The New Orleans Pelicans fan base received tremendous news today as SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley reported that the Knicks won't be stealing Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego. The 47-year-old will not be joining Mike Brown's staff in New York and instead will stay in New Orleans, where he's held in high regard. However, Borrego staying with the Pelicans means Willie Green's tenure may soon come to an end.
It's been exactly two weeks since Shams Charania reported that the New York Knicks were planning on interviewing Borrego for their head coaching opening. After that, New York pivoted and hired Mike Brown as their head coach, but still tried to lure Borrego to the Knicks as an assistant. However, with this latest report from Begley, it appears the rumors surrounding Borrego can be laid to rest. Or can they?
With Joe Dumars retooling the Pelicans into a group that appears to prioritize offense over defense, a coaching change could be on the horizon. Green has been in charge of the Pels for 4 seasons now and has never brought this group to any playoff success. This could mean his margin for error as head coach this season is small, and we could see him get fired if the Pelicans struggle in the first 10 to 20 games of this season.
With the Green being a defensive-minded coach, I'm starting to doubt he'll be able to get the most out of this Pelicans group. Borrego, however, has been praised as an offensive genius around the league for years.
Borrego could unlock this group's full potential
Borrego spent a four-year stint (2018 to 2022) as the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. During this time the Hornets put together some horrible rosters. Despite that, he was able to get the most out of what he had, and in his first season there, they had the NBA's 12th-best offensive rating.
Borrego had the Hornets' offense prioritize shooting the three-point ball by taking threes over twos, which was something not entirely popularized at the time. He is exceptionally open-minded and constantly experiments with new things. In his first year with the Pelicans, he jumped from the 21st to the 11th offensive rating, which is remarkable, considering there were no significant roster changes between those two seasons.
When looking at how much of a hot commodity Borrego has been around the league the past 3 seasons, he likely won't make it another offseason cycle without being named some team's head coach. This spells disaster for Willie Green, and he can thank the New York Knicks for that. As if they decided to hire Borrego instead of Brown, he would have had much more job security. Instead, he now has someone on his staff posing as a threat to steal his job.