The New Orleans Pelicans are losing badly again, hurting James Borrego's chances of landing the permanent head coaching gig.
After briefly looking like a competitive team that can hold its own against some of the best teams in the NBA, the New Orleans Pelicans suffered three consecutive deflating losses last week to make it five in a row.
Just when the team was giving the fans some much-needed hope, the Pelicans went back to looking hopeless over the last ten days. With the season coming to an end, this is the last thing interim head coach James Borrego wanted, not only for the team, but also for his future in New Orleans. The Pelicans have yet to make a decision on their head coach for next season. The top brass clearly wants to keep their options open and will likely conduct a search in the offseason. If they were set on Borrego as the long-term coach of this team, they had plenty of opportunities throughout the season to announce him as the permanent head coach.Whether Borrego has done enough to earn the job is up for debate. He has certainly boosted the team's offense, playing with pace and intentionality. He has, making bold decisions to cut Jordan Poole off the rotation entirely and benching Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears. These produced mixed results. Fears has trended in the right direction while Queen continues to fall from grace. At the bare minimum, the team is playing better than it was under Willie Green for the first three weeks of the season. However, that may not be enough for Borrego to keep his job. The last three losses, against the Pistons, Raptors, and the Rockets, were as bad as they have been all season. The Pelicans got overworked defensively, giving up 129.8, 123.2, and 137.9 offensive ratings to mediocre offenses, respectively. Most importantly, the offensive production was abysmal in these three games. Considering that the offense is supposed to be Borrego's calling card, that is unacceptable. The Pelicans had 107.5, 103.2, and 105.8 offensive ratings in that span, some of their worst performances to date. As much as Borrego may not find it fair, recency bias is a real phenomenon. When the Pelicans' front office is considering their options in the offseason, this most recent losing streak will be fresh in their mind. Unless Borrego turns things around and pulls off some improbable wins in the final six games of the season, the season will end on a sour note for him. The Pelicans will finish with fewer than 30 wins despite desperately trying to win when the rest of the non-playoff teams were trying to maximize their lottery odds. Borrego has to hope that this doesn't cost him his job after the season.Cem has worked as an Associate Editor for FanSided's Regional Betting Network sites for two years and continues to be a contributor, producing NBA and NFL content. He has also previously written soccer content for Sports Illustrated. He has extensive prior experience covering the NBA for various Fansided sites. Cem has been living in the Washington, DC area for over 15 years since moving to the United States from Istanbul, Turkey. On any given day, he can be found watching soccer or basketball on his couch with his many cats and dogs.Jeremiah Fears' Shooting Improvement Is an Excellent Sign for Pelicans
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