Has Achiuwa Become Our Best Defender?

[DelAbbot]

I will preface by saying I'm OG's biggest fan and believe he has the best defense when he is fully healthy. But watching Achiuwa defend the PHI players, it's incredible. He can contain Maxey's dribble penetration, and Harden's shifty moves, and Embiid's physical dominance. He has been playing defense like peak OG.

[MoneyBall]

I know people are pissed at Siakam right now but he was downright impressive at times defensively last night.

[bboyskinnylegs]

for a 2nd year player, his defense is incredible. Kind of like a hybrid between Pascal and OG. I hope Scottie can also get to the level OG/Pascal/Precious are at defensively.

[Madhouse]

He is, been saying it for months.

That being said he still has mental lapses in his game and is still too inconsistent but that's going to get corrected in the next 1-2 years. For example last night he contained Maxey several times but then got blown by Harris. Needs to study the strengths, weaknesses and tendencies of his opponents more.

[Spates]

Precious has a combination of balance, core strength, hip mobility, and fast twitch that makes him suffocating at times.

[Reeko]

Once he cleans up his offense, he's going to be a straight up beast. I hated every time he went to the bench and they brought Birch back in.

And I don't understand why Nurse doesn't just start him given that we're without Barnes. It's clear as day that the team is much better with him on the court, on both ends.

[Qhawe]

Once he cleans up his offense, he's going to be a straight up beast. I hated every time he went to the bench and they brought Birch back in.

And I don't understand why Nurse doesn't just start him given that we're without Barnes. It's clear as day that the team is much better with him on the court, on both ends.

Precious is miles better than Birch, but I think we need birch to start to bring some physicality/resistance to Embiid for the first few minutes, pick up fouls then Precious to play majority of the minutes.

[Raps in 4]

Has been all season.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

His feet are ridiculous, A1 from day 1. 1-5 type of dude, you can see exactly why Masai targeted him.

[will]

Would still give the nod to ADOBE and Pascal. Previous has definitely made noise with his defensive efforts.

[Johnny Bball]

Once he cleans up his offense, he's going to be a straight up beast. I hated every time he went to the bench and they brought Birch back in.

And I don't understand why Nurse doesn't just start him given that we're without Barnes. It's clear as day that the team is much better with him on the court, on both ends.

Keep him out of foul trouble (save him for the end) is all I can come up with.

[OakleyDokely]

Dude has the co-ordination and agility to hang on the perimeter with legit scoring guards, and he also has the bulk and wingspan to bang with bigs in the post. That's pretty rare. He's gotta clean up some missed assignment stuff, but that's more youth and inexperience than ability.

Charles Barkley has a line that goes something like 'the water is pretty deep out at the 3 point line for bigs defending out there' but Precious is one of the few who can handle those assignments. The ability to go from Embiid to Harden on a switch and not embarrass yourself is a win, but not only does he not embarrass himself, he's generally able to contain it.

A bouncy 3+D big who can rebound and defend 1-5 is a very valuable player.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Dude has the co-ordination and agility to hang on the perimeter with legit scoring guards, and he also has the bulk and wingspan to bang with bigs in the post. That's pretty rare. He's gotta clean up some missed assignment stuff, but that's more youth and inexperience than ability.

Charles Barkley has a line that goes something like 'the water is pretty deep out at the 3 point line for bigs defending out there' but Precious is one of the few who can handle those assignments. The ability to go from Embiid to Harden on a switch and not embarrass yourself is a win, but not only does he not embarrass himself, he's generally able to contain it.

A bouncy 3+D big who can rebound and defend 1-5 is a very valuable player.

It’s what everyone wants. And there’s only a couple guys who are big enough to cause a problem, we just need a big dude off the bench to play 1v1 for spells through out the game, even if we drop. We’re doing this with Khem right now who’s just not big enough to do that job.

[Madhouse]

Would still give the nod to ADOBE and Pascal. Previous has definitely made noise with his defensive efforts.

Raptors defensive ratings:

with Previous on court: 106.7
with Previous off court: 110.2
with Adobe on court: 108.1
with Adobe off court: 109.7
with Pascal on court: 109.6
with Pascal off court: 108.1

with Previous on court, Adobe off court: 105.3
with Previous on court, Adobe on court: 107.3
with Previous off court, Adobe on court: 107.2

with Previous on court, Pascal off court: 105.1
with Previous on court, Pascal on court: 106.7
with Previous off court, Pascal on court: 109.7

with Previous on court, Pascal and Adobe off court: 104.8
with Previous on court, Pascal and Adobe on court: 110.5
with Previous off court, Pascal and Adobe on court: 106.6



Previous is #1.

[LoveMyRaps]

I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited for this guy's future.

I loved his post-game interview from yesterday as well.

Watch on YouTube

He just kept stressing how valuable of an experience these games are & how they're so important for his development.

"I watch the games right after we play multiple times. So I'm just tryna learn right way, get better, and improve on things I need to improve on"

"I know I'm gonna be back here a lot of times in my career"

So confident, so poised, so ready for the moment:

Watch on YouTube

[Madhouse]

I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited for this guy's future.

I loved his post-game interview from yesterday as well.

Watch on YouTube

He just kept stressing how valuable of an experience these games are & how they're so important for his development.

"I watch the games right after we play multiple times. So I'm just tryna learn right way, get better, and improve on things I need to improve on"

"I know I'm gonna be back here a lot of times in my career"

So confident, so poised, so ready for the moment:

Watch on YouTube

yeah, I'm really confident he will become a great player.

Work ethic, mindset and willingness to improve and being aware of your limitations is really what's holding a lot of players back.

He knows what he has to work on, he has a plan how to get there and will put the work in.

That he averaged 46/39/62 and 12/6/1 post ASB and just 42/31/58 and 8/7/1 before ASB is very promising. Shows his process is working.

Now keep in mind that he missed a summer of specific development due to playing at the Olympics and a late 2nd season surge usually is followed by a year 3 breakout, so we can expect big things from Precious next season. I think he could have a breakout year like a Darius Garland. Obviously much more defensively orientated but as he works on his game, he should be a 15/8/2 player for the Raptors next season. Maybe even better, time will tell because he likely is going to log heavy minutes.

Finishing around the rim and decision making while driving to the basket are probably the 2 biggest things I see him trying to improve over the offseason.

[mtcan]

Precious is a wildcard to borderline train wreck on offence but on D he can keep with most guys in the league.

[aroc23]

Do people see him as a C or PF? I am really excited by his skill and shooting development, but I still worry he plays the same position as Scottie’s optimal position (PF). If he cannot play C then it means you probably need to move OG and Pascal. If he can play C full time then the Raps are potentially set in the front court for the next decade or so.

Do people really see him as the future C here or are we adding to the forward log jam?

[HKBOY]

Do people see him as a C or PF? I am really excited by his skill and shooting development, but I still worry he plays the same position as Scottie’s optimal position (PF). If he cannot play C then it means you probably need to move OG and Pascal. If he can play C full time then the Raps are potentially set in the front court for the next decade or so.

Do people really see him as the future C here or are we adding to the forward log jam?

Prime Precious is the perfect modern NBA C in my opinion. We just need a big 7 footer off the bench (situational player) to bang with the few traditional Cs out there.

[Madhouse]

Do people see him as a C or PF? I am really excited by his skill and shooting development, but I still worry he plays the same position as Scottie’s optimal position (PF). If he cannot play C then it means you probably need to move OG and Pascal. If he can play C full time then the Raps are potentially set in the front court for the next decade or so.

Do people really see him as the future C here or are we adding to the forward log jam?

C unless we can get a bigger version of him at C like Bam.