OKC Thunder draft prospect profile: Precious Achiuwa

Pro Comparison:

Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer suggests James Johnson and Montrezl Harrell as players with comparable skills. DraftNet notes Gerald Wallace and Mo Harkless.

The alignment with Harrell makes the most sense as both players score easily inside and each has issues defensively in spite of their energy. As noted, however, if Achiuwa was selected and developed in the right program he could be impactful in every aspect of the game. In that regard, the James Johnson and Gerald Wallace juxtaposition makes more sense.

Having said all that, I can’t shake that zoom media session and wish there had been the typical NBA Draft Combine this year just so there would’ve been more opportunity to watch him in scrimmages and in more media sessions.

Ultimately, personality doesn’t always align with the on-court presence — if it did Kawhi Leonard would be a bust.

OKC Thunder fit:

If we considered players based on their names Precious would vault to the top of my list. In fact, his entire family has exceptional monikers. He has three brothers God’sGift, God’sWill, and Promise as well as two sisters Grace and Peace.  God’sWill played ball in college at St. John’s University.

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As for his fit with the Thunder much will depend on how Sam Presti feels about adding a big who isn’t likely to be a floor spacer. Achiuwa can play both the four and five but the Thunder know all too well how important a floor-spacing four (or five) man is. After Kevin Durant left the team it took until last season when the addition of Danilo Gallinari highlighted how important and impactful a stretch four is.

The other side of the equation is what Sam Presti will elect to do with the bigs currently on the team. Both Gallo and Nerlens Noel will be free agents while Steven Adams may be on the trade block. Ideally, Darius Bazley will be developed into the future stretch four but there will still need to be reserves and depth up front.

I’m not sold Precious is the man Presti should invest this pick in — but if he does, I can’t wait to hear the play calls. It’s almost sad he’s not a perimeter sniper because Mike Breen yelling “Precious – Bang” would be awesome.