If the Knicks can glean one encouraging sign from their recent slide amid a rash of injuries, it has been the production and heavy minutes logged by forward Precious Achiuwa.
The Bronx product, who came to the Knicks with OG Anunoby in a Dec. 30 trade with Toronto, posted 14.5 points, 10.9 rebounds and 41.5 minutes over the final eight games before the All-Star break due to the recent injury absences of Anunoby, Julius Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein.
“I mentioned earlier what Isaiah has shown us and then Precious coming in,” coach Tom Thibodeau said after Wednesday’s road loss to the Magic, the Knicks’ fifth in their past six games. “Obviously there were things we liked about [Achiuwa], that’s why we traded for him. But he’s shown us a lot. And it’s given us more versatility, we have size now at the 4. He can play the 4 or the 5, can play it well. … So that’s a big plus for us.”
As Thibodeau mentioned, the 6-foot-8 Achiuwa gives the Knicks depth at both power forward and center once the other big men are able to return to the starting lineup.
He also has been especially effective on the offensive glass with 40 offensive rebounds during those eight appearances, including a whopping 19 in the two games this week in Houston (nine) and Orlando (10).
“I think he’s making a great effort,” Thibodeau said. “Not just the initial effort, but the second and third efforts as well. And he’s going on every shot. So I think he’s getting into a quick rhythm, a rhythm shooting, reading the ball well and making great effort and doing a lot of good things for us.”
Achiuwa will revert to a second-unit role once the Knicks regain their health, but his ability to man either big-man spot provides Thibodeau options after mostly employing undersized Josh Hart as the backup power forward to Randle earlier in the season.
“I’m definitely more of a 4 than a 5 … but it don’t matter to me,” the 24-year-old Achiuwa said this week. “For me, it’s doing whatever it takes to get a win. I’m a winner. I like to win basketball games. I don’t really care about all the extra stuff, just do what I got to do to put us in a better position to win.
“Whether it’s setting screens, rebounding the ball, guarding the best player on the other team, steals, blocks — whatever it takes to win basketball games, that’s what I’m really looking forward to doing.”