NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - James Borrego said he was both saddened and grateful Saturday (Nov. 15), after being elevated from an assistant role to that of the New Orleans Pelicans’ interim head coach.
“I’ll always remember this day,” Borrego told reporters after leading his first Pelicans practice. “You never know if you’re going to be back in this position, so I don’t take this lightly.”
Green, 44, was fired early Saturday, after a 2-10 start to the season left him with a five-year record of 150-190 as the Pelicans’ coach.
In steps Borrego, 48, who has a career record of 148-183 in a five-year run as an NBA head coach for the Orlando Magic (30 games in an interim role) and Charlotte Hornets (four seasons as head coach).
The Charlotte appointment in May 2018 made Borrego the first Latino head coach in the league’s 72-year history. Borrego was born and raised in the Duke City, Albuquerque, N.M. He played collegiately at the University of San Diego.
“I’ve learned a lot, I’ve grown a lot,” Borrego said of the 3½ years since he was fired by the Hornets. “There’s things I look back on in Charlotte that I’m proud of, and things we maybe could have done better. But I’m very comfortable with who I am as a coach. I feel comfortable in this role.
“Taking over at this time (12 games into the season) is not ideal. But I can lean on past experiences.”
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Borrego’s joy at regaining one of the 30 head coaching seats in the NBA, however, was tempered by the circumstances. He said he could relate all too well to what his predecessor was feeling Saturday.
“It’s a tough day,” Borrego said. “I’ve sat in that seat. I’ve been fired before. It’s tough to see someone you care about, someone who helped you and believed in you, to be let go. It’s something that falls on all of us, but unfortunately it falls on the head coach.
“But now, it’s time to move forward. There’s a lot of basketball still to be played.”
When Pelicans executive vice president for basketball operations Joe Dumars explained his reasoning for firing Green earlier Saturday, he said his chief complaint wasn’t so much the team’s dismal 2-10 record, but that he failed to see the team establishing any sort of positive identity.
“We have to establish who we want to be here in New Orleans going forward, and I just wasn’t seeing that happening,” Dumars said. “I did not see us establishing anything as far as who we’re going to be.”
Borrego picked up the reins and immediately began speaking of establishing an identity in line with the Pelicans’ home city of New Orleans.
“It’s our community,” Borrego said. “It’s resilient. It’s tough. It’s aggressive. It’s about trusting each other and moving the ball, that’s what I want to see. But at its core, this group has to find an identity built around a competitive spirit. There’s a group of men in that locker room that are capable of doing this.”
Borrego said it was too early to discuss potential changes he wants to make in the Pels’ starting lineup or playing time, but the first peeks into his preference will come Sunday at 6 p.m., when the team hosts Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors at the Smoothie King Center.
“I think everything is on the table right now,” he said of possible lineup changes. “It’s just a very fluid situation right now. There’s tools there to play with, and I’ve got to figure that out.”
Borrego, echoing forward Trey Murphy III earlier in the day, asked Pelicans fans to not give up on the team, because he plans to preach accountability and the team remains unified.
“This is not a splintered group,” he said. “They like each other, they like being around each other, it’s a connected group.
“It’s a talented roster that’s together. I’ll take my chances with that.”
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