Blaine Mueller Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kemba Walker Returns To Hornets In Coaching Role

July 3rd, 2024 at 1:18pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets have officially announced Charles Lee‘s staff for the new head coach’s first season in Charlotte, and the group includes one particularly notable name. According to a press release, former Hornets star Kemba Walker has been hired as a player enhancement coach.

Walker officially announced his retirement as a player on Tuesday and wasted no time transitioning into the next stage of his career. He hinted in Tuesday’s announcement that a new job in the NBA might be coming, writing, “Basketball will forever be a part of my life so this isn’t goodbye. I’m excited for what’s next.”

The ninth overall pick in the 2011 draft, Walker became the Hornets’ full-time starting point guard in his second NBA season and maintained that role through the 2018/19 campaign. He earned three All-Star berths and averaged 19.8 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.8 rebounds in 34.1 minutes per game across 605 total regular season games during his time in Charlotte before leaving for Boston in a sign-and-trade in 2019.

Lee is a former Celtics assistant, but his time in Boston didn’t overlap with Walker’s.

Most of the rest of Lee’s staff has been previously reported. It includes assistant coaches Lamar Skeeter, Josh Longstaff, Chris Jent, Blaine Mueller, Ryan Frazier, Matt Hill, and Jermaine Bucknor, the Hornets confirmed.

Zach Peterson has been hired as an assistant coach and director of player development, while Zeke Chapman has been named head video coordinator.

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Outlaw, Caporn, Heat, Jovic

June 24th, 2024 at 10:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Not only did the Hornets have a head coaching change, the entire staff has been overhauled, Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer reports.

As previously noted here, Lamar Skeeter, Chris Jent and Josh Longstaff have been hired away from other organizations to head up Charles Lee‘s staff with the Hornets. They’ll be joined by Ryan Frazier, Zach Peterson, Matt Hill and Blaine Mueller, according to Boone. The training staff is also undergoing changes, as the Hornets have decided to part ways with longtime director of health care and sports performance Joe Sharpe.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

In more coaching news, J.J. Outlaw, who spent the last three seasons as a Cavaliers assistant coach, and Adam Caporn, who spent the last two seasons as a Nets assistant, are strong candidates to join Brian Keefe‘s Wizards staff, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets.
The Heat own the No. 15 pick in the draft and The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang takes a deep dive into the prospects that might be available at that spot. The list is comprehensive, omitting only those prospects who seems likely to go in the top 10.
If finding another shooter is a priority, Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham, Duke guard Jared McCain, Colorado’s Tristan de Silva and the University of Miami’s Kyshawn George are potential targets with the Heat‘s first-rounder, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
In a separate draft-related piece, Winderman notes that virtually every position on the Heat roster could use a boost, with only shooting guard currently having enough quality depth.
Nikola Jovic suffered a postseason left ankle sprain and he’s still in recovery mode, which makes the Heat forward’s status for Serbia’s pre-Olympic matchups uncertain. “I’m doing great,” he told Mozzartsport, as relayed by BasketNews. “The injury I got is getting better, the swelling is almost gone. But we’ll wait a few more days for the control scan and after that we’ll see how things are. Honestly, I’m not 100% sure that I’ll play, but I really believe in it.