James Borrego’s young Hornets roster reached its tipping point — and that’s a good sign
Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego set a course this season that isn’t easy to navigate:
Lean to more minutes to young guys without awarding playing time that isn’t earned.
Tuesday, Borrego leaned harder than usual, and it worked: With a rotation almost entirely of the kids, the Hornets broke an eight-game losing streak with a 97-92 victory over the New York Knicks.
There are four players on this roster with seven or more full seasons of NBA experience. Three of them — Nicolas Batum, Bismack Biyombo and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — didn’t play at all Tuesday. The fourth, Marvin Williams, played 18 minutes off the bench.
That made room for Malik Monk to play 23, Willy Hernangomez to play 19 and rookie Cody Martin to log 18. I don’t know that every game going forward will look like this, but Borrego’s rotation Tuesday felt like a statement.
He told me in September that contracts, salary or how highly a player was drafted weren’t his concern; that this season he’d play whoever he thought earned it, with young guys getting the nod in close calls. That’s how he’s run things the first half of the season.
There will be games in March and April so distant from any playoff race that finding ways to improve the young guys might be the only constructive purpose. The challenge, Borrego said post-game Tuesday, is maintaining a balance between player-development and accountability.
“Just to give guys minutes is not how we’re going to do this,” Borrego said. “We’ve got to continue to make guys earn minutes — to play the right way.”
Bigger picture
Particularly at the NBA level, where often players make more money and have more job security, a coach’s only real power is playing time. You send messages about performance with who you do and do not play.
The Hornets walked into this home game not having won since Jan. 4 in Dallas. Borrego hasn’t been afraid to shake things up in his 1 1/2 seasons as Hornets coach. Tuesday, that meant playing Hernangomez extensively as the backup center, and he delivered with 12 points and a season-high 10 rebounds. It meant playing Martin for his defense, even when he wasn’t scoring (five points on 2 of 6 shooting).
It meant sitting Batum, Biyombo and Kidd-Gilchrist, who combine to make more than $55 million this season. Borrego has the blessing of his bosses — general manager Mitch Kupchak and team owner Michael Jordan — to take this approach, and he’s stuck by it.
The trick is playing with an eye to next season and beyond, without turning professional basketball into intramurals.
“That’s my greatest challenge every game. The competitor in all of us is trying to win the game. Yet there is a bigger picture here in mind, as well,” Borrego said.
“It’s not a perfect science, and by no means am I doing it perfectly.”
Class acts
He’s fortunate that his roster is full of classy veterans who understand what he’s trying to accomplish. I’ve written before how Williams and Batum go out of their way not be bad teammates or bad examples for the young guys.
That makes the interpersonal aspect of this easier, but it’s still on Borrego to make the tough choices between the here-and-now and the future.
“Constantly,” Borrego replied, when I asked how much this is on his mind.
“I go back and I watch the film. I could have done probably 15 or 20 things differently tonight... if I’m critiquing myself and others, there are ways I can strike that balance in a cleaner way.
“But as the battle goes on, you just have to react with your gut and your instinct and your experience.”
From what I saw Tuesday, that gut will keep reminding him to play the kids more all spring.
“Trying to get these guys reps, experience, because there’s bigger picture out there. To do that, we’ve got to still do that the right way — playing with urgency and giving a collective effort.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 12:08 AM.
