What Went Right: James Borrego
The Orlando Magic were on the verge of disaster when they fired Jacque Vaughn. James Borrego came in and at least saved part of the season.
February 4 was a dark day for the Magic. Any time the team has to so dramatically change direction in the middle of the season is a tough day. For a young team in the middle of the rebuild it was a tangible sign of failure. The first really tangible sign of doubt in what the Magic were doing.
Rob Hennigan faced the media and explained why the team was no longer going with Jacque Vaughn and introduced the quiet, lanky James Borrego to the world. This was the guy who would lead the Magic for the rest of the season.
Hennigan gave him a relatively simple goal — restore a competitive spirit to the team.
The Magic won 10 of their 25 wins in that final 30 games. A .333 win percentage is not by any means strong. But compared to the .288 win percentage in the first 52 games of the season, it is a more respectable mark.
Borrego coached well enough to earn an interview with the Magic as they look to permanently fill his position. And he seemed excited by the prospect.
Undoubtedly though, Borrego saved some semblance of the season.
The Magic were getting booed off their home floor in lifeless performances in Vaughn’s final games with the Magic. The coaching change seemed to re-invigorate the team and send a jolt through them. That was to be expected.
The team did improve competitively. Their net rating with Vaughn as the head coach was -6.5 points per 100 possessions. Under Borrego, the team’s net rating was -4.2 points per 100 possessions. That is not a significant improvement, but an important one. The Magic were better overall with Borrego.
More importantly for that end of the season run, the Magic responded well to Borrego. The players trusted him. And responded to him.
“It was tough,” Victor Oladipo said of the coaching change. “It was something new for all of us. We’re not used to it obviously. It was kind of a whirlwind. A lot was going on. And [Borrego] stepped in and did a phenomenal job. He was put in a tough position. A lot of pepole would have just folded and pretty much gave up. Our group didn’t give up and he didn’t give up on us. I commend him for that. He was great to play for and he’s done a great job.”
Hennigan acknowledged in his exit interview that Borrego successfully returned the team to the competitive spirit he was looking for. It should get Borrego an interview for the head coach job. What he does with that is the topic of a future post.
Those final 30 games did see the Magic achieve something they could not under Jacque Vaughn. They established some semblance of an identity, at least on the defensive end. Their execution was not perfect, and it may not have been the best identity for wins and losses at the end of the day, but it was an identity nonetheless.
The Magic had a solid gameplan and a chance to win because they knew exactly what they were trying to do on each possession.
That strategy was to pack the paint and stop penetration into the paint and to the rim. It meant giving up a lot of 3-pointers at times. That cost the team games. But Borrego, with limited practice time and some habits to break while still using virtually the same play book and schemes, got the team to commit to it.
This was ultimately what the Magic had as their goal at the beginning of the season. They at least made some progress on it at the end of the day. Even if it was minor.
A new coach is going to have to build things up completely anew. At least Borrego righted the ship, if not for a brief moment at the end of the season. There is some confidence and belief in something now.
Borrego brought that back and turned a disastrous season into a merely disappointing one.