Jose Alvarado has turned annoying into an art form.
He specializes in getting under the skin of his opponents – just ask Houston’s Kevin Porter Jr. His patented “Grand Theft Alvarado” sneak attack has forced some guards to react as if they’re seeing ghosts when they try to get the ball across halfcourt against him.
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His energy and defensive tenacity change the game every time he steps on the floor for the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s part of the reason he instantly turned into one of the fanbase’s most beloved players after coming into the league as an undrafted free agent last year. He’s an embodiment of the role player many coaches dream of having: someone who uses his attitude and desire to overcome the physical limitations that prevent most his size from reaching the highest level.
Alvarado has certainly embraced the love he’s received in the Crescent City and the raucous “Jose!” chants that have become a constant at home games in the Smoothie King Center.
But he has much bigger plans for his career.
“A lot of people told me that the sophomore year is a slump year for some guys. I didn’t want that to be on my name. I wanted people to say, ‘Oh, he improved. What else can he do?’” Alvarado said in a wide-ranging interview last week. “Obviously, the GTAs and playing defense is who I am. I accept that. But I’m also a complete basketball player. I can be a great point guard. I’m a knockdown shooter. I think there are a lot of things I can do on the court to help this team.”
Alvarado knows there are certain limitations that come with being the “energy guy.” Players who earn that title usually get boxed into a certain prototype and aren’t able to be much more than that. His goals, however, are higher. He wants to prove he can be an essential piece of the young core that’s beginning to blossom in New Orleans.
So far, so good.
Spurred by his increased confidence, Alvarado has quickly grown from one of several bench pieces at coach Willie Green’s disposal to perhaps the most important reserve on the team. That’s not just because of the impact he makes on defense. His scoring has gone up compared to last season (from 6.1 to 8.5 points per game), and his efficiency has ticked up in just about every category, with shooting splits of 48 percent from the field, 36 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the free-throw line.
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Alvarado’s overall game has shown some impressive maturation, as has his understanding with fitting in alongside the Pelicans’ other high-powered offensive weapons. His particular skill set as a slashing, pass-first point guard makes him an ideal complementary piece next to big-time scorers Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum. Alvarado has consistently penetrated defenses to create easy shots for those stars while also taking some of the shot-creation burden away from Ingram and McCollum.
It’s always felt as if the entire dynamic of a game changes when Alvarado steps on the floor. Even last season, he had a way of making everyone on the court play a little faster while raising his teammates’ energy level on both ends. But Alvarado’s impact in Year 2 is much bigger than what he does to charge his team up emotionally. The numbers bear out that he’s been a game changer for a team that’s struggled to find stability through the first month of the season. The Pelicans are blitzing teams whenever Alvarado is in the game.
Per Cleaning The Glass, the Pelicans are outscoring opponents by 19.9 points per 100 possessions when Alvarado and McCollum share the floor. They’re outscoring opponents by a whopping 29 points per 100 possessions when Alvarado and Ingram play together. Overall, the Pelicans are 11.2 points better per 100 possessions with Alvarado in the game, the highest mark on the team and an improvement on the +7.5 net rating the Pelicans posted with Alvarado out there last season.
As Alvarado has continued to back up his words, the Pelicans’ coaching staff is starting to take notice. His improvement has caused Green to shift the Pelicans’ in-game rotations in an effort to feature the second-year guard more prominently during some of the most important stretches of the game.
Through the first few weeks of the season, Alvarado was operating as the first guard off the bench. He’d usually sub in around the six-minute mark in the first and third quarters, along with second-year wing Trey Murphy. Those lineups featuring Alvarado, Murphy and three starters usually succeeded. But with Devonte’ Graham and Naji Marshall still being featured in the rotation, Alvarado was often the odd man out once the second and fourth quarters rolled around. Considering Alvarado’s growing importance to the team’s success, it didn’t make sense to keep one of the team’s best guards on the bench during the most crucial moments of the game.
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That’s why Green has shifted the rotation over the last five outings, using Graham as the first guard off the bench and Alvarado as the point guard to begin the second and fourth quarters – often with McCollum.
This slight change has already made a major difference in the Pelicans’ success. Through the first 12 games of the season, Alvarado was 10th on the team in fourth-quarter minutes. The Pels allowed several games to slip away late during that stretch because they struggled so much to execute when things got tight. Over the last five games – four wins and one loss to the streaking Celtics – Alvarado leads the team with 52 fourth-quarter minutes, and New Orleans has outscored the opposition by 30 points during that stretch.
And Alvarado isn’t just standing in the corner or lurking for backcourt steals while Ingram, McCollum and Zion do the offensive heavy lifting. During that five-game stretch, Alvarado is first on the team in fourth-quarter points (27), assists (11) and steals (four), while also being tied for first in 3-pointers (three) and rebounds (10). He’s doing a little bit of everything, and it’s made the Pelicans a much more potent team down the stretch of games.
“We thought getting Jose in there late in games would give us a little more life, and it’s working out really well so far,” Green said. “He’s a really smart player and he knows how to make people around him better. He’s been outstanding for us this year.”
It’s shocked many to see how far Alvarado has come as an undrafted free agent who entered the league on a two-way deal. Alvarado has always maintained a belief that he can compete with the best of the best once he found a team and a coaching staff that believed in him. He finally has that in New Orleans.
But the chip on his shoulder has not shrunk a bit as his name recognition has grown. Instead, Alvarado maintains he’s as hungry as ever as he continues to chase even bigger goals down the line – goals that go beyond his cult status as a defensive pest.
“Some people think I’m crazy, some think I’m not,” Alvarado said. “I want to be in the (Rising Stars) game. I want to be in the conversation for the All-Defensive team and things like that. I want to be one of the best point guards in the league. Even if it doesn’t happen this year, I want people to know I’m one of the guys they should put in that category. I have those goals in front of me and I’m always chasing them. That’s part of the fuel that keeps me going.”
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Alvarado understands that succeeding next to stars like Ingram and Williamson requires one skill above all: the ability to make open shots.
The guy who once boldly proclaimed, “Yes, I can shoot!” in an in-game clip that went viral last season continues to improve his 3-ball. Alvarado is currently hitting 36.1 percent of his 3.4 3s per game, both significant improvements on his marks from last season. Per NBA.com, he’s making 39.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s this season, and Alvarado told The Athletic that another one of his goals is to make sure that number is above before the end of the season. These improvements are the result of him making 3-point shooting a point of emphasis this summer after he hit just 29 percent from distance last year.
Those improvements mean Alvarado can knock down big shots when other teams try to leave him open in addition to creating those looks for others. They’re a major reason Green has felt more comfortable playing him during big moments.
Yet it was perhaps Alvarado’s ugliest miss of the year that caught Ingram’s eye. In Monday’s blowout win over Golden State, Alvarado’s first 3-point attempt of the night smacked the side of the backboard and almost ricocheted to the other side of the court. It wasn’t even close.
But Alvarado wasn’t discouraged. The next time the ball found him on the perimeter later in the second quarter, he rose up and shot it immediately. It went in, one of two he made on the night in five attempts. Ingram said it signified an important step for a young player working to gain confidence in his outside shot.
“After that (miss), he stayed confident. He shot the next one. That’s the difference,” Ingram said. “I don’t think last year, if he would’ve hit it off the side of the backboard, that he would’ve continued shooting. He believes in himself and he’s shooting open shots.”
Alvarado has also started converting shots in the lane at a much higher rate than most would expect from a player of his stature. In his second season, he’s making 61 percent of his two-pointers and shooting a stunning 72.7 percent in the restricted area. In most games, Alvarado is the smallest player on the court, so it’s never easy to convert those shots at the rim with all those big bodies flying around. But he’s carried over his fearless nature on defense to the way he’s attacking the rim. He has a unique sense of calm whenever he makes it into the teeth of the defense and he doesn’t allow himself to get rushed.
He’s also shown some considerable improvement dropping in little floaters and touch shots around the basket before help defenders can get to him in time.
Alvarado worked out for a few days over the summer with former San Antonio Spurs great Tony Parker, picking his brain on the technique of the shot that made Parker one of the best point guards of his generation. Alvarado already had a great deal of respect for Parker’s playing career, but spending time with him in the practice gym gave him an even greater appreciation for how much thought Parker put into his game.
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As valuable as that time was with Parker, Alvarado said he walked away from the experience feeling even more confident because of the things he didn’t learn. What shocked the Pels guard is that so many of the suggestions Parker gave were things Alvarado was already doing or things he was already noticing on the court. It was one of the first times Alvarado realized he could compare himself to one of the all-time greats at his position and feel like he belonged.
“He’s one of the best point guards we’ve seen. So, hearing him talk and knowing we view the game in very similar ways, it made me a lot more comfortable with who I am,” Alvarado said. “It was like, ‘OK, you really do think the game like a great point guard. Just trust yourself.’ That really meant a lot. I knew it in the back of my mind, but that experience really made me feel like I’m meant to be in this position.”
As much love as Alvarado has gotten from his peers, his battle to prove his talent continues on a daily basis. That never-ending grind that fueled him to be the non-stop ball of energy that fires up his teammates and annoys opponents is the same process that allows him to advance beyond that role.
It’s that same perspective on the game and life that has allowed him to connect so vividly to the New Orleans fanbase in New Orleans. Even though he’s from the other side of the country, Pels fans view Alvarado as one of them, and the feeling is certainly mutual.
“Being in New Orleans has really changed my life. The way the city has embraced me only makes me go harder,” Alvarado said. “I never want to lose that joy or that hunger I play the game with. That’s who I am. And I know the people here rock with me because they know I’m always me no matter what.
“I can relate to New Orleans,” he continued. “They’re always fighting through something, and that’s the way I am too.”
Even if that “something” is settling for his current ‘energy guy’ status.
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“Of course, we all want to prove we can play a bigger role. … This is something I’ve dreamed of – being at the highest level (and) competing with the best,” Alvarado said. “But it’s not just being here. I want everyone to know I’m here to stay.”
(Illustration: Sean Reilly / The Athletic; photo: Sean Gardner / Getty Images Sport)
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