The Atlanta Hawks kicked off the 2024 NBA Draft by selecting Zaccharie Risacher with the first overall pick. The young wing from France has an incredibly high floor, but it’s also difficult to project a path to stardom for him.
Given that teams typically look to draft a franchise-caliber player who can become a superstar with early lottery picks, did Atlanta make the right decision with such a coveted asset? The talent level in this year’s draft class makes that question a little more complicated. Let’s dig into who Risacher is as a player and make a grade for this pick.
Zaccharie Risacher’s strengths
Risacher has an extremely high floor for a teenage prospect coming into the NBA. He has an ideal height and weight combination that very few players have. His length is reminiscent of guys such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama.
Risacher’s length and instincts will make him a legitimate defender from day one. His size and fluidity will allow him to guard positions 2 through 4, and if he bulks up he’ll even potentially be able to hold his own against big men in the paint. That alone makes him a valuable player.
In addition to his defensive talent, Risacher also has a high offensive floor. He’s a lethal shooter with a high release point who can get a shot off against almost any defender.
The young draftee hasn’t quite developed as an initiator, but he has also been playing against a higher level of competition than most rookies who follow the traditional pipeline from college to the NBA.
Risacher has been playing with teammates who are significantly older than he is. Most of them were also more entrenched with the team, which gave them an edge in the hierarchy and often delegated the newly-minted first overall pick to a tertiary role.
Zaccharie Risacher’s weaknesses
For all of his strengths, Risacher has one glaring weakness: his realistic ceiling is murky at best. This isn’t so much a critique of the Frenchman as it is a concern about the use of such a valuable asset.
Teams are lucky to get even one first overall pick in a decade and, when you have that pick, you must do everything in your power to acquire a game-changing player with it. Guys who are picked first overall need to at least have the clear potential to alter the trajectory of your franchise.
Risacher might get there, one day. It’s certainly not out of the question, but as it currently stands, he doesn’t have an easily projectable path to being a franchise player. To live up to his first overall billing, he must improve his creation skills.
The rookie just isn’t creative or skilled enough yet to make things happen when the defense keys in on him. The version of Risacher that is entering the NBA this upcoming season is not somebody who you can rely on to make a play at the end of the game with the defense locked in. When the shot clock is winding down, the Hawks won’t trust him to score for himself or create a quality look for one of his teammates. That’s a critical skill for a franchise player, and Risacher just doesn’t have it yet.
Role players let things come to them, whereas franchise players take the initiative and make things happen for themselves and for others. Currently, Risacher is the former. He’s very good at what he does, but in order to be worth the investment the Hawks have made in him, he’ll need to become more assertive and make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen.
It’s too easy for role players to fade away into the background because they rely on others. We’ll see if Risacher develops the ability to create efficiently, which he’ll need in order to be a true star.
What Risacher can work on
An easy way for Risacher to begin developing his skills as a playmaker is to work on improving his handle. One thing that often sets franchise-altering wings apart from above-average wings is the ability to maintain their dribble and put moves on defenders.
It’s why Joel Embiid is such a unicorn: He’s a big man with the dribbling and shooting skills of an all-star caliber guard. The good news is that Risacher already has the shooting ability down. He’ll still need to get more comfortable shooting off the dribble, but his mechanics are picturesque. That’s why it would be smart for him to work on the art of breaking deenders down and getting them off-balance, as that will be the most difficult thing for him to learn.
How he fits with Hawks
The Hawks are currently built primarily around their star point guard, Trae Young. Young is a dynamic scorer and an elite playmaker, but he struggles immensely on the defensive end of the court. Depending on who you ask, Young may even be a negative overall player because he gives just as much back defensively as he creates offensively.
Risacher has a high floor on both offense and defense, but he’ll be elite defensively from the first day that he steps foot on an NBA court. While it’s unlikely he’ll spend most of his time directly guarding point guards, the rookie will be a big help to Young just because of his presence.
Grade the Pick: A-
This selection needs to be viewed within the context of this year's draft class. Risacher doesn’t have a guaranteed path to stardom, but he has an incredibly high floor. Most other players in this year‘s draft had an equally difficult path to stardom, and if Risacher develops creation skills, he could be a superstar. The only player with an easier path to superstar is Rob Dillingham, and also has a significantly lower floor than Risacher, and Atlanta has their point guard with Young.
Drafting Dillingham and trading Young for a big return would have been a bold move that could turn out spectacularly or backfire, but Risacher was a much safer pick for the Hawks.
Overall, I would give this grade a B+. Given the context of this year’s class, though, I’ll grade it on a slight curve and round it up to an A-.
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