James Borrego was born on November 12, 1977. He is a Latin-American basketball coach who is currently serving as a head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.
James Borrego – Personal life
James Borrego was raised in Albuquerque, the biggest city in New Mexico. He led the Albuquerque Academy to two state championships as a player. In 2001, he majored in English and earned a Masters’s in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego.
He and his wife Megan have three kids, two sons, and a daughter (Nicholas, Zachary, and Grace Borrego).
James Borrego – Playing career
Borrego played for three years at the University of San Diego. During his final season (2000-2001), he was nominated for the West Coast Conference All-Academic Team. He started to show interest in coaching during his playing days, which is not a surprise.
Many former USD players with NBA head coaching experience include Borrego, former NBA head coach Bernie Bickerstaff, Golden State Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown and New York Knicks head coach David Fizdale.
James Borrego – Coaching career
Borrego began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of San Diego, as an assistant from 2001 to 2003. During his tenure, San Diego won the West Coast Conference title and won an NCAA Tournament spot in the 2002-2003 season.
After his stint as a coach in San Diego, Borrego began his professional basketball career in 2003 with the San Antonio Spurs, starting as a video coordinator.
In the summer of 2003, James Borrego was promoted to assistant coach role, from assistant video coordinator. He spent seven seasons with the Spurs, having the privilege to be a part of two teams that were NBA champions in 2005 and 2007. After that, he left the San Antonio team to join former Spurs assistant coach Monty Williams when he took over as coach of the New Orleans Hornets from 2010 to 2012.
He later joined Jacque Vaughn as the Orlando Magic‘s leading assistant. When Vaughn was fired because of bad results, Borrego took over the team in February 2015.
On February 6, just one day after being promoted to interim head coach, he made his coaching debut against the Los Angeles Lakers. Hornets won by 103-97 in overtime. He was confirmed as the team’s coach for the remainder of the season, only ten days later. At the end of the season, Orlando decided to go in a different direction, and in June 2015, he returned to the San Antonio Spurs as assistant coach to legendary Gregg Popovich.
Every summer, different teams interviewed Borrego for a head coaching position in the next three years, but nobody gave him a chance.
In May 2018, the Charlotte Hornets named Borrego as their new head coach, signing a four-year contract with the team. Borrego became the 11th head coach in the history of the Michael Jordan-owned franchise. Borrego became the first head coach with a Latino background in the NBA’s history.
James Borrego – Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets signed head coach James Borrego to a multi-year contract this summer.
In three seasons, Borrego has posted a 95-124 record with Charlotte, who were last in the playoffs in the 2015-16 season.
Hornets finished last season with a 33-39 record, and they lost the play-in game to the Indiana Pacers.
But the Hornets seem to be happy with the job Borrego is doing. He guided a young lineup featuring Rookie of the Year LaMelo Ball.
The Hornets were 27-24 in April, but a season-ending foot injury to forward Gordon Hayward and the loss of Ball for 21 games to a broken wrist impacted the Hornets at the end of the season.
James Borrego – Coaching style
Borrego wants that the Charlotte Hornets play smart and solid defense. The first goal is to protect the paint. He also desires that his team contests threes because modern NBA is more and more about shooting from the outside. Charlotte has a new athletic team that is still looking to find its identity with a demanding coach like his mentor Gregg Popovich. Each player must go after it, force turnovers in passing lanes, and get the rebounds, especially in defense.
The Charlotte Hornets offense was never looking better. They shot the three around 40%, which is the best percentage in the League. The critical offensive problem for the Charlotte Hornets is free throws, where they are just over 70%. That’s not a surprise for a young team, but if the Charlotte Hornets and their head coach expect something more later in the season, that game aspect must be improved.
James Borrego – Player development
Borrego always stresses player development as one of the critical factors.
When it comes to developing young players, Borrego’s approach is pretty simple. He focuses on maximizing what the player does well first instead of changing his entire game all at once. That is one more thing he took from his days with the Spurs.
He believes that this kind of positive approach should lead to a massive leap in developing a current young roster. LaMelo Ball is a perfect example of this philosophy. From the start, it is evident that the coaching staff was doing everything to put young players in a position where their qualities could be showcased. In Ball’s case, his passing was a perfect fit for Borrego’s heavy motion offense with the team. The end result was the Rookie of the Year award that LaMelo got at the end of the season.
How long has James Borrego coach the Hornets?
On May 10, 2018, the Charlotte Hornets made history by hiring Borrego as their new head coach. He was signed to a four-year deal with the team, making him the first Latino head coach in NBA history. Sadly, on April 22, 2022, Borrego was fired by the Hornets.
Did James Borrego play in the NBA?
James had a great college career, but he knew that his skills weren’t good enough to make it in the NBA. So instead, James decided to become a basketball coach.
