Alex Caruso reveals the secret to his defense: "I don't play defense until I have to"

Caruso reveals the key to his suffocating defense.

Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso finally earned the recognition he long deserved, getting named to the All-NBA Defense first team last season alongside the likes of Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, Evan Mobley, and Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. Getting an honor like this is no mean feat; it takes incredible discipline, conditioning, and film study to play high-quality defense in the NBA.

So, one might think that Caruso puts in an immense amount of effort to stay ahead of the competition. Surprisingly, this doesn’t seem to be the case for Caruso.

“I don’t. I don’t play defense until I have to,” Caruso said in an interview with NBC Sports Chicago.

Too much concentration is needed

Playing defense in a league that seemingly favors offensive players demands an intense level of concentration that Caruso seems unwilling to spend during the summer months. While he admits working hard to stay in the best physical shape possible, Caruso shares he stays away from doing any kind of defensive drill.

“I’ll work out. I guess conditioning and lifting are kind of geared toward defense. But I don’t do closeouts, slides, any of that in the offseason. Even when I play pickup, I’m not playing any defense. It takes a lot of mental concentration to do that for 82 games,” Caruso shared.

Proud of accomplishment

Caruso’s accomplishment last season made him the first Bull to be named to an All-Defense team since Jimmy Butler made the second team in 2016. Caruso added that it takes a lot of sacrifice to make it to this level.

“The first team is tough. You can’t luck into that. That’s a real accomplishment in this league, especially the way the game is played now where there’s so much emphasis on offense and space. I was pretty proud of that,” Caruso added.

“And it was just cool because to get on one of those teams, you have to sacrifice a lot, mentally and physically. Show up every night and take on the challenge of guarding the best players in the league.”