Do you remember when the New Orleans Pelicans employed both Bryson Graham and James Borrego? You probably tried to forget it because it was the disastrous 2024-2025 season.
This was Graham’s last season with the Pelicans after starting with the team as an intern in 2010. He finished his tenure in New Orleans as the Pelicans’ general manager in 2024-2025 before becoming the Chicago Bulls' executive vice president of basketball operations.
That same year was James Borrego’s first season with the Pelicans as their associate head coach. It was this season that the Pelicans managed just 21 wins with 61 losses. Not good.
The Pelicans would go on this past season to have yet another dreadful year, managing just 26 wins. Willie Green started as the head coach but was fired after a disastrous 2-10 start.
Borrego took over as head coach, and while the team looked and played much better, they still just managed to go 24-46 the rest of the way.
Rumor connects Bulls with Borrego
According to Jake Fischer, the Bulls plan on interviewing Borrego for their head coaching vacancy. Based on Graham and Borrego’s recent results, together the Bulls may want to avoid a reunion.
My assumption would be that Bulls fans want their team to do better than last year, when they won just 31 games. If so, they may want to start with a head coach that has a better track record than Borrego.
It’s hard to judge Graham’s time with the Pelicans because it wasn’t publicly known who was behind what draft picks, signings, and trades.
Either way, it’s important to remember just how bad the Pelicans have been in the last couple of seasons. Hiring Borrego to be their new head coach spells disaster for the Bulls. There are plenty of head coaching candidates with better records than Borrego.
One potential problem with Graham is that he spent most of his front office career with New Orleans and worked just one year as the senior vice president of basketball operations for the Atlanta Hawks last season. Graham doesn't have much experience outside the Pelicans organization.
Now that I think of it, Borrego may be the best option when you consider the other head coaches Graham has worked with during his time in New Orleans. We aren’t exactly talking about a Hall of Fame group.
Monty Williams, Alvin Gentry, Stan Van Gundy, and Willie Green round out the list of Pelicans head coaches since Graham started in New Orleans in 2010.
If the Bulls are looking to get better, they should probably avoid Borrego. Next thing you know, sources are going to be saying Graham is going to speak with Willie Green about their head coaching vacancy. Now that would definitely be a disaster.
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