{"id":14817,"date":"2018-05-08T18:22:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T22:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=14817"},"modified":"2018-05-08T18:22:26","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T22:22:26","slug":"charlotte-hornets-james-borrego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2018\/05\/08\/charlotte-hornets-james-borrego\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte Hornets to Hire James Borrego as New Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/charlotte-hornets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charlotte Hornets<\/a> are finalizing a deal to hire <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/san-antonio-spurs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Antonio Spurs<\/a> assistant\u00a0<strong>James Borrego<\/strong> as their new head coach, according to ESPN&#8217;s <strong>Adrian Wojnarowski<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Spurs assistant James Borrego is finalizing a deal to become the next head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, league sources tell ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/993896042616840192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 8, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h1><strong>Charlotte Hornets Hire James Borrego as Head Coach<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Borrego is set to replace former head coach <strong>Steve Clifford<\/strong>, who was fired after a disappointing\u00a036-win season. Borrego&#8217;s hiring comes one month after the Hornets <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2018\/04\/08\/mitch-kupchak-charlotte-hornets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">appointed<\/a> long-time <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/los-angeles-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> general manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kupchmi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Mitch Kupchak<\/strong><\/a> as the team&#8217;s new president. Entering the league in 2001, Borrego worked with Spurs head coach <strong>Gregg Popovich<\/strong> on two separate\u00a0occasions. As one of the league&#8217;s most well-respected assistants, the former <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/nba-teams\/orlando-magic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Orlando Magic<\/a> interim head coach has now finally achieved\u00a0a long-awaited\u00a0goal. Turning down an offer last year to coach the University of New Mexico, Borrego played the waiting game. His patience is now paying off. This is an opportunity Borrego has worked hard for, but the 40-year-old has a tough task ahead.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">James Borrego, 40, will be one of the youngest head coaches in the NBA. <\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s been coaching since 2001 and has been an assistant with San Antonio, New Orleans and Orlando.<\/p>\n<p>As an interim HC for the Magic in 2014-15, Borrego had a 10-20 record.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Swarm and Sting (@SwarmnSting) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SwarmnSting\/status\/993898743278678016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 8, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Challenges Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Working alongside Kupchak, Borrego will have many obstacles to overcome. A <a href=\"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/2018\/01\/12\/the-charlotte-hornets-are-mired-in-mediocrity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">team mired in mediocrity<\/a>, the Hornets have been bouncing between the lottery and the playoffs for a few years now. Borrego must find some consistency with this current roster to\u00a0take them to a higher level.<\/p>\n<p>The team&#8217;s cap space situation is an absolute mess. Both <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/howardw01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dwight Howard<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/batumni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nicolas Batum<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0are set to earn over $20 million next season. Health is also a big worry, with several players on the roster struggling to stay healthy in recent seasons. The Hornets also lack quality young prospects. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kaminfr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frank Kaminsky<\/a><\/strong> is yet to live up to the hype, with Charlotte expecting more from the\u00a0former 9th overall pick. Then there&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/monkma01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Malik<\/strong> <strong>Monk<\/strong><\/a>, Charlotte&#8217;s lottery pick in 2017. Monk is clearly talented, yet the rookie saw little time on the court last season. In the few opportunities he was given, Monk mostly struggled.<\/p>\n<p>Joining the likes of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kerrst01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steve Kerr<\/a><\/strong>, <strong>Mike Budenholzer<\/strong>, <strong>Brett Brown<\/strong>, and many others, Borrego becomes the latest member of the Popovich coaching tree.\u00a0James Borrego may not be a household name, but he got this job for a reason.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"D1uaYkMYT7NmQAfxH33nKQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ca\/detail\/469882998\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'D1uaYkMYT7NmQAfxH33nKQ',sig:'ZAycPLIYf5_mWYC1qCsoGUPZgQwWz1S5q9e8cPHpG2g=',w:'594px',h:'386px',items:'469882998',caption: true ,tld:'ca',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Charlotte Hornets are finalizing a deal to hire San Antonio Spurs assistant James Borrego as the team&#8217;s new head coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":638,"featured_media":14830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,62,3],"tags":[65,37,204,1557,655,96,202,55,453],"class_list":["post-14817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hornets","category-nba","category-news","tag-basketball","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-gregg-popovich","tag-james-borrego","tag-mitch-kupchak","tag-nba","tag-nba-news","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-steve-clifford"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}