The Heat’s Precious Achiuwa isn’t fazed by expectations, ready to accept ‘whatever role’
Precious Achiuwa might not have been a lottery pick, but the expectations surrounding the Miami Heat rookie big man are high.
“I see so much of Bam [Adebayo] in Precious when Bam first came in here,” veteran Heat forward Udonis Haslem said earlier this week. “Super athletic, works hard, plays hard. Precious got a little more skill than Bam had when he first came in, shoots a little better. But I see a lot of similarities right there in Precious.”
Then there are Adebayo’s thoughts on what Achiuwa can be.
“I feel like his rookie year is going to be better than mine, me being honest,” Adebayo said recently. “I feel like he has more skill than I did coming in my rookie year. And it’s going to be fun to work with Precious and just figure out what his mindset is and how he wants to go about his rookie year.”
But Achiuwa, who was selected with the 20th overall pick in last months’ draft, is just working to earn a consistent role on a Heat team that brings back 13 players from last season’s roster that finished two games short of an NBA championship.
“I’m just willing to accept whatever role I’m put in right now,” Achiuwa said following Friday’s practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. “However I can help. I know the expectations are high, definitely given where the team came from last season in the NBA Finals and returning most of their core. It’s a really, really, really good team and I’m just ready to make whatever role I’m put in, just expand that and be successful in whatever role I’m asked to take over.”
Achiuwa and rookies around the league are facing a steep learning curve, with the accelerated NBA schedule forcing first-year players to begin the season just about a month after the draft. There was no summer league for Achiuwa to participate in, and he entered Heat training camp with his last organized basketball coming in his final college game with Memphis on March 8 before the season was stopped because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Achiuwa feels that playing for a Memphis coaching staff led by former NBA star Penny Hardaway has helped his transition to the next level. Memphis’ coaching staff last season also included former Heat player Mike Miller as an assistant.
“I do feel like I’m being fast tracked through the whole process,” Achiuwa said. “It’s unlike any other experience that I’ve had. But I’m really, really glad that I was fortunate to play for a coaching staff led by Penny Hardaway, where we pretty much used similar terms to the NBA and our style of play was very similar. So a lot of the things that are being thrown at me, it’s not like it’s the first time I’m hearing them.”
It also helps to have Adebayo, a 23-year-old All-Star center who Achiuwa has been compared to, and Haslem, who is entering his 18th NBA season, to lean on.
“It has been really helpful, especially UD and Bam also,” Achiuwa said. “Whatever questions I have, I go up to them right away and they always tell me what I’m doing right or what I’m doing wrong, and how to go about it or what to fix or tweak to get a better result. They both have been really, really helpful in terms of just communicating with me, with whatever questions that I have.”
But consistent minutes will have to be earned by Achiuwa (6-9, 225). The Heat has a crowded power rotation led by Adebayo, which also features established veterans like 6-11 center Kelly Olynyk and 7-footer Meyers Leonard.
One thing working in Achiuwa’s favor: His combination of size and speed make him a unique option to play when Adebayo is not to avoid a drop-off when Adebayo is on the bench.
Achiuwa, who turned 21 in September, averaged 15.8 points while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 13 of 40 on threes, 10.8 rebounds, one assist and 1.9 blocks as a freshman at Memphis last season to earn the AAC Player of the Year honor.
“It’s very family oriented,” he said of his first impression of the Heat. “Guys really care about each other, not just on the court but off the court, too. Just that whole family-oriented vibe around. On the court, everybody competes and everybody just tried to push the next person and tries to get them better. That’s one of the things that has really, really impressed me the most.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Friday part of the team’s two-game preseason schedule will be used “to evaluate and some of this to get everybody acclimated to our style of play, build some habits, take another step forward.”
Spoelstra said he’s still working to finalize a plan for Monday’s preseason opener against the New Orleans Pelicans at AmericanAirlines Arena.
“We have enough continuity with 13 guys back that if we get to our basketball movements and basketball conditioning, I know many of our guys feel like they can play a game tomorrow,” Spoelstra said.
▪ When asked if Tyler Herro is ready be a starting guard, Spoelstra responded with, ‘We’ll see.”
Spoelstra added that Herro “just gobbles up everything we throw at him every day. He has the same type of dedication and hunger that he had last year when the expectations weren’t as high. He is such a competitor.”
▪ Wing BJ Johnson, who is one of four players on the Heat’s roster competing for the team’s final two-way contract spot, said Friday of his game: “For me, everybody, when they hear my name, they just think of an offensive minded guy and a scorer. But I think I’m an underrated defender. I think that has been one of my strong points in camp, just trying to pay special attention to little details defensively. I think for the two days that I’ve been at practice, I’ve been just trying to focus on that.”
Johnson, 24, split last season between the Orlando Magic and its G League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic, as a two-way contract player. He averaged 22.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals in 35.9 minutes while shooting 45.9 percent from the field, 42.3 percent from three-point range and 78.6 percent from the foul line in 28 games (all starts) with Lakeland.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
