Ask any NBA fan about Jose Alvarado, and his defense is likely the first name that comes up.
There's a good reason for that. The 6-foot Puerto Rican guard has made a name for himself in the basketball world over the past five years as one of the game's preeminent pests. He was named the 2021 ACC Defensive Player of the Year during his tenure. Georgia TechAnd he burst onto the NBA scene in 2022 with his trademark defensive moves, which likewise became his official nickname, “Grand Theft Alvarado.”
TJ McConnell and his backcourt inbound passes were the only ones that genuinely bothered opponents and stole rival Alvarado.
New Orleans rewarded Alvarado with a new contract before the start of the 2024-25 season, signing the undrafted free agent to a two-year, $9 million extension. It's a small deal by the NBA's lofty standards, but it's still life-changing money.
But what if I told you that the offensive value Alvarado brings to the Pelicans is grossly underrated, while the credit he brings defensively is probably a little overrated?
At first glance, that seems like a bold lie considering his career averages of 7.5 points, 2.7 assists, and 34.2 percent shooting from 3-point range, along with his finishing in the 91st percentile in estimated defensive plus/minus last season. But when you examine the basic circumstances surrounding Alvarado, it makes more sense. NBA players under 6 feet tall are not signed to play defense, so the size difference is too great to overcome. It's a huge testament to Alvarado's skill as an average net-neutral defender, rather than a historically bad defender like most of the 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-11 players in basketball history.
Alvarado's steals are fun and incredibly valuable swings in any game, but he still gives much of that value back in terms of whether his opponent can shoot him without much resistance. . The Thunder have had plenty of success attacking Alvarado in the playoffs, where two jumbo ball handlers in Jaylen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can easily get past Alvarado for jumpers at any time. His shot contests don't bother players much taller than him.
(To be fair, Alvarado struggled on the offensive end of the floor in that series as well, shooting 1-of-14 from 3 in four straight games.) He had a lot of great moments in his career. The last postseason was nothing like this.
What Alvarado brings to the offense is an injection of juice and courage that New Orleans noticeably lacks when he's not on the court. Unless Zion Williamson moves well, the Pels will be stagnant, dribbling a lot, meandering, and shooting inefficiently. Alvarado spends 18 minutes every game continually collapsing defenses and attacking with purpose. He often looks for high-value assists early on, using all sorts of tricky footwork and upfakes to produce layups and dunks for his teammates, especially in pick-and-rolls.
It's another thing to get an assist just by swinging the ball to an open teammate who makes a jumper. It's another thing to move the defender so much that the pass creates two guaranteed points for the attacker.
For his career, Alvarado has outnumbered turnovers by 455 to 161 in assists and has a good assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.8 lbs. Shooting is considered the most easily portable skill in basketball. If you can hit open threes, you can play next to other players in any offensive setting. But defenses are smarter than they were 10 years ago. They know how to punish players who rely solely on their shots and cannot attack in a meaningful way or create off the dribble, deflect them from the three-point line, and make bold decisions.
Good decision making and the ability to create off the dribble are the actual skills that will most easily fit into the 2024 offense and are what Alvarado does best. Whether creating an initial advantage themselves or maintaining an advantage created by a star like Williamson, the Pelicans are confident that every time the ball hits Alvarado's hands, he will do something productive with it. You can trust that they will do something useful for you. He doesn't waste time taking bad shots off the dribble or break up the flow of the offense with indecisiveness. Rather, he can shoot at an acceptable clip from distance or dribble and probe until he finds an open teammate who is in even better position to score.
Let's take a look at his shot chart from last season. Of his 345 field goal attempts, only 16 were from midrange. All of his other shots were threes or attempts in the paint. While his accuracy has its ups and downs, Alvarado's determination to make every shot a layup or 3 sits well with a Pelicans team full of mid-range operators.
Alvarado particularly enjoys the art of transition threes, pulling up from deep and attacking with daggers before the defense has a chance to settle down. It's philosophically consistent with the way he plays defense. Every time he hides behind the point guard starting the offense, he's taking a big gamble. They're betting that the potential payoff from getting a surprise steal will outweigh the potential damage to the defense from chasing plays.
Similarly, some basketball viewers may object to shooting pull-up threes early in the shot clock, especially when the offense may have a numerical advantage. yeah. But Alvarado sees benefits in taking strategic risks. He shook up his game with high-leverage sequences on both ends of the floor, which ultimately paid off and made him a very valuable player.
Alvarado is still far from a perfect player, as his extended stretch and modest playing time suggest. Like every player under 6 feet in NBA history other than Allen Iverson, his at-rim finishing numbers aren't great. He improved as a shooter last season, hitting 37% from three, but he still tends to suffer from occasional cold streaks and is sometimes helped by opposing defenses. And, as I previously stated in my own defense, grand theft Alvarado's theft helps move him out of the realm of responsibility, but it doesn't move him into the echelons of the elite. Sometimes he makes great reads and steals bases. There are also times when you can be switch hunted and easily score a goal. It's give and take.
But time and time again, he turned out to be a huge plus for the Pelicans. In each of the past three seasons, New Orleans' lineup, including Alvarado, has outscored opponents by at least 3.5 points per 100 possessions, and in 2023-24, the lineup with Alvarado has outscored opponents by at least 3.5 points per 100 possessions. Recorded net rating. cleaning the glass.
His energy and explosiveness influence everyone around him every time he suits up. He takes his team's movement into first gear, not only on defense, but also on offense, relentlessly searching for efficient looks for himself and others. Next time you talk about Jose Alvarado, don't just mention his defense. Because his offense is secretly what makes him so good.
