Miami Heat rookie forward, Precious Achiuwa, could be special one day and we mean Bam type special.
The Miami Heat have nailed in when it comes to the NBA Draft over the past few years. From Bam Adebayo to Tyler Herro to their latest first-round draft pick, Precious Achiuwa, they have arguably been the best drafters from a return on pick value perspective.
Ironically enough, Achiuwa has a lot of Bam Adebayo to his game. He is a rugged athlete with good size and lateral quickness for someone as big as he is.
Here’s the impressive thing though. While he has Bam’s motor, grit, will, determination, and hustle to his game, he has a tremendous set of skills already based on what he did in college.
At Memphis, if you wanted him to put the ball on the floor and drive by his defender, piece of cake. If you wanted him to take the little mid-range jumper out of the triple threat, he could do that too.
If you wanted him to find a teammate for an open look, by golly, he could make that happen too. Block, rebound, steal, contest, chase down, run out, duck in, and every other action you can think of, he found himself involved in that too.
The guy is the definition of a “do-everything” type of player, just like Bam Adebayo. So it makes complete sense why he was a Miami Heat type player.
The Miami Heat’s Precious Achiuwa could be one of their next all-timers.
With the Heat headed into a Christmas Day matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans, it seems pretty interesting to look at Precious Ahciuwa compared to one of their young big men. We would do Zion Williamson but for multiple reasons beyond the obvious number one to number 20 draft pick disparity, we won’t.
Let’s instead look quickly at their 8th overall pick from last year’s NBA Draft, Jaxon Hayes. Hayes is a raw near 7 footer with crazy athletic ability.
He isn’t going to wow you with his skillset just yet, but he can do some things that a guy his height and build shouldn’t be able to do. He is a load once he gets to a launching area near the rim and can be a force when in a shot-blocking rhythm, that’s pretty much the rundown on the guy.
Who’ll have the better career? Hayes or Precious Achiuwa?
The answer is actually a really simple one. Achiuwa should have a better career and not just because he’s the Miami Heat guy.
Achiuwa is the more versatile player and the player more suited for today’s NBA. He’s a stretch four waiting to happen, who is agile and skilled enough to man the traditional three-man or today’s “wing”, while being long, big, and strong enough to actually run the five for his team at times.
Hayes is a center and on an extremely rare occasion, you could possibly see him as the four-man, but I doubt it. Even if it happened though, it wouldn’t work or he’d be playing for the Detroit Pistons at that point (we should all get that joke).
Secondly and actually connected to his position versatility now that I think about it, is the fact that Achiuwa already has a diversified skill set. If all things were equal and they both never developed any further or both developed completely and totally equally, Achiuwa would be the further along player.
As we mentioned, Hayes came into the league raw and still is. Achiuwa has a tool kit that’s, at least, halfway full right now.
These are the reasons why, if I had to choose right now, I would take Precious Achiuwa to have the better career between him and Jaxon Hayes. Let’s hope Hayes doesn’t go nuclear in their Christmas Day contest now after this.