Interim head coach James Borrego is finally putting his imprint on the New Orleans Pelicans. Despite losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves at home on Tuesday, the Pelicans showed a ton of intriguing flashes, especially offensively. Playing with pace and purpose, the Pels had a 128.2 offensive rating against a solid Minnesota defense, continuing their upward trend in recent weeks on that end of the floor. Over the last two weeks, the Pels have a 116.3 offensive rating, good for the 14th-best offense in the league, per Cleaning the Glass.

This can be characterized as the James Borrego effect. He has pushed the Charlotte Hornets to punch way above their weight offensively during his tenure there as a head coach. He helped LaMelo Ball have the best stint of his career, and the Hornets finished the 2021-22 season as the sixth-best offense in the NBA. Now, he is using the same principles that rely on dynamic guard play and tempo with the young Pelicans.

James Borrego Has Earned the Permanent Head Coaching Role

The Pelicans are bereft of high-end talent, especially after Williamson’s injury. The best fans can hope for is a feisty team that is exciting and difficult to play against. Tuesday night’s performance against the Timberwolves was arguably the best of the season despite being severely short-handed. Borrego is getting his team to play hard and exciting basketball.

This alone should be enough to land him the permanent head coaching job. He still holds the interim title, and the Pelicans are still presumably conducting a search. It is hard to imagine Joe Dumars & Co. finding a better coach for this team than Borrego.

Borrego has been dealt a bad hand. He took over a team that has its three highest-paid players sidelined. The trio of Jordan Poole, Dejounte Murray, and Zion Williamson has done very little this season. The Pelicans rely on their rookie class more than any other team in the league. In a stacked Western Conference, that is a very difficult task.

With very little at his disposal, Borrego has done a decent job. The wins may have been hard to come by, but the Pelicans only rank as the eighth-worst team in the league over the last two weeks. Borrego needs a chance with a roster that has talent and continuity so that he can attempt to build something sustainable in New Orleans. With how good the offense has looked lately, he has certainly earned that chance.

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