A Christmas wish list for the Toronto Raptors this holiday season
By Avishai Sol
Can Precious Achiuwa improve his offense?
Over the offseason, Toronto let go of G-League signing Freddie Gillespie. Not a move I disapproved of at the time. Gillespie was easy to love as an undersized big man, but once Masai Ujiri brought in Precious Achiuwa, we knew that Gillespie’s days on the team were numbered.
Fans may have to pump the breaks on Achiuwa being a game-changing upgrade at this point due to how inefficient he has been on offense. Granted, it is tough as a smaller big man to finish inside, but Achiuwa is shooting only 38% from the field thus far this season.
He isn’t big enough to muscle defenders around, and while he does have speed and fluidity with the ball, he doesn’t really have any moves to beat his man. He has flashed some ability to shoot from deep, but that part of his game is still far from reliable.
Will the Toronto Raptors turn Precious Achiuwa around?
So if Achiuwa isn’t a finisher and he isn’t a creator, what is he? Well, as of now he’s offensive net negative at -0.2 offensive win shares a game. He’s had some moments as a shooter, but until he works on his ability to make shots around the rim, it will be very hard for fans to believe in him.
He’s still young, and he’s playing within one of the greatest basketball development systems on earth, so this is by no means a referendum on the player he might one day become. Remember that Achiuwa is miles ahead of where Pascal Siakam was at 22. All that said, it’d be nice to see him get that FG% up above 40% by 2022.