James Borrego on generating corner threes, Derik Queen | New Orleans Pelicans

James Borrego on generating corner threes, Derik Queen | New Orleans Pelicans

Uh, no. After reviewing the film last night, what kind of just stood out to you about, you know, some of the things? Ah, number one, I thought we were the aggressors defensively. You know, we turned them over 20 times to our 12. That’s improvement. We won the board. That’s improvement. We were more aggressive on the board. The possession game, our shot quality quality was close to theirs, you know. You know, very, very close. We missed 10 corner threes. We were 0 for 10. But the ball, the shots were the right shots. The ball was moving. There was more intention. We got a ways to go, but I saw growth in that area. And what really stood out about just what Z was able to do out there and his effect on the game. Yeah. From the I mean, you could feel him from the start. He ignited our our break, our energy, our force, our violence, his ability to get downhill, draw two, makes it easier for everybody else. I thought he was guarding. He brought intensity to to uh the defensive end, his ability to get on the glass as well. So he just opens up the the court for a number of players for sure. With the Wilson you were getting from outside. Do you think they were quality looks? You just kind of need people to knock the shots down or I mean I’ll take those shots all day. I mean those are our shooters wide open, you know, corner threes above the break threes. As long as we’re getting the right quality shots, I’ll live with it. And um you know, we got 34 threes up last night. We’re probably in range. We’re right in range. Um, you know, when Pool gets back, we probably get a few more up as well, but um, I like the quality of threes we got. And for us to get I think we’re one of the lowest corner three-point shooting volume teams in the NBA. Last night we got 10. I think we should be in that range every night if we’re do doing things the right way. Is that is that more about just kind of putting opposing like low men in in awkward situations where they got to pick between helping on the drive or helping on the rim run? That’s right. I think the easiest threes you get in the corner are low man is pulled in, you drive it. You pull that guy in, you kick it. You know, it’s pretty immediate. It’s tougher when there’s a big down there. So, you’re more four out, one in spacing. When you have a big down there, it’s a tougher kick out. When you’re more five out or there’s no big down there, it’s a cleaner kick out. And I think we saw more of that last night. I’d like to see us play a little bit more without that dunker there at times to open up these corner kicks. Um, then we had also had a couple just kick ahead, you know, in transition. I think we need a few of those as well. Hey, Dick’s getting like a lot of attention now just playing for his play. You talking about him? Yeah, you are. I think everybody starts, but how do you feel like he’s like handling handling that u the notoriety that’s starting to come for him? He just feels like a very young kid. He’s just same DQ today. Unless he’s tweeting stuff out there I don’t know about. I don’t think he is. He’s not he’s handling himself very mature. Um I think he gets over himself. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. I need a little more seriousness out of him at times, but you know, right now I think uh you know he’s we’re trying to turn him into a professional every day. Bring it, you know, do it again. Do it again. And I’ve loved his approach so far. And James, can you talk about the competitor that he is? That’s a very underrated skill. I hear a lot of people talk about in players, but last night he had two blocks, two skills. He’s not athletic. He takes that charge with a minute and a half to go. Just just really can you expand on that side because that’s so rare for a rookie field. It is rare, you know, for him to have that competitive spirit night in night out. It’s almost like the the higher the level goes, he raises his competition level, which is elite, right? That’s what you want in players. When the stakes are highest, when you’re going against the best, can I raise my level to that standard? And he’s responded to that. I almost think u that’s special. So, um, he’s got to continue that no matter who he’s playing against, whether it’s Joic or Gafford or Lively tomorrow, he’s got to bring that same intensity. You mentioned the seriousness that you want to see from DQ at times. When is that in what area specifically? I’ll give you an example like last night, first quarter. I believe three of his turnovers came in the first quarter, right? And just some sloppy um uncontrolled uh turnovers. So, in those moments, be under control. Make the right play. Make the simple play. He He had a great block. He had a great steal. Don’t turn it over. Just make the simple play. And I think he calmed down. We took him out. I think we subbed Looney for him. He calmed down and he came back and had a major impact on that game. But, you know, letting letting some of those plays go and just make the simple play in general. Um, and that’s that’s new for a young guy. He was really excited in that first quarter, so he was trying to make plays stand under control. when you um look at how well he played last night in some of the recent games that he’s played well. How much is it that you know obviously he didn’t have a training camp? He didn’t have any preseason games. I mean, how much is it is he just benefiting him to, you know, just get more games under his belt and just more time? Yeah, we didn’t get much time with him. I mean, from summer league on, we haven’t touched him. You know, he didn’t have training camp. Um he was conditioning a little bit, but he wasn’t in our system. And I’m still learning how to even utilize this kid. Last night we were learning some stuff on the fly last night how to utilize him and pick and roll different spots on the floor. Um so I think we’re just getting more and more familiar with him and then every every every rep he gets in a game he’s only learning and growing and he’s seeing things on the fly. So he’s got a high IQ which is tremendous skill to have. I’m sure from a coaching perspective it’s got to be fun but um is it um more I don’t know if challenging is the right word but just he’s such a unique player. Does that make it more um more timeconuming maybe to just figure out how to use him? I love it. For me, I love it because you get to be creative with these guys. You know, I got two guys right now or we do we have two guys that in Zion and DQ who are very unique and for me to, you know, it’s my job now to really utilize them and maximize them on the floor, not only individually but collectively together. You know, we did some things last night where we put them in actions together. Uh, you know, I think we’re going to present a lot of teams challenges defensively if we could utilize these guys to their max. Do you feel like uh I mean, have y’all made any decisions on Zion and maybe being able to play on back to backs or I mean, is he is he pretty normal like or you feel like y’all may have to kind of Yeah, we haven’t had any discussions about that. I guess we got one coming up, but um uh we have not had those discussions yet. James, how does his body respond after playing 30 minutes? Was he able to go through a full practice? Yeah, went through a full practice today. Looked good. He came in early, got some more work. you know, he got extra work in before practice. Um, he went through a full practice, had great energy, so uh, no setbacks. How do you feel about just the dynamic like you said, uh, Queen and Z being so unique in the way they play where Queen is at the high post and guys are moving off of him and Z so isolation based in a lot of the ways y’all use him. Kind of having those guys work together and that’s what being so your turn, my turn type of dynamic. Well, we’re going to put them in very similar positions. So, high post, post up, elbow area, handling and pick and roll, uh, and setting and pick and roll. It’s just what does the other one do? You know, what does the other one do? Well, that’s going on. That’s the challenge here. And I think we found some stuff last night. We just went walked through. We talked about it. Uh, when one of them has it in in those positions, what is the responsibility of the other to do? And so, uh, we’ll clean that up as we go. Just a a small s small sample lineup checkin. Last night you guys tried out Z at point, Herb, Trey, Pavey, and then Queen. A lot of size out there on the perimeter. Uh that group dominated their minutes in in that small stretch. What did you see out of them? And and uh it you hope to explore it more going Yeah, I do. I do. I mean, we’ll look at that for sure. Um we’re big, we’re physical, there’s more defense out there. Um we have a playmakers, you know, I could put the ball in Z’s hands or Queen’s hands and play off of that, you know, and then we still have the shooting with Murphy and, you know, Herb out there to make plays. So, uh, you know, one of one of the end of game sets we had DQ handling and we went off ball with Murphy and and Zion. So, I still feel okay offensively, but it gives us some more girth, size, physicality, uh, with a lineup that at that size as you’re navigating how to handle this team, lineups, everything like that. How much of it is collaborative with the players or are you getting input from them as well? I’m always talking to them. I need to be that, you know. I think in leadership position, the the number one thing we can do as leaders is listen, you know, and I want to know what they’re thinking. Uh doesn’t mean I’m always going to agree with them, and they’re not going to always agree with me, but as long as there’s dialogue, communication going on, that’s that trumps all. We’re trying to figure this out together. We’re not going to figure it out overnight, but as long as we’re communicating, we’re talking, I’m listening to them, they’re listening to me, and uh we solve it together. Perhaps.

New Orleans Pelicans Interim Head Coach James Borrego speaks with the media after practice in the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Nov. 20, 2025.
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