Is James Borrego On The Hot Seat In Charlotte?
After years of being a meh coach, James Borrego is feeling the weight of expectations. With Charlotte struggling, is Borrego on the hot seat?
Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports
The Charlotte Hornets are one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. With Lamelo Ball and Miles Bridges leading the way, gravity-defying antics are frequent. The leader of Cape Canaveral is James Borrego, a disciple of the Gregg Popovich coaching tree.
Borrego can be best described as unexceptional. He’s coached 274 games with Charlotte, winning just 45% of them. The last two seasons have seen the Hornets improve, but I’m not telling you a secret when I say that Borrego isn’t a top-tier coach in the NBA.
After a hot start to the season, the Hornets have slowed down. Their elite offense has become sluggish, leading to their crappy defense losing them games. The Hornets have won just two games in their last nine tries.
The young Hornets are growing restless. It’s not an understatement to say that Borrego is losing the locker room. Under the weight of expectations for the first time, Borrego and the Hornets are buckling.
What Is Going On With The Offense?
The one thing Borrego is good at is offense. Charlotte’s offense has remained elite for months. A roster filled with trigger-happy scorers will do that for you. Over the last nine games, however, things have been rough.
| Hornets Offense First 46 Games | Hornets Offense Last 9 Games |
| 112.4 ORtg (3rd) | 106.4 ORtg (26th) |
| 114.6 PPG (2nd) | 107.1 PPG (23rd) |
| 46.2% FG (11th) | 43.6% FG (26th) |
The reason the Hornets offense has fallen off a cliff is simple. They aren’t as lucky as they once were.
The Luck of the Draw
I’ve talked about this with the Knicks before. NBA teams allow and shoot a lot of open shots. Depending on how many you make, it can drastically change your offensive/defensive output.
For the Hornets, they haven’t been able to hit the same open shots they were hitting all year long. That’s the main reason why their offense has gone from one of the best to one of the worst.
| First 46 Games (Lucky) | Last 9 Games (Unlucky) |
| 37.5% FG when Open (12th) | 33.3% FG when Open (27th) |
| 35.3% 3-PT when Open (9th) | 29.5% 3-PT when Open (27th) |
| 41.4% FG when Wide-Open (5th) | 31.0% FG when Wide-Open (30th) |
| 40.1% 3-PT when Wide-Open (4th) | 32.0% FG when Wide-Open (28th) |
Wide Open: Closest Defender is 6+ Feet Away
Charlotte is simply not making the same amount of threes when they’re open anymore. They’re not getting fewer attempts at these open looks. They’re just missing them.
The Hornets shot 9/40 from outside against the Raptors. That’s not very good (but you knew that.)
Losing The Locker Room
With Charlotte struggling, non-basketball issues have followed. It’s not unusual for younger teams to have behavior issues. Charlotte hasn’t dealt with that likely because they were winning. Winning is the solution for every NBA problem, ever.
Now that they’re losing? The Hornets haven’t been subtle in voicing their displeasure.
LaMelo Got Benched?
On February 5th, the Hornets got blown out by the Heat. After a close first half, Charlotte scored just eight points in the 3rd quarter. They scored a season-low 86 points.
Lamelo Ball, Charlotte’s best player, played just 22 minutes during this game. Ball played just 6:17 in the 3rd quarter before being subbed out. While other Hornets stars like Miles Bridges, Terry Rozier, and Kelly Oubre remained in the game, Ball watched from the bench.
It’s one thing to sub out the entire starting lineup in a blowout. But just your best player? That doesn’t make sense.
LaMelo likely doesn’t hold anything against Borrego, but that’s not the point. Given the situation he’s in, maybe don’t bench your best player? Just food for thought.
The James Bouknight Argument
While the first incident was minute, this is more serious. It’s been a surprisingly long time since we’ve seen an incident like this. We’ve seen a few minor arguments during timeouts, but that doesn’t count. Those, for the most part, are heat of the moment arguments.
The James Bouknight scuffle was not heat of the moment. Bouknight was the 11th pick last year. He is the Malik Monk replacement, somebody who can score in bunches. I figured he was guaranteed minutes.
Instead, he’s played just 25 games this season and 250 minutes overall. There are bound to be frustrations when a lottery pick has played that sparingly. I’m going to assume that’s what this is;
Bouknight’s playing situation was the reason for this dispute. Miles Bridges had to come out of the game to check for an injury. Bouknight played a measly 14 seconds before Bridges returned. You can see where this is going.
Sorry Rodney King, We Can’t All Just Get Along
I’m not saying Bouknight is in the right for lashing out like this (he’s not), but this situation doesn’t look good. You couldn’t have picked a worse time for this to happen. After the game, Borrego said this;
As I’ve said before he’s in a tough spot, Borrego said. He obviously wants to play. I get that. I understand that. Look, he’s a kid that we believe in, we trust in, and we are going to find more minutes for him, more time. So I won’t get into specifics. Just two competitors trying to help this team.”
It seems like an empty statement, given how little the rookie has played this season. This situation could make Charlotte’s quagmire worsen. When a team’s grievances are aired out, people will pick a side. Perhaps not out loud, by everybody will have an opinion about it.
Lamelo Ball and Miles Bridges preached that the team “loved each other.” But there’s no denying this drama will ruffle some feathers in the locker room.
Hell, Miles Bridges, later during his presser, said this;
Everybody’s been through it, Bridges said. When I was a rookie I wanted to play. And he’s very talented and he’s not getting in the game like he wants to. But I’m trying to explain to him that everybody’s been through that. I went through that. Melo’s been through that and he was rookie of the year. So he’s good. I talked to him. He’s good and the Coach is good. So everything is good.
This quote will make the entire situation resolved, right?
James Borrego Might Be On His Way Out
The Hornets are facing the worst of it right now. Their level of play is deteriorating by the day. They are in danger of missing the play-in tournament and their chances of avoiding the play-in tournament have all but vanished.
James Borrego’s team isn’t responding well to this adversity. That could change, but there doesn’t seem like an immediate end to this slide. Borrego isn’t a top-level coach who could survive this type of turmoil.
I’m aware they gave him a multi-year extension, but the Hornets have playoff expectations. They have a young, All-Star on the rise. They have the talent to make the playoffs, but they continue to disappoint us. This team is just three games ahead of the Washington Wizards. The Wizards.
Last year in the play-in tournament, this team got run over by the Pacers. Are we sure that Borrego is not only a good enough coach to righten the ship but to also get them in the right headspace? Is there any recovering from the Bouknight incident?
Borrego is slowly entering the hot-seat range for coaches. He’s not sitting on fire like Del Griffith, but he’s close. A few more missteps and Charlotte could have a new coach next season.
(Please by Kenny Atkinson)
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