Jose Alvarado is a 1 of a kind menace who makes the Pelicans tick

The New Orleans Pelicans have started the 2022-23 season extremely well. While they were an offseason pick to surprise the established order by some, they have already won over some of the more casual fans with their star power, depth and the perception that they look like they are having fun out on the court.

They may have lost Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019, but at this point, you can now make a strong argument in the Pelicans’ favor. Would you rather have the bubble championship that the Lakers do or the avalanche of young talent and exciting prospects that the Pelicans boast? Only one of these options is set up for the next five years.

New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado will get his dues before long.

This writer is here to establish his spot on the Jose Alvarado bandwagon nice and early. If you’ve watched him play this season, you will know exactly what we’re talking about. Alvarado is a blur of speed, steals, solid defensive decision-making (despite usually giving up size) and severely underrated drives to the rim.

He’s been so good that the Pelicans have kept it rolling, despite missing the wrecking ball Williamson and Ingram for some of their wins so far. This isn’t all down Alvarado of course. General Manager David Griffin has done an exceptional job of turning a franchise that was viewed as a laughing stock at drafting players, into one that suddenly sees it as a strength.

Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones and this year’s lottery pick, Dyson Daniels are all steady contributors and provide real depth in New Orleans. Back to Jose Alvarado though, and he’s looking more and more like a real one-of-one player in the league. Just listen to this from teammate Murphy III;

Or how about the fact that on more and more of his drives, he seems to possess an almost prime John Wall-like speed in how he gets to the basket? That is high praise, and Alvarado is not the player prime Wall was. But he gets downhill in an instant and has no problem taking contact from mammoths in the paint. More than that though, he’s got some moves in his bag to create space.