NBA
Chicago’s Alex Caruso was voted All-Defensive First Team this season for the first time in his career
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated09 May 2023
Today, the league announced the 10 players who were voted for the All-Defensive teams for the 2022-23 season. It’s a prestigious honor to be selected as one of the top 10 defenders in the league. Leading the names for All-Defensive First Team this season is Bulls PG Alex Caruso. Evan Mobley and himself were both selected to their first All-Defesnvie team in their career.
Alex Caruso is not the flashiest player on the court, but he knows what he does well. He developed into a solid 3 and D player who can also get his teammates involved. The 29-year-old received 50 first-place and 25 second-place votes to make All-Defensive First Team.
The 2020 NBA champ played a career-high 67 games this season. He was a big part of Chicago finishing the season fifth in defensive rating in 2022-23. Chicago’s season ended in the play-in tournament, but Caruso should be proud of the effort he gave all season long.
The 2022-23 Kia NBA All-Defensive First Team:
▪️ Alex Caruso, Chicago Bulls
▪️ Jrue Holiday, Milwaukee Bucks
▪️ Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies
▪️ Brook Lopez, Milwaukee Bucks
▪️ Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers pic.twitter.com/Qc5eTBeBkx— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 9, 2023
Alex Caruso headlines the All-Defensive First Team for the 2022-23 NBA season
Before voting took place, Alex Caruso made public statements that he thinks he deserves to be recognized as one of the league’s top defenders. The 100 media members who voted in for All-Defenive teams this season thought the same. This past season, Caruso led the league in deflections per 36 minutes with (5.2) per game.
He also finished 10th in the NBA this season for charges drawn and he’s never afraid to take one for the team. Chicago allowed 106.6 points per 100 possessions when he played and 113.1 when he was off the court. Earlier this year, Caruso had this to say on why he thinks he was deserving of an All-Defensive honor.
“Coming from a spot where I was undrafted and teams didn’t think I was good enough to be in the league to being, in my eyes, one of the best defenders in the league, we’ll see what other people think,”- Alex Caruso
Once Patrick Beverley was traded to the Bulls, Alex Caruso and himself made immediate impacts on the starting lineup. The two defensive-minded players thrived while playing together and it will be interesting to see if the Bulls keep Beverley for next season.
