Ex-video coordinator James Borrego relishes chance to rejoin Spurs as assistant coach

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When Spurs assistant coach James Borrego played basketball as a teenager, he relied on strong hands, long arms and guile — mostly guile — to flummox taller athletes around the hoop.

“He’d catch and pass, and he had a good, soft touch,” said John Whisenant, Borrego’s former AAU coach in New Mexico. “He had a little half hook, and could go left or right.

“He had those 6-10 shot blockers going up in the air ... and he’d step right around ’em.”

Informed recently that his former coach had been lauding his clever moves at national tournaments played more than 20 years ago, Borrego smiled.

It brought back fond memories of his high school career in Albuquerque, where he played as a scrappy, 6-3 center.

“I miss it,” said Borrego, who turned 38 last week. “I miss playing, and I miss the physicality. We used to call that the Kevin McHale (move).”

San Antonio Spurs assistant coach James Borrego retrieves balls for players as they shoot around before their game against the Charlotte Hornets in the AT&T Center on Saturday, Nov. 7. 2015. San Antonio Spurs assistant coach James Borrego retrieves balls for players as they shoot around before their game against the Charlotte Hornets in the AT&T Center on Saturday, Nov. 7. 2015. Photo: Billy Calzada, Staff / San Antonio Express-News Photo: Billy Calzada, Staff / San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Ex-video coordinator James Borrego relishes chance to rejoin Spurs as assistant coach 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

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As he talked about his playing days, Borrego also reflected on his good fortune in the NBA. He has already collected two championship rings and has worked briefly as a head coach — albeit on an interim basis — within in his first dozen NBA seasons.

He has also been hired twice by the five-time champion Spurs, most recently this past summer after he had worked the final 30 games last season as interim coach of the Orlando Magic.

Borrego credits his family, specifically his mother, for providing a solid home base for him to pursue his basketball dreams.

“I feel blessed and fortunate to have a family and a mother that gave me a wonderful opportunity to be around good people,” he said.

As a single parent, Lydia Borrego worked two and three jobs at a time to provide for James and his sister, Jessica.

“We were a tight-knit family — my mom, my sister and I — and we really depended on each other,” James Borrego said. “We were our own little team in a lot of ways.”

Lydia Borrego loved to watch her son play.

“She tried to make every game,” Borrego said. “I think she made probably 95 percent of my games, other than when we were on the road (in AAU summer ball).

“We didn’t have much money. But she found a way for me to make all these trips.”

AAU memories

When Borrego was 12, he joined an AAU team coached by Whisenant, a former assistant coach at the University of New Mexico. The team won a major national tournament when Borrego was 15.

“James was just kind of amazing,” Whisenant said. “When I first got him, I didn’t even think he could play at that level. But the more I watched him, the better his hands got. He could catch it in a crowd, and then we taught him the step through. He’d step right by (the big guys) and make a 3-footer, a high percentage shot.”

Borrego, who played and later coached as a graduate assistant at the University of San Diego, came to the Spurs in 2003 as a video coordinator.

Sometimes it seemed as if he didn’t see the sun for days.

“We called it the cave for a reason,” Borrego said. “We were in there before the sun came up and ... after the sun went down. The hours were heavy. The workload was heavy. But it’s where the foundation for me to be an NBA coach was formed.”

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He left the Spurs in 2010 to join Monty Williams’ coaching staff in New Orleans.

After two years with Williams, Borrego took a job at Orlando, joining head coach Jacque Vaughn as a lead assistant with the Magic.

When Vaughn was fired in February, Borrego moved up to take over as the interim coach.

He went 10-20 down the stretch, with the Spurs handing him one of the losses.

On top of that, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich teased him with remarks before the game, discussing a video equipment malfunction under Borrego’s watch in the 2004 playoffs.

“We docked his pay,” Popovich said.

Turning serious, Popovich said Borrego “made us all look good” as video coordinator.

“He basically made us smarter,” Popovich said. “Now when one of our film guys screws something up, we’ve got J.B.’s number on speed dial.”

Seeking another ring

Borrego said he is happy to be back with Popovich and the Spurs, where he helped the team to titles in 2005 and 2007.

In a recent interview at the Spurs’ practice facility, he acknowledged the symmetry in his career — an undersized post player as a teenager, thriving with a clever post move, moving on to make himself at home with an NBA franchise that always seems to be one clever move ahead of the competition.

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“It’s a great way to put it,” said Borrego, an English major in college. “It’s a great analogy. This franchise is always thinking ahead.”

From his early days as a video coordinator, Borrego said Popovich encouraged such forward thinking.

“He didn’t want me to just sit there and absorb,” he said. “He wanted me to give him some input. That’s what I’ve always appreciated about Pop.

“He wants you to push him. He wants you to push the group. That’s really what makes it special here.”

jbriggs@express-news.net

Twitter: @JerryBriggs