{"id":705585,"date":"2026-04-08T17:08:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705585\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T17:08:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:08:46","slug":"why-pelicans-must-not-be-fooled-by-james-borregos-recent-push-for-full-time-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705585\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Pelicans must not be fooled by James Borrego’s recent push for full-time job"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA head coaching market is thinning out before the regular season even ends, and the Zion Williamson-led New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> find themselves in a precarious position. With Michael Malone following Bill Belichick to North Carolina<\/a> and Taylor Jenkins drawing significant interest from deep-pocketed suitors, EVP Joe Dumars and GM Troy Weaver may find their options limited if ownership is not prepared for a bidding war.<\/p>\n

However, the Pelicans must resist the temptation to settle. While James Borrego<\/a> provided a steady hand after replacing Willie Green, his audition for the full-time role has been far from a slam dunk. Given the overall results over the past two seasons, something must be done to shake up the message.<\/p>\n

Supporters can point to a 10-5 surge following the All-Star break; the schedule suggests that success was more a product of timing than a systemic breakthrough. The Pelicans have beaten only three teams in line to finish in a top-six spot since Thanksgiving. Borrego’s bunch also beat the Philadelphia 76ers (7th) once and the LA Clippers (8th) twice.<\/p>\n

Any momentum vanished during a recent eight-game losing streak, punctuated by a 112-108 home loss to the Orlando Magic on April 5. Losing the home finale to the Utah Jazz is just a rotten cherry on top of a sour sundae. The ineffectiveness against top teams, paired with the stats, points the front office in an obvious direction.<\/p>\n

Pelicans need points\"NewStephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Pelicans cannot let a few weeks of feel-good basketball overwrite five months of a damning statistical record. Despite Borrego\u2019s reputation as an offensive specialist, the numbers show a unit struggling<\/a> for consistency. Scoring spiked in December but plummeted in the following months, even as key players returned from injury.<\/p>\n

November 2025: 112.2 (23rd)
\nDecember 2025: 122.2 (3rd)
\nJanuary 2026: 111.8 (21st)
\nFebruary 2026: 118.3 (8th)
\nMarch 2026: 115.2 (15th)<\/p>\n

Offensive production has clearly fluctuated without establishing a sustainable identity, something Borrego was brought in to fix last season. Second-chance points send an equally troubling signal. Rather than fighting for extra possessions, the Pelicans appear content to bail out early.<\/p>\n

November 2025: 15.9 (12th)
\nDecember 2025: 16.1 (10th)
\nJanuary 2026: 15.7 (13th)
\nFebruary 2026: 13.4 (22nd)
\nMarch: 14.1 (17th)<\/p>\n

Effort-based indicators are one factor to consider. So is the actual volume in the pace-and-space era.<\/p>\n

November 2025: 90.1 (11th)
\nDecember 2025: 93.1 (4th)
\nJanuary 2026: 91.2 (7th)
\nFebruary 2026: 87.9 (24th)
\nMarch 2026: 88.6 (15th)<\/p>\n

The math will never add up to wins for Zion Williamson’s paint-based Pelicans without higher-quality, higher-quantity three-point shooting. Unfortunately, those numbers are down under Borrego as well.<\/p>\n

November 2025: 33.3 (26th)
\nDecember 2025: 28.7 (29th)
\nJanuary 2026: 33.0 (25th)
\nFebruary 2026: 36.1 (19th)
\nMarch 2026: 31.3 (27th)<\/p>\n

The Pelicans needed a respected offensive mind capable of developing young talent and steadying a sinking ship. What they got was an interim solution. Now, with the season all but over, New Orleans owes it to the fanbase to conduct a thorough head coaching search rather than simply handing Borrego the job by default.<\/p>\n

The NBA head coaching market is thinning out before the regular season even ends, and the Zion Williamson-led New Orleans Pelicans find themselves in a precarious position. With Michael Malone following Bill Belichick to North Carolina and Taylor Jenkins drawing significant interest from deep-pocketed suitors, EVP Joe Dumars and GM Troy Weaver may find their options limited if ownership is not prepared for a bidding war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA head coaching market is thinning out before the regular season even ends, and the Zion Williamson-led…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,1285,4190,6,1286,478,470,4073,4072,675,2144,814],"class_list":{"0":"post-705585","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-editorials","10":"tag-james-borrego","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-editorials","13":"tag-new-orleans","14":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","15":"tag-neworleans","16":"tag-neworleanspelicans","17":"tag-pelicans","18":"tag-reporting","19":"tag-zion-williamson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116370196468342976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705585","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=705585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}