Miami Heat: Ranking Precious Achiuwa among rookie bigs taken before him

Miami Heat power forward Precious Achiuwa (5) grabs a rebound vs the Philadelphia 76ers (Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports)
Miami Heat power forward Precious Achiuwa (5) grabs a rebound vs the Philadelphia 76ers (Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports)
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Miami Heat
Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart (28) controls the ball around Miami Heat forward Precious Achiuwa (5) during the first half(Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

Where’s Miami Heat rookie, Precious Achiuwa, rank among other bigs drafted?

2. Precious Achiuwa

To be honest, it almost could have gone any way here. While Isaiah Stewart offers more rebounds at 5.4 per contest, Precious Achiuwa is right behind him there at 4.8 per contest.

When it comes to scoring the basketball, not only is Precious more efficient from the field at 63.5 percent shooting to 43.8 for Stewart, but he does so at a higher clip. Stewart averages 4.8 points per contest across 17.6 minutes played, while Precious averages 7.5 points in only 15.9 minutes, almost two fewer than Stewart.

That’s why he’s ranked two and Stewart is three. He is just as productive or more, in a more efficient manner, from a field goal percentage perspective and from a per minute perspective.

3. Isaiah Stewart

We pretty much just set out the case for Stewart in the above. He is almost doing what Achiuwa is doing for the Miami Heat for the Detroit Pistons.

He is a walking ball of energy. He hustles and he always plays hard.

He can rebound, finish a play at the rim, and block a shot or two. He’s a really good young player as well.

4. Obi Toppin

If Obi Toppin got more playing time, he would higher on this list. The thing is this though, it’s hard for him to do that on a squad coached by Thibs that emphasizes defense.

That’s where he will struggle. As a high flying big capable of knocking down an open three, offense shouldn’t ever be a problem.

Another thing that might help Toppin is actually being available. Only playing in half of his possible games thus far, 10 of New York’s 20, he’ll produce more once the minutes and consistent availability comes.