Miami Heat Rookie Precious Achiuwa Eager to Get on the Court

Miami Heat rookie Precious Achiuwa says he won’t have an issue with working off the rust from not playing in almost a year.

He has been inactive since the college basketball season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Achiuwa says he will be ready once the NBA season begins later this month.

“I haven’t played in eight months,” Achiuwa said. “That don’t mean I’m not ready to play. I’ve been working out a lot every day and staying ready.”

The Heat drafted the 6-foot-9 Achiuwa with the No. 20 pick in the first round. He is hoping to follow the recent success of the past few selections. In 2017, they chose Bam Adebayo at No. 13 and he has developed into one of the league’s top rising stars. Last year lottery pick, Tyler Herro, was among the top rookies and became the youngest player to start in the NBA Finals.

Achiuwa has spent the last couple weeks working out with Herro.

“Just asking him a lot of questions,” Achiuwa said. “Me and Tyler connected the night right after the night I got drafted. He reached out to me and we’ve been just talking. It’s good to bond with a teammate.”

Achiuwa, who is from Nigeria, played just one season at Memphis before turning pro. He averaged 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds last year.

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