Nick Nurse Explains How Precious Achiuwa Can Take Advantage of Opposing Centers

The Toronto Raptors are seeing Precious Achiuwa flourish as a strange smallball center thanks to his versatile skills and sudden three-point shooting prowess

Aaron Rose | Mar 21, 2022

Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

At 6-foot-8, 225 pounds, Precious Achiuwa looks nothing like an NBA center.

What exactly an NBA center looks like these days is a little difficult to figure out. The league, for example, doesn't even list Achiuwa as a center despite the fact that he's played something like 99% of his minutes this season as the Toronto Raptors' quasi-center. At the position, he'd be the third smallest center in the league, ahead of only Montrezl Harrell and Larry Nance Jr., at least according to NBA.com. And yet, playing him as anything other than a center just doesn't work as Raptors coach Nick Nurse quickly realized Sunday night.

To the eye, Achiuwa is a power forward. He can dribble, he can shoot, he can move the ball, bring it up in transition at times, and nearly a third of his buckets have come outside the paint. However, to maximize his skills, the Raptors can't play him at the four.

"I think when Precious is playing the five he's gonna have a center playing him. So he can play underneath some, he can be in the dunker spot some, but he can pick and pop more against a big, he can play in the corners more against a rim-protecting big, and that’s an advantage," Nurse said Sunday following Achiuwa's 21-point performance against the Philadelphia 76ers. "If he's got a four guarding him, usually those guys know how to play that stuff a little differently and it just looks all different out there."

The difference between Achiuwa as Toronto's center compared to playing the four alongside Khem Birch could not be more stark. The Raptors' Offensive Rating when Birch and Achiuwa share the court is 70.8 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass, albeit in a tiny 24 possession sample size because Nurse is reluctant to play the two together. For context, the Oklahoma City Thunder have the NBA's worst offense and its Offensive Rating is 102.9. When Achiuwa and Birch have been separated this season, Toronto's Offensive Rating with Achiuwa is 109.9, an adequate, though not great number.

Toronto Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa (5) controls the ball against Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle (22) in the fourth quarter at Wells Fargo Center

Toronto Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa (5) dunks the ball in the first quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa (5) brings the ball up court against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) puts his hand on the chest of Toronto Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa (5) as he takes a shot during the first quarter at Ball Arena

Right now, the Raptors see Achiuwa playing the same role Chris Boucher did last season when he used his similar skills to pick-and-pop opposing bigs to death. He'd set a screen and either a guard would switch onto him, creating a size mismatch in favor of the 6-foot-9 Boucher, the defending big would drop in coverage to create an open three-pointer for Boucher, or the big would step up, and the speedy Canadian would drive to the bucket for two.

"Precious is not the typical five man and I wasn’t either, so obviously he has an advantage. He’s a little faster, he can shoot the ball really well right now, so those are all things that you could use against those other bigs," said Boucher.

Ideally, Toronto wants to be able to take advantage of those mismatches or force opposing teams to take their center off the court and make them conform to Toronto's smallball style.

That only works, however, because of Achiuwa's defensive skills and his ability to create an advantage against bigs at the offensive end without giving up easy buckets at the other. In that respect, Achiuwa has been brilliant. Opposing players are shooting 11.2% worse than their average within six feet of the rim when the Raptors big man is the closest defender, per NBA Stats. That ranks ninth best in the NBA for players who have played in at least 50 games and puts Achiuwa just above Giannis Antetokounmpo and Evan Mobley in the leaderboard.

So far this season, Achiuwa's been able to use his rare skills to frustrate opposing bigs. It's been one of Toronto's biggest developmental successes. But the next step is learning how to beat opposing power forwards. Draining threes over sagging bigs is one thing, but beating modern-day wings off the dribble will open up a whole host of other lineup combinations Nurse is hoping he'll one day be able to deploy to Toronto's advantage.

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