Charlotte Hornets use G League to mine for ‘diamonds in the rough.’ But that’s not all
It was Wednesday afternoon, less than a week away from the conclusion of the NBA regular season, and the head coach who’s leading one of the most exciting Charlotte Hornets squads in years was getting asked about another team.
A G League team, specifically.
And he couldn’t get enough.
Wednesday evening, after all, the G League affiliate of the Hornets, the Greensboro Swarm, played in Game 1 of the G League finals in the Novant Health Fieldhouse. And Charles Lee was fired up. He’d already called Swarm head coach DJ Bakker to ask him how he was doing, how he felt. He’d already decided he wasn’t making the trip to Greensboro — he didn’t want to distract any players from such a big game — but he scheduled time to watch the game on TV. In a 10-minute interview, he was about as effusive as one can be about a team you don’t coach.
And it wasn’t just lip service. It was substantial — and real.
“They need to recognize that they are part of our organization,” Lee told The Charlotte Observer. “They are part of the fabric of everything we do.”
For most of the pretty-much sold-out — and remarkably loud — crowd in the arena in Greensboro on Wednesday night, it was a chance to see Hornets second-round draft pick rookie Liam McNeely. Or a chance to see No. 6 overall pick in 2025, Tidjane Salaün, as the focal point of the offense. Or just a fun night with the family — an up-close-and-personal, practically courtside seat to a basketball game replete with players hurtling toward their NBA dreams.
But for the Hornets organization, it meant a glimpse of the future. The G League is the developmental league of the NBA — the minor leagues with certain teams directly affiliated with the top team. Like the Charlotte Knights to the Chicago White Sox. And it’s no secret that the Hornets have benefited from the Swarm. Moussa Diabate was signed on a two-way contract in 2024; now he’s part of one of the most efficient starting fives in the NBA. A core of Charlotte’s Summer League Championship team this summer was built with young Hornets and many of these Greensboro players — including guard Jaylen Sims, wing DJ Rodman, Salaün and McNeely.
Although Lee opted to not watch in person Wednesday, other Hornets representatives sat courtside. That included co-owner Rick Schnall, who in his third season as owner is watching his team ascend to a 43-37 record and is locked into at least the play-in game with two games remaining. That included Hornets guard Brandon Miller, who is averaging 20.2 points, five rebounds and 3.4 assists in his third season in the league. That also included Hornets royalty and assistant coach Kemba Walker sitting baseline, dapping players up as they rumbled by in layup lines.
Why the contingent? Why the buy-in? Lee said it’s in his DNA — it’s something previous NBA champion head coaches for whom he was an assistant repeated ad infinitum, from Mike Budenholzer to Joe Mazzulla in Boston.
It’s also practical.
“It’s one of the things I love most,” Lee said. “I miss sometimes (being) the assistant coach because you don’t get out there and do as many of the player development drills as head coach. And G League’s player development is just so important.
“That’s how you can help players get better as people, on the court. And then also in the current landscape of even just like the finances and all the front office stuff, if you can hit on some of these diamonds in the rough, it does wonders for your team development and roster development.”
Those who can best feel that support is the Swarm itself. Bakker, the Swarm head coach, said he can feel how much the Swarm is a holistic developmental organization — it’s one that tries to elevate the potential of the players as much as the coaches. Bakker also said the best part of being part of the Hornets is that he never needs to convince his players of how important an enterprise this is; Lee takes care of the bulk of that.
“He’s made my job easy,” Bakker said of Lee, a few hours before the Swarm’s 111-107 win over the Stockton Kings. Game 2 is at Stockton, California, at 10 p.m. Friday. “Because when we do get two-way or assignments, I don’t have to waste any time trying to explain to them how important this is, or how valuable this is. They’ve already heard it from him. So by the time that they get to me, I just gotta coach them. And try to do my job at a high level.”
The players can feel the support, too. One player who stood out Wednesday was McNeely, who notched a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double. McNeely has played in a lot of big games in his basketball career — he played in another one Wednesday.
“It was really fun,” McNeely said. “Greensboro definitely showed out. I don’t know if it was sold out, but it was really loud.”
Another way the Swarm and the Hornets are aligned this year:
It’s been really loud in Charlotte all season, too.
