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The Boston Celtics continue to bolster their coaching staff behind head coach Joe Mazzulla. Last week, Boston added veteran assistant Sam Cassell to the staff, and now they're also finalizing a deal to hire Charles Lee as their lead assistant coach under Mazzulla, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. Lee has been an assistant in the NBA since 2014 and he had coached under Mike Budenholzer that entire time. He coached the Atlanta Hawks from 2014 to 2018 and spent the past five seasons in Milwaukee with the Bucks

Lee is a highly regarded assistant coach, and he was a finalist for the head coaching gigs with the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors in recent weeks. Both teams ultimately ended up going in different directions, which left Lee available to sign with the Celtics. 

After they lost to the Miami Heat in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals, there was some speculation that the Celtics could look to move on from Mazzulla, but they've decided to strengthen the staff around him instead. Last week, Celtics general manager Brad Stevens confirmed that he feels Mazzulla is the right guy for the job. 

"Yeah, I think he is [the best head coach for this team]," Stevens said of Mazzulla at a press conference. "I thought he did a really good job with this group. Everybody's going to overreact to the best players and coaches after every game. That's always the way it is. We know that going in, so we have to be able to judge things on the whole."   

Mazzulla took over as head coach of the Celtics suddenly -- and with no prior experience -- when the team suspended Ime Udoka shortly before the 2022-23 season started. Mazzulla, 34 and the youngest head coach in the league, had to learn how to coach at the highest level on the fly while leading a team with legitimate championship aspirations. Given those circumstances, Stevens was impressed with what he saw from the rookie coach. 

"I think when you consider the position he was thrust into and the overall accomplishments of the group, I thought he did a really good job," Stevens said. "I mean, when you look at it, in the big picture, and having a team that was second in offense, second in defense, won 57 games and has a chance to go to the NBA Finals on your home court, you know, there's a lot of direction and organization that goes into that. I thought that he did a good job."  

With some experience under his belt and an improved coaching staff behind him, the Celtics will be expecting big things out of Mazzulla moving forward, starting with next season.