The New Orleans Pelicans have not been a very fun team this season. Spirits were high after their season-opener, with new star Dejounte Murray and rookie Yves Missi putting up strong debuts in a win against the Chicago Bulls. The good times kept coming when the Pels pulled off a fourth-quarter comeback against the Portland Trail Blazers in Zion Williamson's first game of the year.
Unfortunately, it's all been downhill from there, with New Orleans taking three Ls in a row against inferior teams and the injury report filling up. With CJ McCollum and Herb Jones joining Dejounte and Trey Murphy III in the infirmary, the only core member of the team that's been healthy for all five games has been Brandon Ingram.
CJ, Herb, and Trey should all be back soon, but it might be too late to save this team's sinking by the time they're healthy again. An accurate representation of the Pelicans' deflated morale is Jose Alvarado, the once fiery sparkplug that was a fan-favorite in New Orleans suddenly looks in disarray, and it's been dragging this team down.
Jose Alvarado has failed to step up where the Pelicans need him the most: playmaking, outside shooting, and perimeter defense
This offseason, New Orleans inked Jose Alvarado to a two-year, $9 million extension, featuring a player option on the tail end. That deal immediately read as a steal for the Pelicans, as Alvarado has established himself as one of the most impactful backup guards in the entire league, capable of singlehandedly swinging games with his energy and feisty defensive hounding. It seemed like a given that he would decline the second year of his extension and command a much heftier long-term contract in the future.
Now, amid the team's three-game skid, it's looking like that player option was a mistake by the Pelicans and a shrewd inclusion for Alvarado's camp. As a backend rotation player, it's clearly not entirely his fault that New Orleans has dropped three straight stinkers, but he hasn't helped the situation either. He also didn't play well in the Pelicans' wins either.
With Dejounte Murray out and CJ McCollum sidelined in this latest game, New Orleans has desperately needed Alvarado to step up, as their playmaking, shooting, and defensive troubles were only intensified by all of the injuries. Part of the reason that the Pels have desperately needed a true floor general is because Alvarado so obviously isn't one in the NBA, even though that's the only position he can play at 6'0".
With all of these absences, though, the Pelicans had plenty of opportunity for him to assert himself as a capable playmaker, something he's badly failed to do. Through five games, he's averaged less than four assists per game while racking up seven total turnovers.
Coming into this last game, he hadn't brought much to the team as a shooter either, going just 2-9 from deep in his first four games. He turned things around from deep in the second leg against the Dubs, hitting 4-8 from 3-point land and scoring 16 points total, by far his highest mark of the season.
Unfortunately, the area in which he's been the most disappointing is the one that built a name for him: defense. Perhaps it's the Pelicans' lack of rim protection, his increased workload, or the general downtrodden spirits of the team, but he hasn't been nearly as aggressive or effective on that end of the court, and it's negatively impacted the team's defense overall. That's why despite his offensive upturn against the Dubs in this last game, he finished a team-low -18. In their first four games, New Orleans was notably better on defense with him off of the court, putting up a 115.9 defensive rating as opposed to 117.2 with him on.
His defense is likely to bounce back, but, so far, he hasn't been a positive defender, a threatening shooter, or a viable floor general. Essentially, he's been useless for the Pelicans. What he does have is an extremely tradable contract and a reputation that could attract any contenders looking to add a little defensive juice to their backcourt. If he can't right the ship soon when the Pelicans need him the most, they could determine that they don't need him at all.