Charlotte Hornets’ James Borrego on needs, draft and terrible timing for season’s halt
The interruption of the NBA season couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Charlotte Hornets.
The Hornets never played better this season than the eight-game span leading up to the league shutting down March 11, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. They beat three playoff teams (at Toronto, home against Houston, at Miami) and put a scare into the Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks. They were top-11 in that span, among 30 NBA teams, in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Beyond the numbers, they just looked different: Not intimidated by teams of greater experience and talent.
“It’s frustrating that we can’t continue to see that growth and development,” Hornets coach James Borrego said Wednesday in a conference call with Charlotte media. “If we do get (the season back), we need to hit the ground running, get back to playing that kind of basketball.”
What was different in the two weeks between back-to back wins over New York and Toronto in late February and the 20-point comeback in Miami on March 11?
“We just looked like we could stand toe-to-toe with those teams, athletically and with our length. When I look at those eight games, I say, ‘We belong in those games.’ It didn’t look like we were out-manned, outmatched,” Borrego said.
“We were defending, we were moving the ball, we were athletic. We were attacking the rim.”
Having said that, Borrego isn’t deluding himself; when the season suddenly stopped, the Hornets were 23-42, with the sixth-fewest wins in the East and all but out of the playoff chase. Over the past six weeks, Charlotte’s second-year coach scouted his team, collectively and player-by-player. He has also studied potential draft picks and free agents the Hornets might target in the offseason, whenever that starts.
That self-scouting reinforced a huge flaw:
“We need defensive rebounding. Even in that stretch, where we were 10th defensively in the league, we were still very low in our defensive-rebounding percentage. That has to get better. That’s an area we will address,” Borrego said.
When the season ended, the Hornets were last in the NBA in defensive-rebound ratio. It’s hard to get stops, even if you’re defending well, if you can’t regularly get possession off the other team’s misses.
Borrego hit on several topics during a 20-minute interview:
Needs
The Hornets will have a top-10 draft pick and abundant salary-cap room once the offseason begins. Borrego detailed what areas need addressing:
▪ Rim-protection (They are 21st in shots blocked): “Protecting the rim. That may need to be addressed in an area other than player-development,” Borrego said. The Hornets have only one center, Cody Zeller, under contract beyond this season. Bismack Biyombo and Willy Hernangomez will be free agents.
▪ Another playmaker. Borrego specifically mentioned a taller perimeter player who could help guards Devonte Graham and Terry Rozier. “I think Devonte made a major step in (creating) for others and create his own shot,” Borrego said. “We’re looking for that at the wing: A playmaker with size that can see over the defense, that can finish at the rim.”
▪ More shooters: The Hornets are 23rd in field-goal percentage and 13th in 3-point percentage. “In my system, we can never have enough shooting,” Borrego said. “That’s something we will continue to address because that makes the game easier for everybody.”
Prospect of season resuming
Like everyone in the NBA, Borrego doesn’t know whether the season will resume, or whether the league might go straight into playoffs.
“I think we could still see basketball this season. Could we still play 17 games (to get to a full) 82? I don’t know,” Borrego said.
Player development in pandemic
Borrego said the current situation is different from when the NBA was in past lockouts. Then, players couldn’t interact with coaches, but still had access to gyms and weight-training. In the pandemic, each player’s access to exercise equipment is different.
“I’m challenging them mentally right now; giving them some things to watch,” said Borrego, who had the players analyze the 2012 playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets.
“Obviously, their bodies are a different thing — I don’t have a lot of control over that right now” with team training facilities closed, he said. “We’re trying to keep them engaged physically, but a lot of them are limited — they live in apartments, they don’t have access to a ton of equipment.”
Self-scouting
With a schedule that can include up to four games in a week, Borrego is constantly preparing for the next opponent. The sudden pause to the season redirected him.
“Dissecting each player individually,” Borrego said of what he’s doing at home. “I’ve really slowed down over the last month, to look at each individual: ‘What did they do well? What type of player are they right now? And where can I take them?’ ”
Draft. free-agency
Borrego is increasingly looking ahead to draft candidates and the 2020 free-agent class.
“A lot of these (draft prospects) I just haven’t had a chance to watch. I don’t watch a ton of college or international basketball during the season,” Borrego said. “This is where we turn our franchise. Mitch (Kupchak, the general manager) is hitting and hitting at a high level (in the draft). He wants my opinion, values my opinion.”
The Hornets will have abundant salary-cap space for the first time since Kupchak and Borrego arrived in Charlotte in the spring of 2018. While Kupchak doesn’t anticipate being a big player in 2020 free agency, the Hornets have flexibility to make signings and trades.
“As I study ourselves, I can also study these upcoming free agents,” Borrego said. “At the right time, I’ll sit down with Mitch and talk through the draft and free agency; how they would fit in our system.”
