NBA Rookie Watch: Zaccharie Risacher Is Starting To Look Like A No. 1 Pick

Normally, being the first overall pick is a badge of honor and proof a player is the best of the best. But this cycle of rookies — one viewed across the board as subpar — the first player off the board is considered the headliner of a rag-tag bunch rather than a future star.

While I think superstardom is unlikely for the Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher, he has a chance to seriously impact winning, especially with how he’s played the last month and a half of his rookie year for the Atlanta Hawks.

Finding His Trusty Jumper

A big reason why teams and draft analysts were so high on Risacher was they didn’t need to worry about developing him into a competent jump shooter because he already was one. During his professional career overseas, he hit 40.7 percent of the 209 3-point attempts he fired.

Unfortunately, during the early portion of this season, his trusty jumper seemed to abandoned him. Through his first 40 games, Risacher only managed to convert on a concerning 28.3 percent of his threes. Since then (15 games), though, he’s hitting 47.8 percent of his triples.

Forty-eight percent won’t turn into his typical average, but I do think it’s safe to say he’s closer to the shooter he’s been recently than the one he was to start his rookie campaign.

I’m by no means a shot doctor, but his film certainly passes the smell test. Risacher has a tight, balanced released fairly easy to replicate. He also doesn’t allow the ball to dip very much when he catches it, and it takes him little time to gather into his shooting motion. Both of these variables allow him to unleash threes at a high clip and when it comes to spacing, volume is more important than efficiency.

Shoot that thing mon frère 🇫🇷👏 pic.twitter.com/PKqb5dxRR4

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) March 4, 2025

Defensive Promise

If there are two really helpful aspects in the game of basketball, it’s having size and the ability to shoot. Risacher has the former in spades. According to CraftedNBA’s database, he’s 6 feet 8 inches with an engulfing 6-foot-10 wingspan.

Having length gives players more margin for error, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. Given Risacher’s amateur status, mistakes are a common part of his defensive tape. So, he’s often turning to his superior size to fix the messes he makes.

In the first clip, he has ants in his pants and unnecessarily bites on a pump fake. Yet since he’s built like a skyscraper, he quickly gets back to his feet and offers a solid contest. Then, in the second play, his loose handle leads to a steal and what should be an easy layup. But Risacher has other plans, climbing the ladder for a miracle block.

Being a poor defender as a rookie isn’t atypical, and Risacher certainty isn’t an exception to the rule (29th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus). His comfort with the speed of the game will soon improve, and he eventually won’t have to use his physical tools to play catch up. Instead, he can focus on channeling his powers to be a disruptive playmaker and secondary rim protector; he’s already in the 52nd percentile in steal rate and 62nd percentile in block rate among forwards, per Cleaning the Glass.

Anyway, not having one of the aforementioned features (size and shooting) can be quite debilitating. What good does it do to be a rangy defender if a player can’t stay off the floor because defenses don’t respect their jumper? What about if their team can’t profit off of the shooting because said player is too small to be a good defender? Sounds problematic, right? Well, as long as Risacher keeps shooting the ball at a high level, the Hawks will never have to worry about this.

All The Role Player Skills

If Risacher adds enough to his off-the-dribble game, his combination of size and shooting could let him take a similar path to that of Trey Murphy III. However, the more plausible trajectory is him becoming an elite role player for a long time to come.

Along with the spacing he offers, his stature and verticality make him a threat as a finisher around the hoop. His efficiency is nothing to applaud (19th percentile rim efficiency), but efficiency doesn’t really matter at his age (he’s still 19 until early April). What’s really intriguing is how often he gets to the most sacred part of the floor (77th percentile rim attempts per 75 possessions). This illustrates his capacity to finish plays as a closeout attacker, lob catcher, roller or cutter.

His defensive versatility is just as expansive. I touched on his promise as an off-ball roamer and low man defender, and those are the areas I like him most. But off-ball chaser and point-of-attack stopper are also jobs his body type allows him to assume.

Risacher Is A Pillar Of The Hawks’ Future

Don’t let the Hawks’ mediocre 28-34 record deceive, they are building a team perfectly tailored for the future of the game. Among Risacher, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Terance Mann, Caris LeVert and Vit Krejci, they have a cavalcade of wings at their disposal.

The two leading standouts are Johnson and, of course, Risacher. Together, their combination of size, skill, shooting, rim pressure, defensive versatility and rim protection make them the perfect tandem alongside the defensively limited, All-Star guard Trae Young.

Since these archetypes tend to fit seamlessly with anyone, Risacher and Johnson will have no issue complementing the next offensive centerpiece the Hawks bring in if Young proves not to be their long-term answer.

The Draft is about acquiring players who can be part of a great team. The early returns suggest Risacher can be that guy for the Hawks. So, who cares what pick they selected him with, given all the promise he’s showcased thus far in his rookie season?