Raptors Hopeful Precious Achiuwa Can Help Fix Defensive Struggles as His Return Date Nears

The Toronto Raptors want to take it easy with Precious Achiuwa when he returns but are hoping his size and versatility can help resurrect their slumping defense

Aaron Rose | Dec 29, 2022

Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

The last we saw of Precious Achiuwa things weren't particularly pretty.

He'd lost his rhythm, as he put it Wednesday. All that confidence that had carried him over the second half of his sophomore season following his surprise appearance in the Rising Stars Challenge had disappeared. He looked different and it was concerning.

“He needs to play better. He just needs to play better, man," Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse said back on November 9 prior to Achiuwa suffering the severe ankle injury that's kept him sidelined for the better part of the last two months. "He’s just having too much inconsistency."

It's been an agonizing rehabbing process for Achiuwa who is expected to make his long-awaited return at some point in the next couple of days. The injury forced him to step back and away from the basketball court for the first significant amount of time in his career. It forced him to watch from the sideline as his team struggled night after night often with far too many defensive mistakes.

"It’s tough, watching and feeling like you could be out there contributing, helping the team in the smallest way possible," he said Wednesday following a rigorous workout with Toronto's coaching staff as he tried to recreate real-game intensity while medical personnel looked on.

Since Achiuwa's injury, Toronto's defense has fallen off precipitously. They'd been the league's seventh-ranked defense prior to the injury and have tumbled to 20th since. While the correlation is certainly not direct considering all the injuries the Raptors have dealt with over the past seven weeks, it's not entirely unrelated.

If there's been one glaring issue that's led to the defensive struggles it's been an inability to defend the paint. Christian Koloko, Toronto's rookie second-round pick and lone seven-footer, hasn't proven reliable yet and some combination of Thad Young, Khem Birch, and Scottie Barnes just haven't been big enough to deter opposing teams from pounding the Raptors inside. Toronto is not only allowing opposing teams to take over one-third of their shots at the rim, but those shots are going in at a 72.4% clip, the third worst in the league since Achiuwa's injury.

"I think when I get back the team can use some more defensive effort," Achiuwa said. “I think that’s something I could provide right away. So that’s my biggest focus coming back, trying to help the team defensively."

Individual defensive stats can always be a little tricky to read into, especially for a team like the Raptors who have so much scheming going on, but the NBA's tracking data suggests the 6-foot-9 Achiuwa has consistently been Toronto's best interior defender over the past two seasons. While teams do take more shots at the rim when Achiuwa is on the court, they convert those shots less frequently when he's roaming the paint. This season, teams are shooting 6.8% worse than average within six feet of the rim when Achiuwa is the nearest defender, the best on the team, and last season teams shot 8.8% worse when Achiuwa was defending the rim, again the best on the team.

"He brings a lot of speed, tenacity, fearlessness. He has a high motor. A bigger body. That’s all things that we need, honestly," said Chris Boucher. "Games like [Tuesday's] where we're getting killed on the offensive rebounds and all that, it’s good to get another body that’s taller and bigger."

"It gives us a versatile guy," Nurse added. "He can be part of the switching group and get us in some coverages that are beneficial and he can also get on the glass and those are important things."

But Achiuwa isn't going to be some savior for the Raptors. Even when he does return, it's going to take some time to get him back to full strength. His stints will be short, said Nurse who tried to temper expectations.

“What we’re hoping to get him to is kind of the second half from a year ago, kind of a force in a lot of areas and a strength off the bench," Nurse added. "He’s gotta get out there and play. It’s gonna take some time, like it does for most guys."

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