{"id":585375,"date":"2026-02-06T03:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/585375\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T03:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:20:17","slug":"james-borrego-pinpoints-biggest-thing-young-players-need-to-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/585375\/","title":{"rendered":"James Borrego pinpoints ‘biggest thing’ young players need to process"},"content":{"rendered":"

The modern NBA is a sport transformed, a high-speed chess match played out in relentless 48-minute bursts. For James Borrego’s rebuilding New Orleans Pelicans<\/a>, navigating this evolution is the key to unlocking Yves Missi, Jeremiah Fears, and Derik Queen<\/a>‘s potential. It will take a while, granted, but the front office sees better days ahead for the young trio.<\/p>\n

Speaking about how the modern game has transformed, Borrego highlighted the most critical adjustment<\/a> for the next generation of Pelicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think significantly, you know, from when I came in the league 20 plus years ago to 10 years ago,\u201d Borrego began. \u201cNumber one, possessions are up. Plays are less scripted. Guys have to make decisions on the fly and multiple decisions. So, there are more decisions to be made within a game because of the possessions, and then there is more action within a play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borrego\u2019s analysis cuts to the heart of the modern NBA’s toughest challenge. It is no longer sufficient to simply execute a pre-ordained, coached-up set. The increase in possessions and pace has shattered rigid, scripted basketball. Every second of the shot clock is now filled with dynamic movement, read-and-react situations, and spontaneous creation. Every second presents multiple forks in the road, and the players who can process these options fastest will define basketball’s future.<\/p>\n

\"NovJerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most profound change Borrego identifies is the death of specialization.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not just a scripted come-down and run a pick and roll,\u201d Borrego explained. \u201cThere’s a lot of movement to the game right now, and then multiple guys that can dribble, pass, and shoot. The days of just having one or two shooters on the floor are really gone. You’ve got to account for multiple shooters, more space on the floor, but the biggest thing to me is the amount of decisions players have to make on the fly. That’s the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borrego stressed that games are won between the ears as much as they are with the feet and hands. As things stand now, though, the last-placed Pelicans will have a few months to process how they’ll attack next season after standing relatively pat at the NBA Trade Deadline. The path forward is not just about adding talent or a new coach tightening rotations. It\u2019s about accelerating how quickly its young players see the floor, process advantages, and act decisively.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s NBA, the physical tools get you on the court. The ability to make the right decision again and again, possession after possession, is what will keep Yves Missi, Derik Queen, and Jeremiah Fears in the NBA All-Star<\/a> weekend conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The modern NBA is a sport transformed, a high-speed chess match played out in relentless 48-minute bursts. For…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,803,1285,4190,983,6,1286,478,470,4073,4072,675,2144],"class_list":{"0":"post-585375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-derik-queen","10":"tag-editorials","11":"tag-james-borrego","12":"tag-jeremiah-fears","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-editorials","15":"tag-new-orleans","16":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","17":"tag-neworleans","18":"tag-neworleanspelicans","19":"tag-pelicans","20":"tag-reporting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116021534806870711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}