In Year Two, Hornets coach Borrego confident about culture he wants to establish

With a year under his belt, and with the backing of management and ownership, Charlotte Hornets coach James Borrego is ready to make his imprint on the team.

USA Today Sports

CHARLOTTE --- Heading into his second season as the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, James Borrego has four goals for his team. And making the playoffs isn’t one of them.

Borrego, 41, has what he calls the four pillars. He wants the Hornets to compete, to develop as players, to establish an identity, and to create winning habits.

“To hit those four pillars, that’s my expectation and my drive,” Borrego said Monday at Hornets’ media day. “Where that puts us in the Eastern Conference, I have no idea, and I’m not even worried about that right now. I’m secure in who I am and where I stand with this organization.

“Those are the four pillars. I hope that our fans and this everybody in this city and this region embraces that. There’s a lot of young guys that are hungry to compete, to develop, to play a style that’s fun, energized and that wins in this league. It’s my job to bring the habits every single day in our work. If we hit those four things, this will be a successful season.”

In Borrego’s first season as head coach, the Hornets came within one game of making the NBA Playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed. But changes to the roster in the off-season has impacted what the club sees as its direction and its ceiling.

Gone is the team’s lone all-star, Kemba Walker. Also departed is second-leading scorer Jeremy Lamb, veteran guard Tony Parker, and serviceable stretch-the-floor big man Frank Kaminsky. The Hornets didn’t go out of their way or too deep into their pocket books to replace their production.

Instead, Borrego, general manager Mitch Kupchak and majority owner Michael Jordan are embracing a youth movement. They’ll lean on young players in 2019-20, give them big minutes, do they best they can to build them up and develop them and see what they really have in their crop of prospects until next summer, when extra cap space gives the Hornets a bit more financial flexibility. And Borrego feels that management and ownership is fully behind him this season, and that the win-loss record won’t impact that.

“I feel like I’m in a very good position with our ownership, our management, our players; we’re in a very healthy place right now,” Borrego said. “I’m excited as a coach to put my imprint, my stamp on this organization and this team right now, offensively and defensively.”

Borrego tried to do that last season, but the young players weren’t quite ready for the responsibility yet. Dwayne Bacon and Devonte Graham eventually found their grooves and finished the season strong after stints in the G-League, while more production is expected from Malik Monk and Miles Bridges this season.

Plus, Borrego always had the luxury of leaning on Walker, one of the best guards in the game, to rescue the Hornets out of trouble.

For the Hornets to have any success, those young players will have to step up. Someone has to replace all the points scored by Walker and Lamb. And someone will have to grow into the leader that Walker was, on and off the floor. And someone will have to take on the role as the closer.

“I think it’s going to be interesting. When you have a player of Kemba’s magnitude leave a locker room, you know, let’s see who steps up, both on and off the floor,” Borrego said. “I have to figure out how to close games. It’s not going to be one guy, to start. Maybe it will evolve into that. I do thing (Terry Rozier) has the ability to shine brightest in those moments. But we’re just going to have to let this thing play out.”

Rozier, of course, was the one significant addition the Hornets made in free agency, completing a sign-and-trade with the Boston Celtics to bring him to the Queen City. While he’s 25-years-old, he’s part of this new youth movement new direction for the Hornets too, and he’ll be leaned on for leadership, defense and his play-making abilities.

“We need two-way players, guys that can compete on both ends of the floor,” Borrego said.

James Borrego on Nic Batum: pic.twitter.com/Belprb6neu

— All in the Game (@AITG_newsletter) September 30, 2019

Borrego did admit in an interview earlier this month that he might’ve put his team in a bad spot last season on defense by trying to get them to follow the San Antonio Spurs’ system, which attempts to guard the three-point line and the rim exceptionally well. Problem was, San Antonio had the perfect mix of players – in consistency, talent and experience – to run that system and Charlotte did not. This season, Borrego – a former Spurs assistant coach for 10 seasons – says he won’t do that.

On the offensive end, Borrego also wants to put “pressure on the defense consistently,” “play faster and more dynamically,” and “manufacture more offensive possessions through the transition offense.”

At media day, Borrego also said that he didn’t know the roster, the organization or the city “that well” coming into last season. With a full season under his belt in Charlotte, Borrego is much more familiar with the club, the city and how he wants his team to look.

“I feel very confident right now. I feel secure. I know more about who I am as a coach after going through a season. I know what I stand for and it’s my job to hold everybody accountable to that,” Borrego said. “I’m not going to be someone who’s going to be dictated by the league or by another team. We are who we are, and we’re going to stand for that. And we’re only going to get better as we build this thing.”