Alex Caruso

Alex Caruso personifies hustle and grittiness — and now he has his first NBA All-Defensive Team selection to show for it. The sixth-year Chicago Bulls guard averaged 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game across 67 contests during the 2022-23 NBA season, but it was on the defensive end that he made his biggest impact. Caruso averaged 1.5 steals and a career-best 0.7 blocks despite playing only 23.5 minutes per night, while also leading the league in deflections per 36 minutes and steals per 100 possessions. He was the defensive anchor on a team that finished fifth in defensive rating, and Caruso continued to emerge as one of the NBA’s best perimeter stoppers using a combination of length and tenacity. The hardworking Caruso is the first Bulls player since Joakim Noah in 2014 to earn a spot on the All-Defensive First Team. He finished the season ranked fifth in deflections per game, sixth in total deflections, tied for ninth in steals per game and 14th in total steals.