The Charlotte Hornets surprised a lot of people when they fired head coach James Borrego a few weeks ago. Borrego had done an admirable job as head coach, including the team winning 10 more games this NBA season than they did last season.
However, his undoing ultimately can be tied to the team’s performance in the NBA Play-In Tournament. Charlotte has qualified both seasons of its existence but has not fared well. In 2021, they lost by 27 to the Indiana Pacers. This year, they lost by 29 to the Atlanta Hawks.
Looking unprepared each time, the Charlotte Hornets decided to make a move. They have had plenty of interviews, but the choices have been narrowed down to two candidates; Mike D’Antoni and Kenny Atkinson.
Both D’Antoni and Atkinson are going to meet with owner Michael Jordan this week. Atkinson is expected to meet first on Tuesday and then D’Antonio will be later in the week. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN provided the update.
Both candidates would seem to be good fits. We have seen what Atkinson is capable of when leading a relatively young team. He helped turned the Brooklyn Nets around enough that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving wanted to sign there as free agents.
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While that didn’t end as well as Atkinson had hoped, as he was relieved of his duties the season that they signed, he has spent the last two seasons learning and honing his craft even more. As an assistant with the LA Clippers and Golden State Warriors, he should have a better idea of how to handle superstar players now.
Mike D’Antoni is the more experienced of the two and has a proven track record of success. A lot of people would love to see what he can do with LaMelo Ball, as D’Antoni’s offensive system benefits point guards the most when it comes to producing.
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Seeing what he accomplished with guys like Chris Duhon and superstars such as Chris Paul, Steve Nash and James Harden, the sky could be the limit for Ball, whose combination of size and skill is rivaled by very few at the point guard position.
