At this point, it's pretty clear that the Miami Heat are almost certainly going to enter the season with a huge question mark surrounding the depth of their frontcourt. Because of that, I can't help but think that Precious Achiuwa could emerge as more and more of an option as this issue becomes that much more apparent to the team, especially the closer we get to the start of the new season.
Achiuwa is still curiously available on the open market. After stints with the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks (after he was traded away from the Heat), Achiuwa has struggled to find his footing as a veteran big.
But even though he remains unsigned, there's still reason to believe that he could contribute to a team, especially one that has some of its biggest question marks in the frontcourt. Achiuwa may not be the most ideal backup big man on the Heat's radar, but there's no question that he certainly has the experience to be in the running as a potential answer.
Can the Heat rely on two centers?
Whether Achiuwa is a good fit or not aside, the big question that the Heat must ask themselves heading into the start of the new season is whether they are willing to begin the new year with, essentially, just two bigs on the roster.
I suppose Nikola Jovic could play a bit at the power forward position, but it would be foolish for Miami to build its game plan around that idea over the course of an entire season. Even that might be too much of a burden for the budding young star to carry.
That leaves Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware as the two primary centers or bigs on the roster. And if the Heat plan on starting both Bam and Ware, I'm not sure if staggering their minutes will be enough to get by over the course of an 82-game schedule.
In many ways, the Heat could be setting itself up for failure. One injury to Bam or Ware, and the team's entire rotation gets thrown off. Either that or Miami will need undrafted rookie Vlad Goldin to step into a role that he's probably not ready for.
That's where taking a flier on Achiuwa wouldn't sound like that bad an idea. Sure, the Heat would have to do some added cap gymnastics to make it happen while remaining out of the luxury tax, but there are avenues to getting there.
The Heat may not believe it to be so at the moment, but if it does come to that point, Achiuwa could ironically emerge as an answer to one of the Heat's biggest question marks this season.