James Borrego wants his shot at Orlando Magic head coaching job
James Borrego has been universally discarded for the Orlando Magic’s vacant head coaching position. He will get his shot to interview and keep the job.
Rob Hennigan said last week James Borrego will get his chance to interview for the Orlando Magic’s vacant head coaching job. So that will settle that. He will at least get his shot at the lead chair.
Most have already dismissed Borrego and his chances to get the lead job. A 10-20 record, despite the obvious improvement over the difficulties of the early season for the Magic, is still nothing to write home about. The Magic regained a “competitive spirit” but could hardly cling to anything more tangible.
That is typically not how interim coaches get to keep their jobs.
Yet, there is still hope. The final 30 games of the season were better than the first 52. And James Borrego played a big role in salvaging something from a disastrous season.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done in the 30 games under these circumstances,” Borrego said. “With a full staff, a full summer, a full training camp, I think we could see an even deeper growth. I’d love an opportunity to have that. I think we made some major strides in a short amount of period with limited practice, with limited time, I think we’ve changed this thing. We’ll need a full summer, a full training camp. There’s things that I would love to build on, to change to move the group forward. I believe I can do that.”
Borrego has at least earned a discussion with Rob Hennigan about his vision of the team.
“With a full staff, a full summer, a full training camp, I think we could see an even deeper growth. I’d love an opportunity to have that.” –James Borrego
He did accomplish a lot with limited practice time, a staff cut in half by firings that occurred simultaneous to Jacque Vaughn‘s release and a young roster that needed time to digest a new playbook. It was hard to see Borrego really put his imprint on the team because he had to work so much on the fly.
There is no doubt that any coach in Borrego’s position would be curious to see what he can do with a full training camp, summer and offseason to imprint his personality and identity. No one could blame him for wanting that opportunity.
“I thought [Borrego] did an admirable job,” Rob Hennigan said. “He came in under some trying circumstance. He brought his own voice. He brought a voice that our players responded to, they respected. It was not an easy situation for JB for a lot of reasons. I think he came in and steadied the ship in a lot of ways. I think he regained a lot of that competitive spirit that we were talking about earlier in the season . He did a stand up job for us. We really appreciate the work that he did.”
Again, the odds remain long. This is an important moment for the Magic.
Interim coaches rarely get the opportunity to start the next season. The Magic did that once with Johnny Davis and did not get the results they wanted, Davis finished 31-33 in his lone full season and was fired, giving way to Chris Jent.
The Magic have completed three years in a rebuild and cannot falter. They need to see the team move forward and make the Playoffs in the next two years, at the very least. Everyone senses it is time for the team to turn the corner.
Can Borrego be the guy to have the team turn the corner?
He believes so.
“We’ve held them accountable and we’ve loved them at the same time,” James Borrego said. “That’s where this league finds success. And as a group, we have to have a clear plan of what we believe in and what we stand for. I have those areas now. I see what I stand for as a coach. Now it’s putting it into place full term. We’ve had to piece it together over a short period. I understand who I am as a coach. I understand who this team is. I understand who they can be. Now it’s about putting that vision into place over the course of a summer, a training camp and a full season.”
Certainly the players responded well to him. They spoke highly of the job Borrego did in his 30 games. They feel like he changed the team’s mentality and gave them even a small bit of direction in the final 30 games. Most said the coaching decision was ultimately up to management to make.
The Magic are looking to turn the corner, but they are also still a team in need of some guidance. So one thing Borrego has working for him is his relationship with the players. He has been in that locker room working hands on with these guys for three years.
The Magic, in hiring Jacque Vaughn to begin with, said they wanted a coach who could grow with their team. Perhaps Borrego can be that guy.
Borrego has many of the qualities the Magic want in their next head coach. He has a good relationship with his players. He is a strong motivator. He is, as Rob Hennigan has described him numerous times, a “company guy.”
The relationships he has made with the Magic’s current players is not going to hurt him in consideration for the job. Borrego believes it gives him a leg up as relationships are important in this league. He knows what the players have to build on and he feels they built a solid foundation in the final 30 games of the season with his guidance.
There would not be a learning curve.
But relationships are not everything. Results matter and so too does Xs and Os and building schemes. For the Magic, the decision on whether to keep Borrego is as much about believing in Borrego’s ability to lead the Magic as it is to shift the team to a more defined identity.
Pressure is squarely on Rob Hennigan to find someone that can get the team to turn the corner and show a clearer path to the Playoffs.
That certainly will get Borrego fair consideration, but it is hardly a guarantee that he is even being heavily considered. The decision is a big one.
“It’s essential for us,” Hennigan said of the decision ahead of him. “We’re at a critical point now where we believe in the talent on this team, we know we’re a young team, we know we have a long way to go. Finding that right coach, that right person to push us in the right direction, to prod us in the right direction, is imperative.”