Borrego on the Radar

The Knicks plan to interview another head coaching candidate. Plus, Round One of the Draft happened.

Good Morning! Just FYI that today’s newsletter is a bit on the shorter side. We were hearing for weeks that draft night would feature a ton of trades, so my plan was to react to all of that activity today. Instead, it was mostly crickets (with a few notable exceptions that I’ll get to in a bit). Tomorrow’s newsletter should be a bit more robust with the Knicks likely making a pick - currently slated for 50th - in round two. Let’s get started…

News & Notes

🏀 Per James Edwards III, the Knicks asked the Pelicans for permission to speak with assistant coach James Borrego and New Orleans gave them the OK.

Borrego is arguably the least glamorous name to be associated with the job thus far, with only two head coaching stops and no playoff appearances on his resume. Still, he’s probably worth our attention.

Like many coaches in the league today, Borrego honed his trade in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich, spending seven years as a Spurs assistant and winning two titles during his tenure. He then followed two Pop disciples to other jobs, first joining Monty Williams in New Orleans and then becoming Jacque Vaughn’s lead assistant with the Magic. When Vaughn got fired midway through his third year, he took over a 15-37 Orlando team and guided them to a 10-20 record down the stretch.

While not exactly an ideal situation to get one’s first taste of a head gig, Borrego was just 37 years old at the time. That he got the opportunity at all, even on an interim basis, says something about how prepared he was to take on that challenge. After the season ended, he returned to San Antonio for more seasoning and got his next chance at a top job three years later with the Hornets.

In Charlotte, Borrego lasted four seasons, bridging the gap between the end of the Kemba era and the start of the LaMelo Ball one. He improved over his predecessor Steve Clifford in year one, bottomed out in year two, and then made the play-in game in his years three and four before getting canned. In his last year, the Hornets finished over .500 for the only time in the last nine seasons thanks to the league’s 8th ranked offense and a positive net rating. They’ve averaged 23 wins in the three years since his departure.

It’s almost impossible to properly evaluate anyone’s performance in a situation like Charlotte, which has been the least successful organization in the NBA since they re-entered the league as the Bobcats 21 year ago. They’ve won just three playoff games in all that time, and it’s hard to look at Borego’s teams - especially given how the last few years have gone - and say that he underperformed.

And now, on the Jason Kidd front…