Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
SACRAMENTO, CA — Alex Caruso doesn’t take victory laps. He’s always looking to improve, always looking for his next challenge.
This is, after all, a player who won an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers and understands the play-in positioning for which the Chicago Bulls are currently in the running.
Perhaps more tellingly, he also consistently qualifies all attempts at blanket answers regarding his individual play this season by pointing out that there is a quarter of the season left.
With that established context, Caruso, who could return to the NBA’s All-Defensive team if he meets the new 65-game minimum, engaged in the following question-and-answer session. This happened after Monday’s morning shootout at Golden 1 Center and before his standard meal of pancakes and omelette with pesto pasta after his midday nap.
This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
NBC Sports Chicago: What stands out to you about your play when you review your season so far?
Alex Caruso: I think my offensive aggressiveness has improved. I don’t think there’s any hesitation in trying to make the right play. I’m just playing. If the shot is there, the shot is there. If the drive is there, the drive is there. I do not hesitate.
And above all, be available for the guys. Especially this year, a lot of guys missed a lot of time and I only missed a handful of games.
We have I have already spoken about your offensive aggressiveness. Did you think your off-season work would lead to this lasting success?
Yeah I think so. I I talked about it during the pre-season, and throughout the year. I worked very hard this summer and consistently. I took a few vacations but other than that I was training in Austin and playing golf. That’s it. I kind of expected to play that way.
I think the numbers might even look a little better if I didn’t play the way I did and so recklessly on defense. It’s hard to shoot the ball with a strained thumb and damaged feet. Sometimes I wish the offensive numbers would improve more because of how good I feel on that end. But sometimes the work I do for this team involves certain sacrifices.
Did you have a statistical goal of 3-point percentage or volume?
I think 40 (percent) is the goal. There wasn’t a number for volume, but I don’t even know if I ever averaged 3 3-pointers per game. And for this team, we have a lot of guys who shoot two-pointers. So I needed to shoot more than 3. I think I’m closer to something like 4 or 4.5, so that’s an improved number. It could probably even be a little higher, but some nights, like I said, I had to make sacrifices offensively because of how my body felt.
I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it seems like every game you wince at some point after sliding hard to take the ball away from someone or something. Is that what you mean?
I’m not talking about a simple sprained finger. It’s pretty normal. I had a right thumb tendon strain for most of January and February and there were a few games where I almost couldn’t push on my thumb. And it was frustrating because I still had to take photos. But it didn’t feel good at all. And I kind of knew that they weren’t going to come in at the same rate that I was used to – like the 40, 45 percent that I had been shooting. I was closer to the 20s or 30s.
But at the end of the day, I’m trying to win games. So I didn’t care about personal statistics; We still had to take the right shots. All the numbers don’t matter if we don’t win games.
[Editor’s note: Caruso entered Monday’s game shooting 38.9 percent from 3-point range on career-high volume of 4.4 attempts per game. His previous career-high of 3.1 attempts per game came in 2021-22, his first season in Chicago. His 3-point shooting splits by month are as follows: October, 36.4 percent; November, 50 percent; December, 42.5 percent; January, 35.3 percent; February, 26.5 percent.]
That said, do you think this is your best individual season overall?
We’re only at 75 percent. You have to finish strong for this sentence to be complete. But at this point, I think it’s up there. I think offensively, he’s probably my best. I think the numbers show it. I think I’m close to 10 points per game. And I’m pretty sure I’m close to a 2 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Defensively, it’s been different for me. I guarded a lot more big wings or positions than I did lead guards. In turn, I have more blockages than ever and about the same for flights. This has been a unique defensive challenge.
What do you think about the 65-game minimum required for major playoff awards, including All-Defense teams?
I see both sides. If a guy plays 63 games but has been the best guard or center in the league all season, that’s going to be a topic of conversation. I think a lot of the time it’s unlucky injuries that hold guys back. And it sucks because for guys who make All-NBA teams or try to become MVP, there’s some kind of legacy that comes into play. For me, I’m going to make a few All-Defense teams over the course of my career and that will be it. I don’t see myself running All-NBA or MVP. I’m sure, as with anything, the first couple of years will be controversial and there will be different points of view. And maybe in a few years they’ll find a way to make it work for everyone.
But that said, making All-Defense is very important to you and are you going to be close to hitting the 65 game minimum?
[Editor’s note: Players must play at least 20 minutes in 65 games to qualify, although two games of just 15 or more minutes can qualify. Entering Monday, Caruso needs to play at least 20 minutes in 19 of remaining 22 games to qualify.]
Its important to me. But at the end of the day, I know I’m one of the best defenders in the league, whether it’s recognized or not. That would be cool, obviously. And being part of the first team last year, I was quite proud of it. I think that having the respect of the guys that I play against and the guys that I fight against every night telling me that they enjoy playing against me because it’s a challenge and it’s competitive, it’s just as important as having a first or second team All-Defense Award.
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