It's the Easy Stuff That's Paying Dividends for Precious Achiuwa

The Toronto Raptors are getting more out of Precious Achiuwa as the versatile center settles in to his comfort zone

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Raptors set a challenge for Precious Achiuwa to start the season. They’d had their eyes on him dating back to his lone college season at Memphis and saw how versatile and multi-dimensional he was as a 6-foot-9 small-ball center. But when the Miami Heat selected him 20th overall back in 2020 all those skills seemed to disappear in the Heat’s rigid system.

“If I'm honest, last year they put him a little bit into a box,” said Goran Dragic who joined the Raptors alongside Achiuwa in the Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade with Miami. “Of course, it's a rookie and everything. He just ran hard, set screens, roll, catch the lobs, rebound. But this year we can already see in preseason that he can do much more.”

The Raptors wanted to open that box this year. They challenged him to show those skills, to become more aggressive, and be the player he was at Memphis. But when the regular season rolled around, things went a little too far.

Whoa, Nelly, the Raptors said.

He’d gone from a one-dimensional rookie in Miami to a sophomore trying to do too much too fast. He’d run end to end with the ball trying to dunk over bigger centers without letting the offense settle in. Through his first 13 games this year, he was averaging 7.5 points on 34.8% shooting and looked borderline unplayable.

“He’s in the stage where he needs to figure out what his go-to moves are,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said last Friday. “He’s got a variety of different things he can do: He’s got the hard-right drive, he’s got a right-handed hook, he’s kind of got the Euro, he has a left-handed thing he goes to sometimes as well. He has a turnaround he goes to sometimes as well. He probably has too many things for right now.

“I try to tell him to go to the strengths, whatever he’s most confident in and don’t give up on trying to get to that until it’s absolutely gone. Get consistent with those and then start varying it up a bit when you get comfortable with that.”

It appears Achiuwa has heard the message.

Since returning from his three-game absence with shoulder tendinitis, Achiuwa seems to have settled in. His shooting percentage has nearly doubled, jumping to 60% over the last three games, and he’s increased his points per game to 11.7. Most of those points have come the easy way lately, with 80% of his field goals coming with one or fewer dribbles. That’s in contrast to his first 13 games when he was trying to do too much and only 64% of his shots came on one or fewer dribbles.

“Just being out I was able to see the game up close,” he said Sunday. “I’ve been able to see a lot of things and a lot of things I couldn’t see while I was out there.”

On Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, he was the spark plug for Toronto, connecting on three three-pointers in a 17-point third quarter.

“I think he played a really simple game,” Fred VanVleet said. “All the things we saw tonight are nothing that anybody has asked him not to do. He shot catch-and-shoot 3s, put the ball in the floor in transition, he set screens and he rolled. Just his presence, with that frame and that athleticism, he can be a problem. There are flashes. We’ve seen it.”

That’s what the Raptors are looking for from Achiuwa right now. They’ve seen what happens when you open Pandora’s box and now they’re trying to bring him on a little slower, starting with the easy stuff before moving on one still at a time.

Further Reading

Gary Trent Jr. breaks out late as Raptors capture come-from-behind victory over Grizzlies

Pascal Siakam is not to fault for Scottie Barnes' recent performance dip

Kyle Lowry reiterates his desire to retire as a Raptor: 'That's My Everything'