New Orleans Pelicans Draft Profile: Defensive Wing Precious Achiuwa

Precious Achiuwa’s Weaknesses

Achiuwa could be the best defensive wing in the draft, but when it comes to offense, he needs a lot of work.

Teams are looking for 3-and-D players and currently Achiuwa is lacking half of that equation. He shoots just 32.5 percent from 3-point range on 1.3 attempts per game, not great numbers for a modern wing.

What’s more concerning is that Achiuwa shoots just 49.4 percent overall, below average for a guy who gets most of his shots around the hoop. His 59.9 percent free throw shooting is also concerning, especially considering he was getting six attempts per game.

This tells us that teams were comfortable fouling Achiuwa rather than allowing him to get easy put-backs and run-outs.

Achiuwa also lacks handles and coughed it up for 2.8 turnovers a game, an alarming number, even for a guy with a 27.7 percent usage rate.

Achiuwa’s strengths and weaknesses were on full display in a monster game against Tulane where he had 22 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks, but also added four turnovers.

Achiuwa has the chance to fill out stat sheets every night, but not always in a good way.

His offensive skills are definitely raw, but the New Orleans Pelicans have one of the best offenses in the league and don’t necessarily need more scoring.

Achiuwa’s plus defense and rebounding could be enough for the Pelicans to decide he’s worth the risk.