Who says surprise season, says surprise player. In New Orleans, we are talking regarding the Playoffs and we are now aiming very high. Yes, the tide has turned for barely a few months and one of the factors of this hype is called Jose Alvarado. Not “José” but “Rossé”, attention is important. NOLA’s new elf? He captured the hearts of NBA fans by showing himself as an elite defender, top-tier hustler and full-time Chris Paul pain in the ass during the first round of the 2021-22 Playoffs.
Undrafted during the ceremony recruiting the best young people in the world in 2021, Jose Alvarado entered through the smallest of doors in the NBA. Although he was a very serious player at Georgia Tech, we all know that the gateway to the Big League does not depend solely on the level of play displayed in university. But it was he, the little man from Louisiana from New York, who scored the most in the series between the Suns and the Pelicans in the first round of the last Playoffs. He may not have been the best statistically, with behemoths like CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram on his team, but he’s the one who embodied the rage and new face of a franchise that doesn’t let down. to the best regular season team. Absolutely unbearable defensively, he made Chris Paul go through hell on ball comebacks, soft or hazardous passes and bit on all the balls that were lying around him. If the Pels have hung Phoenix this long, they can thank and applaud the now new darling of New Orleans. The rookie – because we must not forget that it was only his first season in the League – even raised his level of play during the six postseason games compared to the regular season (8 points at 48% in shooting including 37.5 from the parking lot once morest 6 points at 47% including 29% from a distance). The 24-year-old is clearly unimpressed by big moments and neither is he by big players, not hesitating to go following Chris Paul in his side of the field, causing breaches of the rules several times. 8 seconds, which is quite rare in the NBA. Hyped up to the maximum by his teammates and vice versa, Alvarado conquered by his abnegation but not only: he was good at long distance and despite his small size did not hesitate to climb on the defenders of Arizona to get some baskets .
Jose Alvarado, alongside two other rookies Trey Murphy and Herbert Jones, was the revelation for the Pelicans at the end of last season. We leave you with four minutes of pure energy that give us only one desire: to see the elf once more in the Playoffs.
