James Borrego Is Finally Leaving His Imprint on the Pelicans Offense

The New Orleans Pelicans' offense is humming under James Borrego despite significant absences.

John Hefti-Imagn Images

It has been ten games since James Borrego took over as the interim head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans. Wins have been hard to come by as the Pelicans have gone 1-9 in this stretch to fall to 3-19 for the season. This may suggest that not much has changed for the Pelicans after Willie Green's firing. In reality, however, there have been plenty of positives to take away from Borrego's tenure, especially on the offensive end.

Since November 15, when Borrego was appointed as the interim HC, the Pelicans have been trending up offensively. With a 114.0 offensive rating, they have been the 17th-best offense in the league. In four of their last five games, the Pelicans have scored over 119 points per 100 possessions, a mark that is considered a top-ten level offense in the league.

That level of offensive production without multiple key players makes this even more impressive. Zion Williamson only played in half of those games, Herb Jones missed six straight, and Jordan Poole hasn't played at all.

James Borrego Has the Pelicans Offense Humming

During these absences, the Pelicans have been relying on their young studs. The trio of Jeremiah Fears, Derik Queen, and Trey Murphy has been carrying a big offensive load, while Jose Alvarado and Yves Missi have been providing key production off the bench. Without a true primary creator, Borrego has been able to get a fun, flowing offense that is punching above its weight.

A key to this offensive success has been pace. The Pelicans are getting out in transition in 17.1% of their possessions, the fifth-highest percentage in the league, per Cleaning the Glass. They are playing with a ton of speed and purpose, not only in transition, but also in the half-court. The Pelicans are attacking the rim, getting to the free-throw line, and playing with physicality. During Borrego's tenure, the Pelicans have taken a larger percentage of their shots at the rim (43.5%) than any other team in the league by a significant margin. According to Cleaning the Glass data, the Pelicans have the best location efg% in that span, measuring a team's shot profile.

In contrast, their three-point attempt rate has gone down, taking the second-fewest threes in the league in the last ten games. Considering the lack of elite shooters on the team outside of Murphy, this is an understandable trade-off.

The Pelicans are taking all the right shots, but currently lack the high-end talent to make those shots at a high clip. At least, there is some intentionality to this offense that the Pelicans can build something on top of.

This is similar to what Borrego has done as the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets. Building a high-tempo, dynamic offense built around LaMelo Ball, Borrego was able to get a limited group to finish with the sixth-best offense in the league. Pelicans fans will have to hope that he can do the same in New Orleans.