Why Charlotte Was Justified in Firing James Borrego

Going over the Hornet's 2021-22 season that led to the firing of 4-year head coach James Borrego.

Following yet another disastrous end to a season with a 103-132 loss to Atlanta in the Play-In tournament, Adrian Wojnarowski reported the firing of Charlotte head coach James Borrego. It’s now been a week since the firing and as more information has been revealed I’ve had time to process the firing of Borrego.

James Borrego’s firing was certainly shocking. Not because I thought he was the greatest coach in the world but because in a normal year, Charlotte wouldn’t have fired a recently extended coach that just increased their win total by 10 games. This tells me that there’s a shift in expectations and there’s now a standard that Charlotte ownership wants this team to reach.

While Borrego was given a tough task to make the playoffs, with a young roster lacking a rim protector, he certainly isn’t blameless in the way this season went. Borrego is known for his player development and has developed a similar system to Gregg Popovich where he makes his rookies earn minutes. However, choosing to play a 33-year-old Ish Smith and later Isaiah Thomas over the #11 pick in James Bouknight was certainly a choice. Borrego chose to sideline rookies like James Bouknight and JT Thor who were productive in the games that they played. JT Thor’s length and versatility on defense could’ve been useful for Charlotte who ranked 22nd in defense this season.

James Borrego’s lack of patience for young players on a young team even extended on to Hornets All-Star LaMelo Ball. While LaMelo did take himself out of games due to careless fouls, Borrego tended to sit LaMelo for extended periods. Ball averaged 32.3 minutes this season, ranking 71st among the association and 3rd on the Hornets despite being the Hornets' franchise player. In a recent article with SLAM, LaMelo hinted that he feels he isn’t being used to his full potential. “When they really put them keys in my hand, I feel like it’s gonna be a whole new situation. But until then, I’m gonna keep doing what I need to do, just try to get these wins”.

In saying this, I think the main factor that led to Borrego’s firing was a lack of respect from the locker room. Over the season you could just see that Borrego’s voice in the locker room was dwindling as time elapsed. Players voicing their frustrations through social media, interviews, or altercations started to add up. At first, it was LaMelo Ball telling the media he felt like he didn’t get enough 4th quarter minutes after a 14-point loss to the Clippers in early November. Then it was an altercation on the bench where James Bouknight had to be held back by his teammates after entering a game with 14 seconds left in the 3rd quarter and proceeding to get subbed out to start the 4th. To put the cherry on top following the blowout loss against Atlanta to end the season Montrezl Harrell had choice words in his exit interview that seemed to be directed at coaching. “It sucks to sit on that sideline and be in that veteran mode…. and watch us go out there and put on a performance like that and get embarrassed like that. And we don’t make any changes. That’s what doesn’t sit well with my spirits.”

While I do acknowledge that Borrego had a great regular season totaling the most wins by Charlotte since 2016, I think Michael Jordan and management made a justifiable decision. It’s difficult to bring back a coach that suffered two straight blowout losses in Play-In games to end the past two seasons. Borrego played a key role in player development but now it’s time for Charlotte to find a coach that will take this young team to the next level. Did Charlotte make the right move? Only time will tell. For now, Mitch Kupchak and the Hornets' management have a lot of work to do in their hunt for a new head coach and a playoff appearance.

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