Alvarado enjoying the pre-draft process
Georgia Tech point guard Jose Alvarado has not made his final decision on whether he is staying in the NBA draft or returning, but one thing is very clear, he is enjoying the process. Alvarado spoke to the media after a workout with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
"It has been an amazing blessing just to have all these jerseys on the workouts It's been a dream come true. You know like these. I've been doing this as I wanted to play basketball since I was little and doing these NBA workouts and having my own jersey to put on is pretty cool," Alvarado said.
Tuesday was the fourth workout for Alvarado after Milwaukee, Memphis and his hometown team the New York Knicks.
"I've been blessed with this schedule and it means I'm doing something right," he said.
Alvarado said he is just looking for one team to take a chance on him and that is the best advice he has been given so far in the process.
"The best advice I got is just keeping you, you. Never change who you are. Don't try to do something that you think you need to do to impress somebody and just keep being who you are keeping being Jose, never get too high, and don't get too low. You know someone's gonna fall in love with you. So that's, that's my mindset I've been on."
Many people assume the players get immediate feedback from the NBA teams, but that is not how it works in the high-stakes pre-draft workouts.
"To be honest I don't know how I've done," Alvarado said. "They haven't really told me nothing, but I feel comfortable with how I've been playing. I'm just trying to be a good person on the court. I'm just trying to be a leader and hopefully later on the 29th or whatever the info will come back."
After not getting invited to the Draft Combine and seeing his teammate Moses Wright get picked, Alvarado said the decision to stay or go remains a very hard one for him.
"It gets harder every time it gets a little closer," Alvarado said. "I'm gonna just keep praying about it, keep my family in the loop, talk to all talk to them and see what decision I need to make. That time is getting closer, obviously, I need to make a decision sooner than later. So I'm, I'm gonna just keep praying about to talk to my parents about it. And when the time comes, I'll make that decision."
The draft is just part of that decision. Alvarado is weighing multiple pro opportunities so he has to figure out if he wants to play overseas or if he can get into the G-League and go that route.
"It doesn't matter if I get drafted or not. I just want the best opportunity. Which one is the best situation for me," he said.
Alvarado says he will take up to the deadline of July 7th to withdraw from the NBA draft to decide on what he will do.
"If it takes up to the seventh, I'll go to the seventh," Alvarado said.