. 

Toronto: New Raptors guard Dennis Schröder took home tournament MVP honors after his German national team won the FIBA World Cup over Serbia last Sunday. Schröder, outside of a clunker against Latvia, dominated the tournament through the country's all-time upset of the US in the semifinals through the gold medal game as Schröder embraced the Noah Lyles-sparked debate about whether or not the NBA champion is truly the world champion. While Schröder's national team wasn't a team in the same sense as NBA rosters like the Raptors are, the World Cup did spark a burning desire among NBA stars, led by LeBron James, to court a dominant Olympic team next summer against what should be another competitive field by the world. The US failed to medal in the Philippines after their bronze medal loss to Canada in which numerous players including Jaren Jackson Jr. sat out. 

Schröder, who averaged 19.1 PPG and 6.1 APG on 43.5% FG in the World Cup, explained his decision to leave the Lakers for the Raptors. 

“I think Darko [Rajakovic], the head coach, this is his first year as a head coach as well. I met him five years ago in OKC. We became friends and I liked how he was coaching myself and the team and he called me right away. I definitely said to my agent I wanna be there, I wanna be part of that. I think it’s a great fit just to play like the national team type. Handle the ball a little bit more, go out and run, on the defensive end, active. I think it’s just a great fit.”

Washington: Re-signed veteran forward Taj Gibson to a one-year, $3.2 million deal. Former Celtic Mike Muscala, who Gibson will join in the Wizards' front court, caught up with CLNS Media and Boston Sports Journal to look back at his brief time in Boston after last year's trade deadline. 

"It was one of my favorite experiences playing basketball," he said.