Tag: Precious Achiuwa

Rookie Wire Power Rankings: James Wiseman, LaMelo Ball lead the way

Rookie Wire takes a look at the top first-year players from the opening two weeks of the 2020-21 season.

With the 2020-21 season now two weeks old, fans have had a chance to see the stars of the NBA take the floor in what projects to be the most unique year to date.

Of course, the start of the season also gave the basketball world its first look at the incoming rookie class of players. The group has already had its fair share of strong performances to this point with most players having appeared in at least a handful of games.

Rookie Wire will keep an eye on the class on a bi-weekly basis to keep track of the top first-year players and how they performed on the court. The rankings are not for Rookie of the Year purposes but, rather, to illustrate the hottest players week to week.

Hustlin’ Hard: Precious Achiuwa among NBA leaders in one category

Precious Achiuwa has played a modest role to this point of the season but the rookie has made the most of his minutes on the floor.

Precious Achiuwa has played a modest role to this point of the season with the Miami Heat but the rookie has made the most of his minutes on the floor through his first five games.

Miami has mostly relied on Achiuwa in certain situations so far and he has yet to crack the 20-minute mark in any game. Achiuwa is averaging 7.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 15 minutes per game while shooting 64% from the field.

Achiuwa often gives the Heat a nice boost of energy off the bench and he has shown an ability to make several hustle plays. In fact, his 3.8 loose-balls recovered per 36 minutes rank first among all players in the NBA while his eight total loose-balls recovered are tied for eighth.

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The 20th overall pick earned some praise from head coach Erik Spoelstra on Sunday for his commitment to wanting to get better. His skill set fits well with the team’s second unit and he has thrived at times off the bench to begin the season.

Miami hasn’t fully settled on a starting lineup and rotation yet so Achiuwa could eventually begin to play more as he continues to transition to the NBA. He has certainly shown so far that he will be ready to play in whatever role he is given.

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10 bold NBA rookie class predictions for the 2020-21 season

Rookie Wire decided to put on our thinking caps and predict the future so we made 10 bold predictions for the 2020-21 rookie class.

The 2020-21 NBA season officially tipped off this week with each team hitting the court to much fanfare following a historic, shortened training camp period.

With a new season upon us, there is a new opportunity for teams and players to leave their mark in the league. Organizations made plenty of changes during the offseason in preparation for what projects to be a challenging season ahead.

The incoming class of rookies look to make the most of a difficult transition to the NBA given the circumstances. The players have put forth some strong performances thus far during the preseason and look to continue that momentum into the regular season.

Rookie Wire decided to put on our thinking caps and predict the future. We made 10 bold predictions for the upcoming season for the rookie class and offer up an opinion on what we might see. To make this exercise fun, we will come back at the end of the season and see how we did.

Here is how we fared last season, in which, we didn’t do particularly well.

Precious Achiuwa scores 11 points in first Christmas Day contest

Achiuwa helped the Heat to a 111-98 victory over the Pelicans as the NBA tipped off its Christmas Day schedule on Friday.

Miami Heat rookie Precious Achiuwa turned in a strong performance in only his second game of the season on Friday during a 111-98 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Achiuwa recorded 11 points, three rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes off the bench as the NBA tipped off its Christmas Day lineup. He finished by shooting 5-of-7 from the field and added sound defense in the paint while on the floor.

The 20th overall pick flashed his versatility on both ends of the floor, even limiting Pelicans phenom Zion Williamson down the stretch. Perhaps most impressive, Achiuwa earned meaningful minutes in the fourth quarter before the Heat pulled away to seal the win.

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After scoring eight points on Wednesday in his debut, Achiuwa responded by helping the Heat pick up their first win of the season. He flashed his overall skillset throughout the contest and showed why the organization is so high on him this season.

Miami returns to action on Tuesday vs. the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Bam Adebayo thinks Precious Achiuwa can be better than him as a rookie

Adebayo believes Achiuwa is more skilled than he was as a rookie with the Heat during the 2017-18 season.

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Entering the NBA draft, Precious Achiuwa often drew comparisons to future Miami Heat teammate Bam Adebayo. The two have similar size and skillsets at the center position but Adebayo believes Achiuwa can be even better than he was as a rookie.

Adebayo, the 14th overall pick in 2017, averaged 6.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 69 games as a rookie. He came off the bench for the majority of that season and wouldn’t become a full-time starter until last year, in which he was named an All-Star for the first time.

While Adebayo has blossomed into one of the elite centers in the NBA, he admitted Achiuwa could be on pace to have a better rookie season than he did given the skillset he brings to the Heat this season.

“He reminds me of myself when I was at Kentucky but he had way more leeway,” Adebayo said Friday on a Zoom call with reporters. “I feel like his rookie year is going to better than mine, me being honest. I feel like he has more skill than I did coming into my rookie year and it’s going to be fun to work with Precious and just figure out what his mindset is and how he wants to go about his rookie year.”

Achiuwa was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year after averaging 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.1 steals and one assist in 31 games played last season with the Tigers. He was also named the AAC Freshman of the Year.

The 21-year-old studied Adebayo throughout much of his season at Memphis and the similarities are easy to see. Achiuwa, like Adebayo, can guard multiple positions given his athleticism and size and can impact games on both ends of the floor.

Miami will be tasked with working Achiuwa into lineups with a crowded frontcourt but he projects to bring similar skills as Adebayo. His exact role and playing time remains to be seen but the Heat could have gotten a great addition if Achiuwa can develop as Adebayo did.

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Heat sign first-round pick Precious Achiuwa to rookie contract

The 21-year-old averaged 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.1 steals and one assist in 31 games played last season at Memphis.

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On Wednesday, the Miami Heat signed 20th overall pick, and former Memphis Tigers forward, Precious Achiuwa to his rookie-scale contract, the team announced in a press release.

Achiuwa will earn $2,151,800 next season as the No. 20 pick.

The 21-year-old was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year after averaging 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 1.1 steals and one assist in 31 games played last season with the Tigers. He was also named the AAC Freshman of the Year.

Achiuwa is one of five players from Nigeria since 2000 to be selected in the first round, joining Josh Okogie, Festus Ezeli, Mamadou N’diaye and Udoka Azubuike. Achiuwa and Azubuike also became the first two players selected in the first round of the same draft.

Achiuwa projects to be a good fit with the Heat in the frontcourt.

The pairing of Achiuwa next to Bam Adebayo in certain lineups would also give the Heat a strong advantage on the defensive end. Miami has plenty of depth in the frontcourt, with Adebayo, Meyers Leonard, Kelly Olynyk and Chris Silva, so finding minutes for Achiuwa could be a challenge but head coach Erik Spoelstra will find a way to make it work.

Achiuwa will wear No. 15 next season with the Heat.

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Celtics reportedly interested in bigs Jalen Smith, Precious Achiuwa

The Boston Celtics have some big men in mind, according to the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy.

If the Boston Celtics decide they need a big man in tonight’s 2020 NBA draft, the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy has heard two prospects the Celtics are reportedly high on.

Those would be Maryland’s Jalen Smith, and Memphis’ Precious Achiuwa, two strong big men who have been tied to the Celtics ahead of the draft.

Smith made waves among Boston fans after revealing he models much of his game on Celtics icon Kevin Garnett, telling the Celtics Wire that he feels like he’d “fit in well [with Boston]; being a versatile big, being able to affect a team on the defensive end as well as the offensive end.”

Achiuwa, a mobile, strong forward/center who is raw but has a high motor evidently impressed the Celtics enough that they made a faux “job application” for the team along with several other high-profile prospects such as Smith and top prospect R.J. Hampton.

Murphy notes “Smith, a tough rebounder, and … Achiuwa, an active big w … are said to be high on the list” of Celtics big man targets.

In just hours, we’ll find exactly how high.

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2020 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0: Final update ranking Top 100 prospects

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

Originally scheduled for June, the ongoing pandemic pushed the big night back by five months. While this may cause some teams to overthink their decisions, it gave analysts plenty of time to study all of the top prospects eligible in this class.

This year, players had to participate in a mostly virtual pre-draft process. On the bright side, this meant that teams had the opportunity to interview more candidates than ever before.

However, the number of in-person visits were incredibly limited due to the restrictive parameters set by the league. Similarly, the NBA draft combine was conducted without the typical scrimmages where players can separate themselves from the others with impressive on-court performances.

Overall, the players that stood out in this pre-draft process had a different path to recognition than any other year. College basketball players did not have the opportunity to showcase themselves during March Madness. The nation’s top seniors did not get to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

As such, executives will rely mostly on the existing game footage as well as the intel they gathered during their conversations with the prospects. We also depended on similar strategies, getting access to one-on-one interviews with more than three dozen prospects and exchanging our thoughts with various scouts across the league.

This helped us put together our final big board, looking at the Top 100 players ranked on their potential to make a difference for teams in the NBA.

Relevant statistics were pulled from Synergy Sports Tech, Bart-Torvik, KenPom, Open Look Analytics and RealGM. Note that the age listed for each player references how old they will be on the night of the draft.

NBA draft: Player comparisons for projected first-rounders

One of the most compelling ways to quickly study any draft class is to look at the NBA comparisons for all of the prospects available.

One of the most compelling ways to quickly study any draft class is to look at the NBA comparisons for all of the prospects available.

Now that the 2020 NBA draft is less than two weeks ago, all of the folks looking for a crash course in learning more about the players that will be available for selection can use this as a guide for the potential outlook of each projected first-round draft pick.

This exercise is far from foolproof, of course, considering that outcomes for each prospect will depend heavily on the teams that draft them as well as the roles they are given and the development process that surrounds them.

But this does give a sense of the archetype that each top prospect fits in so casual fans can get a more succinct view of the next generation entering the league.

While our own opinion was also included, we also studied comparison models and surveyed other experts, including conversations with NBA scouts around the league, to give the best context available. The results included were the most common responses.

NOTE: All comparisons pulled from NBADraftcomp.herokuapp.com are based on statistics per 40 minutes. 

Report: Celtics will meet with Memphis forward Precious Achiuwa

The Boston Celtics will reportedly meet with Memphis forward Precious Achiuwa today.

The Boston Celtics will reportedly meet with Memphis forward Precious Achiuwa today, according to Stockrisers’ NBA draft analyst Jake Weingarten.

Reporting that the former Tiger has previously interviewed with Boston in the pre-draft process, Achiuwa has also worked out with the New York Knicks and is expected to have more workouts down the road.

It is important to remember at this time that draft prospect reports leaking to the media may not always be indicative of a team’s plans given they may be seeking to create cover for their actual targets, or could be done as favors to agents or teams they may end up dealing with for draft night trades.

That said, if Achiuwa is to be one of the Celtics 10 official in-person meetings, it likely does indicate real interest from the team. And the Memphis product is an interesting prospect, if very raw and in need of development.

His jumper needs work, as does his decision-making, which makes him a curious choice at No. 14 for a team with designs on contention and too many developing young bigs on the team now.

His strong, long frame, and athleticism ooze potential, but we are skeptical the Celtics are going to use their best pick on the Nigerian big man — at least for themselves — given their contention window and current roster construction.

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