Charlotte Hornets: Will James Borrego Survive the 2019-20 Season?
By Aaron Khor
James Borrego has officially entered his second season as the man in charge of the Charlotte Hornets. It would be fair to say a lot of Hornets fans disagreed (strongly disagreed) with how the first-year coach was running his team.
The thing that bugged Charlotte Hornets fans the most during his first season was his player rotations. They were never consistent. Malik Monk was constantly sitting on the bench, and Miles Bridges wasn’t inserted into the starting line-up until it was almost too late.
But the thing that irked Hornets fans the most was the $24 million, 9.3 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assist man, Nicolas Batum. Absolutely no one (and I mean NO ONE) could figure out why the heck he was receiving any minutes except maybe for the fact the Hornets didn’t want to waste money on the bench.
I want to be fair to Coach James Borrego and say Batum provided some playmaking at the wing position, and when he did shoot, it did seem to go down (38.9% from 3). Coaches are also coaches for a reason and see things we fans don’t get to see. So for James’ sake, I really do hope there was a legitimate reason for playing Batum significant minutes.
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It was still disappointing to see Nic’s name on the starters sheet every night, especially when we all wanted to unleash Miles Bridges.
So does James Borrego have what it takes to survive the 2019-20 season?
The upcoming season is going to be significantly more challenging than the first. He doesn’t just not have Kemba Walker, but he now has a lot of players who need developing. Players who will be prone to making bad decisions and settling into poor habits. The Hornets are projected to win around the 23 game mark.
This year has an entirely different flavor to the Hornets games. From game one in the preseason, we saw a significant uptick in the pace they were playing with. This also came with a huge increase in turnovers. But it was nice to see James mix up the style to complement the younger legs the projected starting line-up will have.
The major thing the front office will be looking for this season is player development. Undoubtedly so. Mitch Kupchak has already stated that he doesn’t expect the Hornets to be a major player in the upcoming free-agent season (reported by NBA.com). So this means his focus is on developing what we have.
Will James Borrego provide our young guns with the means and necessary development opportunities to thrive? I think the more important question is whether or not James is actually the correct head coach to be providing this player development to the young core.
Look around the league, what kind of coaches are typically employed to develop players? Ex-NBA players. Scott Brooks, Jason Kidd, Nate McMillan, and Doc Rivers (to be fair, Doc is actually just a great coach). The list goes on.
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James Borrego is a late second-tier coach we should be willing to be patient with. He will survive his second year in charge of the Charlotte Hornets. But I firmly believe he is not the right man to lead the team, especially if we want to see the best of out the likes of Terry Rozier, Dwayne Bacon, Miles Bridges, and PJ Washington.
If the front office is smart, they would be looking to employ a new head coach with a focus on development as soon as possible. I mean, Kobe Bryant is out there (maybe this is wishful thinking). But Jason Kidd (currently an assistant on the Los Angeles Lakers), I am sure would be eyeing an opportunity to sit at the helm again.
Jason Kidd had an NBA career many players can only dream of. He was elected to 10 All-Star games, comes in at number 2 in all-time assists and steals, and topped off his stellar career with an NBA championship.
He would come into the locker room and immediately have the respect of the players. He has the basketball IQ to develop our players and truly gets the best out of them.
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Dreaming of a head coach such as Jason Kidd, comes for free. But it is now up to James Borrego and the front office to put in the work and accelerate the player development. The challenge has been set, and only time will tell what fruit Borrego is able to produce.