Zacharie Risacher Remains No. 1 Pick in Latest ESPN Mock Draft

One more week until the Atlanta Hawks finally make a selection with the No. 1 overall pick.

There has been a lot of debate about what the Hawks are going to do next Wednesday night and until they make a pick or make a trade, the guessing will continue to happen.

The three prospects who have generated the most conversation with the No. 1 pick are Alex Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher and Donovan Clingan. Risacher and Clingan have dominated much of the conversation as of late and it appears that if Atlanta stays in it, it will be one of those two players.

In Jonathan Givony’s latest ESPN Mock Draft, the Hawks still select Risacher, but he dropped some interesting notes along the way:

“The Hawks cast a wide net throughout the pre-draft process, aggressively recruiting nearly every lottery prospect for workouts while also bringing in players projected outside of that range, indicating that the The team prepares for different strategies based on what they learn and potential exchange opportunities.

While it appears the Hawks are a long way from making any final decisions, many teams say their reporting indicates Risacher remains the favorite at No. 1, in part because of the dual flexibility he offers to stay competitive next season or exploit his potential as a leader. type of big, versatile wing that is difficult to acquire outside of the draft. The Hawks will bring Risacher in for a practice Wednesday, his first with the team so far, which should help clarify his position.

The Hawks haven’t been able to bring Alex Sarr in for practice so far, but the door remains open for that to potentially happen. Clingan appears to be Risacher’s main rival at number 1. His training – during which he shot the ball extremely well, showed surprisingly good passing ability on short rolls and was impressive in both film study and in interviews – helped his ranking project. and in fact here is a possible selection of sleepers, as we have been discussing for several weeks.

The status of Atlanta’s Trae Young is the big question hanging over the franchise. One option that has been widely discussed among teams is the possibility of the Hawks reacquiring their unprotected 2025 first-round pick from San Antonio (perhaps in a trade for the No. 4 pick), which would give the team much more flexibility for rebuilding. This would currently be difficult to understand, with their next three draft picks (2025, 2026 trade rights and 2027) belonging to the Spurs.

The Hawks worked out Reed Sheppard last week and Clingan before that, both attractive options at No. 4 if they choose to move back. Atlanta also brought in Matas Buzelis, Cody Williams and Ron Holland for practice.”

This would indicate that the Hawks have done their homework on this draft class and are preparing for all scenarios. I still wouldn’t close the door on choosing Sarr, even though it seems like it’s getting harder by the day. He could still be brought in for a workout or Atlanta could have met with him privately.

On yesterday’s episode of NBA Today, Givony shed some light on what’s happening this week in Atlanta:

“What are the Atlanta Hawks going to do at No. 1? They’re going to coach Zacharie Risacher tomorrow, it’s the first time an NBA team will see him live in their building. They coached Donovan Clingan and they J loved what they saw, Quin Snyder put him through a detailed film session, he shot the ball really well, he had a great interview, he showed some ability on short rolls and they so a tough decision to make there. possibly go back to 4 with San Antonio have their pick next year, without protection, can you get the best of both worlds, go down to 4 and get Donovan Clingan or Risacher. and get your choice back?”

Risacher and Clingan have been the two most talked about prospects over the past two weeks after Sarr was the early favorite to go No. 1 right after the lottery. While Sarr has become the least talked about of the three prospects, Hawks general manager Landry Fields shared his thoughts on Sarr during his advance media availability yesterday:

“He’s a good player, who should go pretty high from what I’ve heard. He has a lot of tools that you would want at the NBA level.”

While Sarr is touted as a top player on the defensive court, many questions arise about his offensive game. Fields was asked about this and what he thought about Sarr’s potential progression to that end:

“I think with Sarr and the other guys, you’re going to see some areas that they need to grow in. So for a guy that we bring in, we’re going to think very highly of him.”

Fields was also asked about the possibility of going back and getting multiple picks rather than staying first overall and here’s what he had to say:

“Yeah, so as a group we looked at a ton of different scenarios, keeping the pick, going back to the draft, and all the things you talk about and where we are right now is we’ll pick No. 1. 1, but yeah, I don’t think it would be wise for us not to look at those scenarios, but we’ve looked at a ton of them and we’ll continually look at them as well.”

When asked if he was committed to using the No. 1 pick, this was Fields’ response:

“Today we are considering choosing No. 1.”

It looks like everything is on the table for the Hawks and a lot can change next week. Fields also explained how locked the Hawks roster is currently and what it would take for one player to leapfrog another and reach No. 1:

“I would say a week ago it was broader than it is today, the board is definitely structuring and growing. To be No. 1, there has to be a guy which we consider to be a good choice for us, not only for the next day, but also for the future.

Fields mentioned they are also going to bring in more prospects for workouts this week. This is going to be an interesting week for Fields and the rest of the front office as they try to figure out what they want to do with the No. 1 pick.