The Los Angeles Lakers fired Frank Vogel as soon as the 2021-22 season ended after perhaps the most disappointing season in NBA history. Vogel was perhaps the person with the least amount of blame for the season, but that is a conversation for another day.
The head coaching search thus far has been dominated by coaches who are currently coaching other teams or guys who are Klutch Sports clients (looking at you, Nick Nurse and Mark Jackson). There is a lot of noise right now and Laker fans can only hope that the team makes the right decision.
Luckily, another quality option just hit the market as he was fired by his respective team. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Charlotte Hornets are “dismissing” head coach James Borrego, who should instantly be on the Lakers’ shortlist of head-coaching candidates.
Why James Borrego would be a great head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers:
Don’t let the fact that Borrego was fired fool you — he is a good head coach. As far as I am concerned, the Hornets are losing a quality head coach because of impatience and unrealistic expectations from those at the top.
Charlotte has made the play-in in each of the last two years but has been unable to make the playoffs with two blowout losses. Making the play-in alone should be an accomplishment for Charlotte as Borrego helped this team make serious strides.
The 2019-20 Hornets were one of the least talented teams in the league and finished with a 23-42 record. To get an idea of how bad that team was, only two players finished with a positive Box Plus/Minus — Devonte’ Graham and Willy Hernangomez, who played 375 minutes.
Charlotte then got better with the additions of Gordon Hayward and LaMelo Ball, improving to a 33-win team. They then followed that up with a 43-39 record this season, which is only the fourth time since the team became the Charlotte Bobcats that it finished with 43 or more wins.
This is all despite the Hornets still not having that much talent. Sure, LaMelo is a great young player and Terry Rozier is a more than solid veteran. Gordon Hayward missed a lot of time with injury (including the play-in). It is not shocking to see a Hawks team who made the Eastern Conference Finals last year beat the Hornets at home.
The Hornets have done nothing but improve under Borrego, who has made a name for being one of the best player-development coaches in the league. The former San Antonio Spurs assistant knows the framework of putting together a winning basketball team and over-achieved with the help he got from the front office.
Give Borrego a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and he could probably do great things. He alone is not going to make a massive difference but he is someone who can coach up the rest of the team and help develop players, which is something the Lakers cannot lose focus on.
If I am Jeanie Buss I am arranging an interview with James Borrego as soon as possible.