James Borrego's First Order of Business as Pelicans Head Coach Is Obvious

New Pelicans head coach James Borrego has to unleash Derik Queen.

Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

The Willie Green era in New Orleans is over. James Borrego has taken over as the interim head coach, and his tenure begins with a gauntlet of a schedule. Between Sunday and Wednesday, the Pelicans will host the Warriors, Thunder, and the Nuggets in that order, making it a good chance that they will fall to 2-13 within the first five days of Borrego taking over.

Because he took over a dumpster fire of a situation, Borrego will have some credit in the eyes of the fans. Zion Williamson's return is imminent, and if they can squeeze out a win with him back in the lineup, things could start to trend upwards in New Orleans.

James Borrego Has to Bench Kevon Looney & Start Derik Queen Right Away

More important than the results, however, is the on-court improvement that the fans are desperate to see. The Pelicans need to embrace the Jeremiah Fears-Derik Queen era, and this requires Queen being inserted into the starting lineup. Borrego's first order of business, therefore, needs to be benching Kevon Looney and playing Queen as many minutes as he can handle.

The Pelicans' best moments all season came when Queen has been on the floor. The rookie sensation leads the Pelicans in on/off rating. The team is 19 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor than off, according to Cleaning the Glass data. In fact, when Queen is on the floor, the Pelicans only have a -2.1 net rating, which would make them a much more respectable team, putting them as the 21st-best team in the league, compared to being the worst team in the NBA by a mile when he is on the bench.

Perhaps the more important thing Borrego needs to do than starting Queen is not playing Looney. The veteran center has been a disaster all season, and the Pelicans have lost his minutes every single game of the season. He is two steps slower on defense and is a net negative on offense. His inability to shoot or be a scoring threat causes all sorts of issues for the Pelicans offensively. Queen fixes all those concerns with his ability to create shots for himself and others.

Upon Williamson's return, there will certainly be defensive concerns about the Williamson-Queen pairing. Long-term viability of that pairing is questionable, but the Pelicans have more immediate problems that they need to solve. They need more offensive juice and have to put together lineups that make sense, at least on one end of the floor. Queen at center gives them the best chance to win, and Borrego will surely feel the same way.