The Atlanta Hawks don't need Risacher to be a savior, just right

ATLANTA — It would be difficult to have a strong opinion on Zaccharie Risacher, the new No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, unless JL Bourg of the Elite LNB league somehow makes the cut from your basketball viewing menu last season.

But there’s a reason why people who actually get paid to pay attention to this stuff — and whose jobs depend on it succeeding — have loved Risacher since they were 16.

In the modern NBA, big wings who can shoot from the perimeter and defend multiple positions are among the rarest commodities.

Just ask the New York Knicks, who are about to pay OG Anunoby over $200 million despite never averaging more than 17.1 points per game and just giving a draft pick ransom for Michael Bridges.

Just ask the Boston Celtics, who literally built an NBA champion around two wings in the same environment.

Or, conversely, just ask the Atlanta Hawks, who have had a huge hole at this spot on their roster since building a team around Trae Young. They spent a lot of capital on De’Andre Hunter, who didn’t deliver as expected. They took a chance on Cam Reddish, who is now on his fourth NBA team.

In this league, there are a lot of point guards, off-the-ball guys who can hit the three and a growing number of bigs who can step out and hit a jumper. But that combination of height, shooting And ability to disrupt the defensive side?

This is the hardest archetype to find in basketball. And Risacher, who measured almost 2.05 m without shoes during the European combine, is the only one in this draft to match.

“Having shooting be a priority in this league, especially for a guy who’s 6-10 years old, is really helpful,” Hawks general manager Landry Fields said.

This explains Why he became number 1. That doesn’t explain whether he deserved it. And it certainly offers no guarantee as to whether the Hawks and Fields, their 35-year-old primary basketball decision-maker, nailed this one or blew it so bad that their entire front office will be at the looking for new jobs in a few years.

As always with the project, time will tell. This year, in particular, seems destined to be a year with more than a few choices that will seem ridiculous going forward.

But for any Atlanta fans who aren’t super excited about drafting a player whose ceiling is more likely to be a really good part of a winning team rather than a superstar, it’s at least worth worth recognizing that it ticks a very specific box.

It’s kind of like how quarterbacks move up the ranks every year in the NFL draft, even in a year where none of them seem like a sure thing. If one hits, it’s a rare enough commodity to make it worth the effort.

The same could be said of Risacher. It’s quite possible that there are players drafted behind him on Wednesday who will have better careers. But in a year where every top prospect has faced huge questions related to their viability as a No. 1 pick, Atlanta will have the kind of team-building element that’s hard to find further down the stretch. the draft and almost impossible to get in free agency. .

“He’s 6-10, he has the ability to play on both sides of the ball, be a versatile defender, a very good shooter and a high IQ player,” Fields said. “The level of development he has had so far is fantastic and he will be 19 throughout next year. He has all the things we look for offensively and defensively in a complete player.”

Now, another important question: Is Risacher good enough?

Who knows. Almost impossible to say, especially for someone who didn’t spend this winter and spring watching the French basketball championship.

But Risacher played against grown men, and he more than held his own, averaging 10.1 points in 22 minutes and shooting 35 percent from the 3-point line. He was particularly good in the recently concluded playoffs, averaging 15 points. Those are legitimate stats for a teenager in Europe’s tough professional leagues.

(For context, Luka Doncic averaged 12.8 points in 24 minutes during his final year with Real Madrid. Any 18 or 19 year old player scoring in double figures in a top European league can probably play .)

Risacher also has an attractive pedigree. His father, Stéphane, was a six-time All-Star in France and champion of Spain and Greece. It’s almost like he came out of a lab with all the attributes an NBA franchise would want in a player you’re using with such a big pick.

And if it works, he’s the type of player with real position size that Atlanta desperately needs. As previously mentioned, the Hawks’ attempts to find a good winger with “three and D” skills who could work with Young have all failed. And unlike teams that usually pick first place, Atlanta’s roster isn’t a disaster. The Hawks have been disappointing in recent years, but this isn’t a total rebuild. They have some core guys in place, including forward Jalen Johnson, who look like real competitive pieces on a future Eastern Conference contender. They just need Risacher to be good, not a savior.

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