Precious Achiuwa Goes No. 20 in 1st Round to Miami Heat

The Miami Heat are coming off a magical 2019-20 season in which they made the NBA Finals, but fell short to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. The biggest thing that hurt Miami last season was when Bam Adebayo went down with a shoulder injury and they did not have a player of his stature that they could replace him with, causing them to adjust their entire gameplan. As a result, the Heat addressed this issue and picked Precious Achiuwa out of Memphis as another big bodied PF/C who can provide valuable minutes both behind Bam Adebayo and next to him on the court. 

The 6’9” big man was a focal point for Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers a season ago when he took over the reigns down low when center James Wiseman was declared ineligible by the NCAA. In 31 games, Achiuwa averaged 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and shot 49.3% from the floor. Precious Achiuwa was named the 2019-20 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year as well as the 2019-20 AAC Rookie of the Year. 

The biggest strength of Achiuwa’s game is his strength and body build. At 6’9”, 230 lbs, he does not seem like he would be dominant in the paint, but he uses his body so well to not only absorb contact, but explode to the rim and knock opponents out of the way. He possesses such a wide frame that he can easily cause mismatches for opponents defensively and be a headache for opposing coaches as he can grab virtually every rebound. 

The Heat do not really have a true big man behind Bam Adebayo, as Kelly Olynyk and Jae Crowder are not post-players, but bringing in Precious Achiuwa fills the one hole they had on their roster from a season ago. Falling all the way to pick No. 20 had to be a surprise for the Heat’s front office as some mock drafts and draft grades had Achiuwa ranked as high as the 8th overall prospect in the draft. 

His intangibles and physical abilities make Achiuwa one of the best picks in the 2020 NBA Draft and next to Bam Adebayo, could provide a dangerous one-two punch on the offensive glass. With the perimeter shooting that the Miami Heat possess already, and now two legitimate threats in the paint, Miami is primed to once again make a run at the NBA Finals in 2021.