The New Orleans Pelicans got their first win under interim head coach James Borrego on Monday, improving to 3-15 for the season. While there are plenty of positives to take away from the win over the Bulls, like Zion Williamson’s performance, the Pelicans have plenty of work to get back to being a relevant and competitive team. It will also give Borrego little more credit as the Pelicans try to make a head coaching decision.
Borrego is not in an enviable position. He has to find the right balance between development and winning. He is not only tasked with featuring two rookies, Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen, but also putting out a competitive team to appease the front office. Heading into Wednesday’s clash against the Grizzlies, Borrego has his first big test as the Pels head coach.
James Borrego Is Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Against Chicago, Borrego started Jose Alvarado and Yves Missi in the second half to cruise to victory. The two backups were playing very well and the bench unit had helped the team build the lead in the first half. This resulted in Queen and Fears getting marginalized and only playing 17 and 24 minutes, respectively, two of their lowest marks of the season.
As exciting as Fears and Queen have been as rookies, one could argue that their roles have been bigger than they can handle. Fears has a 25.8% and Queen a 23.8% usage rate for the season, higher than anyone not named Zion Williamson on the roster. Both players have shown a ton of potential, but they are still rookies, and have below-league average efficiency. When two of your highest-usage offensive players have True Shooting% way below league average of 58.3, it puts a ceiling on your offense.
At the same time, Pelicans fans understandably want to watch as much of Fears and Queen as they can. The two rookies are the only sources of hope for the franchise, and cutting their minutes to play Alvarado, Missi, and Saddiq Bey more will not be a popular decision.
Finding the right balance between giving young players important developmental reps and using veterans that could give the team a better chance to win is difficult for any coach, let alone an interim head coach trying to win the permanent role.
The Pelicans’ organizational priorities have not been clear ever since they traded their unprotected 2026 first-round pick for Queen on draft day. The front office must think that this team is ready to win now, since they gave up their pick, but also built a roster with two rookies in prominent roles. How Borrego navigates this, against the Grizzlies, and beyond, will determine his fate with the Pelicans.
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