A lot of hype has surrounded Precious Achiuwa, the 20th overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft. The 6-foot-9 rookie has been likened to his new Miami Heat teammate Bam Adebayo, and for his part, Bam has nothing but praise for the youngster.
Adebayo made a bold claim about what he sees in Achiuwa right now, sharing how he believes that the 21-year-old is primed for a breakout rookie campaign with the Heat:
Bam Adebayo said he thinks Precious Achiuwa will have a better rookie season than he did because he says Achiuwa is more skilled than he was as a rookie.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 4, 2020
For what it's worth, Bam Adebayo averaged 6.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 19.8 minutes as a rookie. The Heat selected him 14th overall in 2017, and he did not exactly have a run at the Rookie of the Year award during his debut campaign. Nonetheless, Adebayo has now emerged as one of the top big men in the league, and he has certainly come a long way from being nothing more than a promising youngster some three years ago.
This is exactly why Miami fans are getting all excited about Precious Achiuwa. Adebayo himself has heaped praise on the former Memphis standout, which points to the possibility of the Nigerian-born stud becoming an even better player than Adebayo somewhere down the road. Should that day come, Miami will without a doubt have one of the most fearsome frontcourt duos in the entire league.
As a freshman with the Tigers last season, Achiuwa averaged 15.8 points (on 49.3 percent shooting), 10.8 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.1 steal, and 1.9 blocks in 30.4 minutes per contest. This resulted in Precious bagging the AAC Rookie of the Year and AAC Player of the Year, while also gaining AAC All-Freshman and All-AAC honors in what was a tremendous one-and-done year in college.
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