Everything Precious Achiuwa

[DanH]

He's got the body of a wing, just not the skills for it yet. Played PF his rookie year, not C. He may very well play C here out of necessity since our other 6'8ish 225lbs guys are more polished than him, we're thin at C, and his game is basically dunks, but at the end of the day he's small for that position.

With his wingspan, he can handle most C's. Like, Birch has almost identical measurements and was used almost exclusively as a C here and did great.

[inthepaint]

He's got the body of a wing, just not the skills for it yet. Played PF his rookie year, not C. He may very well play C here out of necessity since our other 6'8ish 225lbs guys are more polished than him, we're thin at C, and his game is basically dunks, but at the end of the day he's small for that position.

[DanH]

He's shorter and lighter than Pascal though. I think he's a good prospect, but he's still raw. Will probably give us good minutes, but he's not a an actual C (at least not any more than Pascal is one), and as a wing, to be truly impactful you gotta either shoot the 3 above average, have above average defensive chops, or develop a handle that can create space in the offence. Ideally all 3, but that's rare. Hopefully he'll develop one of these; he's only 22 and very athtletic, so there's certainly potential.

Achiuwa is an undersized C. That's his game. He does have a nice handle for a C, but his game is inside scoring exclusively and his rebounding is OK and his rim protection is good. That's his position. He's a big, not a wing.

[inthepaint]

I'm struggling to come up with a good comparison. Undersized centre with serious wheels. Like a bigger Pascal or something.

He's shorter and lighter than Pascal though. I think he's a good prospect, but he's still raw. Will probably give us good minutes, but he's not a an actual C (at least not any more than Pascal is one), and as a wing, to be truly impactful you gotta either shoot the 3 above average, have above average defensive chops, or develop a handle that can create space in the offence. Ideally all 3, but that's rare. Hopefully he'll develop one of these; he's only 22 and very athtletic, so there's certainly potential.

[SkywalkerAC]

Kenneth Faried (A former Masai pick).

He came to my mind as well, bizarro Faried (able to play D up a position).

[Jclaw]

Didn’t realize how mobile he is

[DanH]

where did you see the trade?

Nothing official is out yet. But we do have two solidly reported things: Dragic and Achiuwa heading to Raps (and Raps looking to re-route Dragic) and Lowry gets 3/90. There may well be more to the package.

[Apollo]

I'm struggling to come up with a good comparison. Undersized centre with serious wheels. Like a bigger Pascal or something.

I remember seeing a Gerald Wallace comp when he was coming out.

[GinobilisBaldSpot]

All his highlights are dunks... I did find some footage of him shooting some jumpers with Herro... his form looks pretty good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrO29f0Q4dg

Insert the usual empty gym, not a game, not NBA game speed or defenders disclaimer.

Now that's out of the way, that jump shot (form and mechanics) isn't exactly the worst we've seen as a starting point for someone trying to improve their jumper.

Also, will we see Precious on our SL team? Or is the timing cutting it close between making the deal official and SL start.

[TomAmnot]

where did you see the trade?

[DanH]

Raps are happy to bet on them being able to salvage free throws and shooting in general. Heck, OG has gone from a 58% free throw shooter three years ago to a 78% shooter last year. And a non-shooter from three in college to a true 3+D guy in the NBA. And credit to OG for the work there but no reason to think Precious can't make strides if he has the work ethic.

[saints91]

I think he has a serviceable handle as well.

The Magic dissuaded Khem from taking three's or pushing the ball up after a rebound. He came to the Raptors and Nurse told him to start doing both.

It's possible Precious was asked to stay in his lane in Miami, he might actually be blossom here. Although his FT% doesn't project him being a knock down shooter.

[Hotshot]

I'm struggling to come up with a good comparison. Undersized centre with serious wheels. Like a bigger Pascal or something.

Kenneth Faried (A former Masai pick).

[SkywalkerAC]

I'm struggling to come up with a good comparison. Undersized centre with serious wheels. Like a bigger Pascal or something.

[SkywalkerAC]

Seems quite well suited for what Nurse wants from his 5-man, similar to Birch but even more mobile. Makes for a very interesting platoon manning the center position for us in the upcoming season.