Hornets finalize deal with Borrego

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michael Jordan has his guy.

The Hornets owner has finalized a deal to hire San Antonio Spurs assistant coach James Borrego as Charlotte’s next head coach, according to people familiar with the situation.

The people spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the Hornets haven’t officially announced the hiring.

A news conference is expected in the next few days.

The 40-year Borrego has spent 15 years an NBA assistant coach, 10 of those with San Antonio under Gregg Popovich. He has been a part of two NBA championship teams — in 2005 and 2007. He also was an assistant with the New Orleans Hornets, well before the team moved back to Charlotte.

This will be his first head coaching job.

However, he did serve as an interim coach with the Orlando Magic late in 2015-16 season after Jacque Vaughn was fired.

Jordan fired general manager Rich Cho midway through last season and hired Mitch Kupchak to replace him in April.

Kupchak fried Steve Clifford as head coach a few days later.

Under Clifford, the Hornets went to the playoffs just twice in five seasons and failed to win a playoff series.

Pistons have decisions to make

DETROIT — When the Detroit Pistons hired Stan Van Gundy in 2014, owner Tom Gores called it the most important decision his organization had made.

Van Gundy didn’t make it to the end of his five-year contract, and now the Pistons need a plan for a future without him. Multiple plans, perhaps.

Van Gundy’s ouster leaves Detroit with no coach and a leadership void in the front office. That’s what happens when a team entrusts one person with so much authority, then decides to move in a different direction. If healthy, the Pistons may have the talent to reach the playoffs next season, but the franchise’s long-term strategy is the more pressing question.

The team announced Monday that Van Gundy wouldn’t be back as coach or president of basketball operations. There was no news conference — just a release in which Detroit said it would begin the search for a new head of basketball operations and a new coach.

The Pistons made the playoffs under Van Gundy in 2016, the first time they’d done that in seven years, but had a difficult time building on that. Gores took over as owner in 2011, and this is now his second big attempt to reshape the team’s future on the court.