NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
Bulls’ Alex Caruso earns second team All-Defense honors originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
At the Chicago Bulls’ training camp in Nashville, Tenn., Alex Caruso didn’t rest on his laurels when asked what earning his first All-Defense team selection meant to him.
“You gotta do it again,” Caruso said back in October 2023.
Mission accomplished.
Caruso, the only player in the NBA with at least 100 steals and 70 blocks in 2023-24, landed on the second team after earning first team honors in 2022-23. This year marked the first where ballots were submitted regardless of position and where players had to meet the 65-game minimum requirement.
Previously, the All-Defense teams consisted of two guards, two forwards and a center.
Four centers—Miami’s Bam Adebayo, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis, Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert of Minnesota and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama—landed on the first team with New Orleans forward Herb Jones.
Caruso joined a perimeter-heavy second team comprised of Boston’s Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels and Orlando’s Jalen Suggs. He was the leading vote getter on the second team with 130 points, just 21 behind Anthony Davis.
Caruso led the NBA in deflections per game at 3.7, finished second in total deflections with 265, ranked seventh in loose balls recovered at 73 and contested 3-point shots at 221 and drew 12 charges. He finished fourth in total steals with 120 and tied for third with 1.7 steals per game.
“He’s incredible,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of Caruso late in the 2023-24 season. “What he does is so unique. There’s no one on our team that does what he does and there’s probably not that many players in the league that does what he does.”
Caruso, who already won the NBA’s Hustle Award this offseason, set career-highs in steals and blocks (70). He ranked third in the NBA with 37 games of at least two steals and tied for fourth in the league with 16 games of at least three steals.
Caruso poked some fun at the shift to positionless balloting on social media. His argument seems…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bulls-alex-caruso-earns-second-180914868.html
Author : NBC Sports Chicago
Publish date : 2024-05-21 19:11:13
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
