CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Charlotte Hornets have named Charles Lee as their next head coach.
The 39-year-old Lee joins the Hornets after serving as the Boston Celtics top assistant coach. Lee will complete the Celtics’ playoff run before joining the Hornets on a full-time basis. Lee spent five seasons under Mike Budenholzer before joining the Celtics last summer.
Lee replaces Steve Clifford, who announced before the end of the regular season that he was stepping down as Hornets coach after two seasons in his second stint with the club. The Hornets finished 21-61 this season, tied with the Portland Trail Blazers for the league’s third-worst record.
“The Hornets have a talented young core of players and I’m excited about our future and what we can build here," Lee said. "There are few places as passionate about basketball as the Carolinas, and I look forward to coming to Charlotte and getting to work.”
Lee inherits a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in the last eight seasons, the longest drought in the league. Charlotte hasn’t won a playoff series in 22 years, a stretch that included more than a decade with NBA great Michael Jordan as the owner.
Jordan sold the Hornets to Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin last year.
The co-owners have been busy since, replacing general manager Mitch Kupchak — who also stepped down — with Jeff Peterson.
Lee will work alongside Peterson to oversee a rebuild.
“His high character and his ability to connect with players while also instilling a culture of accountability will serve us well as we construct a competitive team built for long-term success,” Peterson said in a release. “Charles possesses a championship pedigree with a wide range of basketball knowledge and NBA experience, has a tremendous work ethic and is a great communicator. He shares our vision for this organization, and I look forward to partnering with him in building something special here in the Carolinas.”
The Hornets traded Gordon Hayward to Oklahoma City, Terry Rozier to Miami and P.J. Washington to Dallas before the deadline in moves that brought Tre Mann, Vasa Micic, Grant Williams, Seth Curry and Davis Bertans to Charlotte.
The Hornets have some young talent to build around, including last year's No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller, 2022 All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball and center Mark Williams, although the latter two have struggled to stay on the court because of injuries. Miller averaged 17.3 points per game as a rookie while shooting 37% from 3-point range.
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FILE - Then-Milwaukee Bucks associate head coach Charles Lee gestures during the first half of the team's NBA preseason basketball game against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022, in Chicago. The Charlotte Hornets have named Charles Lee as their next head coach. The 39-year-old Lee joins the Hornets after serving as the Boston Celtics top assistant coach. Lee will complete the Celtics’ playoff run before joining the Hornets on a full-time basis.(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faced a hearing Monday in the High Court in London that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or could provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.
The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to assurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange’s rights won’t be trampled if he goes on trial.
In March, two judges rejected the bulk of Assange's arguments but said he could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.
The court said that if Assange, who is an Australian citizen, couldn’t rely on the First Amendment then it was arguable his extradition would be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which also provides free speech and media protections.
The U.S. has provided those reassurances, though Assange's legal team and supporters argue they are not good enough to rely on to send him to the U.S. federal court system.
The U.S. said Assange could seek to rely on the rights and protections of the First Amendment but that a decision on that would ultimately be up to a judge. In the past, the U.S. said it would argue at trial that Assange is not entitled to the constitutional protection because he is not a U.S. citizen.
“The U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. "The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism.”
Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.
Commuters emerging from a Tube stop near the courthouse couldn’t miss a large sign bearing Assange’s photo and the words, “Publishing is not a crime. War crimes are.” Scores of supporters gathered outside the neo-Gothic Royal Courts of Justice chanting “Free Julian Assange” and “Press freedom, Assange freedom.”
Some held a large white banner aimed at President Joe Biden, exhorting: “Let him go Joe.”
Assange's lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said any sentence would likely be much shorter.
Assange’s family and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, which includes seven years spent inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 until 2019. He has spent the past five years in a British high-security prison.
Assange’s lawyers argued in February that he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”
The U.S. government says Assange's actions went way beyond those of a journalist gathering information, amounting to an attempt to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified government documents.
If Assange prevails Monday, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to extend what has already been a long legal saga.
If the court accepts the word of the U.S., it would mark the end of Assange’s legal challenges in the U.K., though it’s unclear what would immediately follow.
His legal team is prepared to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.
Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson may also postpone issuing a decision.
If Assange loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.
Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.
Officials provided no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign” and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.
FILE - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court, where he appeared on charges of jumping British bail seven years ago, in London, Wednesday May 1, 2019. Assange faces what could be his final court hearing in England over whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US
London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US
