How James Borrego hopes to end nearly 2 decades of Hornets’ playoff frustration

At 40, James Borrego might be only 10 years older than the history of the NBA in Charlotte, but he knows the deal, particularly the disappointment of it all.

“This city, this franchise, hasn’t won a playoff series in 17, 18 years.” the Hornets’ new coach brought up Monday.

“I think he’s tired of that. I think this organization is tired of that. It’s my job now to push them forward.”

The “he” Borrego referred to is two-time All-Star point guard Kemba Walker. One of the changes Borrego has advocated is Walker playing more off the ball this season, dominating the offense less. That’s part of a general push toward a more diverse, less predictable offense.

Is that a de-emphasis of Walker? Absolutely not. It would be surprising, and certainly not the intent, if Walker didn’t continue to be the Hornets’ leading scorer and first option. But this offense was so dependent on him to bail them out in pick-and-rolls that it made this team easy to scout in back-to-back 36-victory, non-playoff seasons.

General manager Mitch Kupchak and Borrego were hired as agents of change, replacing Rich Cho and Steve Clifford, respectively. The roster couldn’t be made over on the fly because of all the guaranteed contracts for veteran players. The only major roster changes, beyond the draft, were trading center Dwight Howard and signing point guard Tony Parker.

In that sense, I understand why I get a lot of “Is anything really different about the Hornets?” questions from fans. But I do think change is in motion. Most of it is nuanced, and more tactical than personnel driven, but it is different.

Here’s how this team will look different when they show up for Wednesday’s season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks at Spectrum Center:

Ball movement

It’s called the half-second rule, and it’s constantly repeated to the players: Once the ball touches your hands, it shouldn’t take more than a split second for you to size up the defense and form a decision whether to shoot, drive or pass. Everyone is expected to trust teammates enough not to look them off when they’re open.

By Borrego’s description, the Hornets have bought into that more quickly and thoroughly than he would have guessed. He noted that some teams go an entire season without thoroughly trusting each other. It’s worked, both Borrego and several players noted, because the best of them, Walker, set an example early on this preseason.

“By him accepting this role, and playing off the ball some, everybody else has fallen in line,” Borrego said of Walker. “I give him a lot of credit: Not one time has he fought us. He understands what we’re trying to do and he’s executing it.”

Walker has said this isn’t a sacrifice, that it’s a relief not to be singularly responsible all the time to be both the focal point of the offense and its orchestrator.

But keep in mind as you watch this team over the next few weeks that there must be a balance. Think of how Hornets owner Michael Jordan functioned with the Chicago Bulls when he was clearly the NBA’s best player: There was a time to get teammates involved and times when he had to take over because he was clearly most qualified to do so. That’s still true for Walker’s relation to this roster, and Kupchak said as much Monday.

“There wil be times where we have to give the ball to a certain player and let (him) take over,” Kupchak said. “There is a reason certain players are paid more than other players; because they bring certain things to the table other players can’t.”

Pace

Borrego wants to play faster than the Hornets previously did under Clifford. To that end, they sometimes practice with the shot clock set to 12 seconds, rather than the 24 allowed under NBA rules.

By Borrego’s estimation, the Hornets averaged roughly eight more possessions per game in the preseason. Preseason stats can be misleading, particularly since there tend to be more turnovers naturally resulting in more turnovers for both teams.

But the Hornets scoring 30 fast-break points in their final exhibition against the Dallas Mavericks shows they’re looking to push the ball, particularly a second unit that will include Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Willy Hernangomez and rookie Miles Bridges.

Remember that Borrego’s objective is to look for scoring opportunities in the first 6 to 8 seconds of a possession, before defenses are set. The Hornets aren’t a great shooting team, so they need to exploit any opportunity for easy points in scramble situations.

Youth

It’s dangerously early in the process to predict this, but it looks as though Kupchak’s first draft could be the most productive one for the Hornets in a long time.

Everything about Bridges’ preseason was encouraging. It wasn’t just the 12th overall pick’s statistics, it was his maturity, his ability to absorb information and his versatility to play multiple positions. Devonte Graham, the 34th overall pick (Kupchak made a deal with the Atlanta Hawks to get him), looks like a keeper. Previously, the second round has been mostly unproductive (although Dwayne Bacon shows promise, if it hasn’t resulted so far in much playing time).

Kupchak’s predecessor, Rich Cho, did some good work here, particularly locking up Walker with an affordable contract extension and giving up little in trades for Hernangomez, Jeremy Lamb and (a couple of years ago) Courtney Lee. But Cho’s draft evaluations were shaky.

More scoring, smaller lineups

Clifford’s rule of thumb was he wanted his best defensive group on the floor at the start of the game. He was willing to add more scoring in the fourth quarter so long as it wasn’t totally compromising defense.

Borrego appears more experimental about getting scoring on the floor, sometimes at the expense of positional size. I don’t think you’ll see this often, but he flirted in the preseason with lineups that have Walker, Malik Monk and Lamb at the perimeter positions, Batum as a power forward and Bridges as a small-ball center.

View that as more an open-mindedness than a plan, but I anticipate Borrego exploring getting more scorers on the floor at the expense sometimes of size and rim protection.

No obligations

Have you noticed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is no longer a starter? Have you noticed Frank Kaminsky is on the fringe of the rotation? Have you noticed Bismack Biyombo (the second-highest paid player at $17 million this season) is well outside the rotation?

That’s a strong sign Borrego hasn’t been told to grant minutes to anyone based on having been high Hornets draft picks or because someone has a huge salary. That’s only right. Borrego shouldn’t be limited by what happened prior to has arrival.

Like he said at the top: It’s been a long time since this team did anything in the playoffs, and he doesn’t need any artificial impediments to making things better.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 4:32 PM with the headline "How James Borrego hopes to end nearly 2 decades of Hornets’ playoff frustration."