Achiuwa riding his ‘roller coaster’
Big man preparing for summer league after an uneven rookie season
It started as a rookie season like few others, with early talk of the Miami Heat landing Bam Adebayo 2.0.
Then the reality of a pandemic-compacted schedule and the arrival of veteran big man Dewayne Dedman hit home for Precious Achiuwa.
Now, as the first season for the No. 20 pick out of Memphis winds down, it almost is as if the future matters more than the moment.
“It’s just the nature of things, just the way things are,” the 6-foot-8 power forward said ahead of Friday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at AmericanAirlines Arena. “Nothing is ever going to go as smooth as the way we want it go.”
It arguably could not have gone smoother at the outset, with the Heat limited in their power rotation. That led to immediate playing time and immediate contributions.
But with the NBA going without a 2020 summer league, and with training camp and the preseason compressed into mere days, eventually the lack of pro-level reps took its toll after just a single collegiate season under Penny
Hardaway at Memphis.
“There have been a lot of ups and downs, obviously,” Achiuwa said. “Also, learning on the fly, that’s one of the biggest things so far. I’ve just been learning on the fly, just trying to piece things together.
“We didn’t really have an offseason, unlike any other draft, and it has just been difficult. Not just for myself, but you can look across the league at everybody who was drafted this year. Guys that I played, they’ve either been stronger in the beginning or they’re stronger right now, whatever the case may be. It’s just that we’re all trying to learn on the fly and trying to incorporate what we’re learning into our games.”
Arguably the highlight of Achiuwa’s rookie season was being named to the roster for the Rookie Challenge.
That game, featuring leading first- and second-year players, however, was not played, with the cancellation of the All-Star Weekend event due to the pandemic.
Since then, the affable 21-year-old largely has been out of view, particularly since the Heat’s April 8 addition of Dedmon.
As a matter of comparison, Achiuwa averaged 14 minutes per game and 6.1 points and 4.0 rebounds prior to the March 5-10 All-Star break. Since then, the averages have been 8.7 minutes, 2.9 points and 2.5 rebounds.
In the eight games prior to Friday night, the Nigerian native had played just 11 minutes, held out of four.
That doesn’t mean the potential hasn’t been on display. Prior to that eight-game stretch, Achiuwa went for eight points and 11 rebounds in his third start of the season, when Adebayo was held out of the April 19 home victory over the Houston Rockets.
By March, though, it was as if the rookie wall had crushed Achiuwa, with a -26.2 plus/minus for the month, a month when he shot 3 of 15 from the foul line. Late that month, the Heat added outside-shooting big man Nemanja Bjelica from the Sacramento Kings. Then came Dedmon.
Since then, talk of a spot on one of the All-Rookie teams ceased, as did the notion of Achiuwa immediately as Adebayo 2.0.
But what comes next could matter most, with the NBA planning to stage a summer league in August and then plenty of time available on the Heat practice court before the start of 2021 training camp, elements unavailable prior to this season’s rushed restart.
“It has been an up-and-down roller coaster ride,” he said after Friday morning’s shootaround. “But it’s part of the job. You got to come in and if things aren’t going the way we want them to go, you got to be professional. You got to come in here and do your job. It’s a business.
“Whether you’re playing or not, you still got to be ready to go out and play if your name is called. That’s why you got to stay in shape, got to keep your conditioning up, your body right, work on your game, and all that kind of stuff, because you never know.”
Robbed of summer school last year, he said he has tried to go to school this season, afforded the opportunities in practice to work alongside Adebayo, Bjelica, Dedmon, and, previously, Kelly Olynyk.
“I watch a lot of those guys,” he said. “I see the things that they could do and I try to do things from their game and incorporate into my game. Just with my physical abilities — strong, fast, jump high — that’s not something I have to go learn. But other parts of my game, learning from these guys, Kelly, Beli, Bam, I just try to watch them and take one or two things from their game and added it to mine as the season is going on.”