Zaccharie Risacher

[HadAnEffectHere]

I still feel like his lack of upside will keep him from going #1. Even in a draft this weak, it is a really tough sell to a fanbase to not swing for the fences with the top pick in the draft.

6-9 forward with above average athleticism and shot and turned 19 yrs old like a month ago. If he played at UNC people would be hyping him up as a raw player that can improve. Instead we have people acting like dude is the next Cory Kispert going #1.

We did the same thing with Brandon Miller last year assuming he was only a good shooter at 6-9. I am not saying he will be next Miller, but we want to put guys into a box that have great size and NBA ready skills.

Risacher has like no on-ball talent at all right now. The degree of on-ball improvement you would have to project for Risacher to be able to iso or run pick-and-roll in the NBA... I mean, if you're willing to project that far, why don't we compare Reed Sheppard to Steph Curry?

I think it's actually significantly more likely Reed is Steph Curry than Risacher can create on the ball.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Nic Batum type player

[FarBeyondDriven]

I still feel like his lack of upside will keep him from going #1. Even in a draft this weak, it is a really tough sell to a fanbase to not swing for the fences with the top pick in the draft.

6-9 forward with above average athleticism and shot and turned 19 yrs old like a month ago. If he played at UNC people would be hyping him up as a raw player that can improve. Instead we have people acting like dude is the next Cory Kispert going #1.

We did the same thing with Brandon Miller last year assuming he was only a good shooter at 6-9. I am not saying he will be next Miller, but we want to put guys into a box that have great size and NBA ready skills.

Risacher has like no on-ball talent at all right now. The degree of on-ball improvement you would have to project for Risacher to be able to iso or run pick-and-roll in the NBA... I mean, if you're willing to project that far, why don't we compare Reed Sheppard to Steph Curry?

I think it's actually significantly more likely Reed is Steph Curry than Risacher can create on the ball.

Risacher has as much on-ball talent as Brandon Miller displayed last year and at a younger age yet I don't recall you or anyone bringing his lack of on-ball skills up in your evals for him. All anyone should care about is can he dribble with his head up. Can he bring the ball up the floor on a fast break and score or find the open man. Can he penetrate off contests. Can he take mismatches off the dribble. He has already shown this at 18 y/o.

There's really not many on-ball creators in the NBA at the wing position and the ones that are are elite. Nobody is putting Risacher in that category so what's with all b.s. about him lacking this skill at 19 y/o or even potentially not ever getting it? Not being an on-ball creator is baked into his evaluation. He's as good a prospect as he is without it. If he develops that part of his game it's just gravy. Maybe because people assume he's going #1 they are nitpicking? But if he goes lower, which is more appropriate, it shouldn't be anything people are clutching their pearls about. If you didn't bring it up with Miller, Murray, Smith these past few drafts why are you suddenly caring now? It's disingenuous.

[JustBuzzin]

6-9 forward with above average athleticism and shot and turned 19 yrs old like a month ago. If he played at UNC people would be hyping him up as a raw player that can improve. Instead we have people acting like dude is the next Cory Kispert going #1.

We did the same thing with Brandon Miller last year assuming he was only a good shooter at 6-9. I am not saying he will be next Miller, but we want to put guys into a box that have great size and NBA ready skills.

Risacher has like no on-ball talent at all right now. The degree of on-ball improvement you would have to project for Risacher to be able to iso or run pick-and-roll in the NBA... I mean, if you're willing to project that far, why don't we compare Reed Sheppard to Steph Curry?

I think it's actually significantly more likely Reed is Steph Curry than Risacher can create on the ball.

Risacher has as much on-ball talent as Brandon Miller displayed last year and at a younger age yet I don't recall you or anyone bringing his lack of on-ball skills up in your evals for him. All anyone should care about is can he dribble with his head up. Can he bring the ball up the floor on a fast break and score or find the open man. Can he penetrate off contests. Can he take mismatches off the dribble. He has already shown this at 18 y/o.

There's really not many on-ball creators in the NBA at the wing position and the ones that are are elite. Nobody is putting Risacher in that category so what's with all b.s. about him lacking this skill at 19 y/o or even potentially not ever getting it? Not being an on-ball creator is baked into his evaluation. He's as good a prospect as he is without it. If he develops that part of his game it's just gravy. Maybe because people assume he's going #1 they are nitpicking? But if he goes lower, which is more appropriate, it shouldn't be anything people are clutching their pearls about. If you didn't bring it up with Miller, Murray, Smith these past few drafts why are you suddenly caring now? It's disingenuous.

The fact you're comparing Risacher to Brandon Miller is wild.

Miller absolutely hand ball handling skills at Alabama. Alabama ran a strict offense and he was used mostly coming off screens and catch n shoot. But every few times throughout the game they would let him iso off the dribble.

Risacher has not shown that kind of ability from what I have seen. People just missed the ball on Brandon Miller if you ask me. I vouched for the Hornets to take Miller and it was clear as day he had guard skills as a 6'9 wing.

Risacher is pure 3&D.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Risacher has like no on-ball talent at all right now. The degree of on-ball improvement you would have to project for Risacher to be able to iso or run pick-and-roll in the NBA... I mean, if you're willing to project that far, why don't we compare Reed Sheppard to Steph Curry?

I think it's actually significantly more likely Reed is Steph Curry than Risacher can create on the ball.

Risacher has as much on-ball talent as Brandon Miller displayed last year and at a younger age yet I don't recall you or anyone bringing his lack of on-ball skills up in your evals for him. All anyone should care about is can he dribble with his head up. Can he bring the ball up the floor on a fast break and score or find the open man. Can he penetrate off contests. Can he take mismatches off the dribble. He has already shown this at 18 y/o.

There's really not many on-ball creators in the NBA at the wing position and the ones that are are elite. Nobody is putting Risacher in that category so what's with all b.s. about him lacking this skill at 19 y/o or even potentially not ever getting it? Not being an on-ball creator is baked into his evaluation. He's as good a prospect as he is without it. If he develops that part of his game it's just gravy. Maybe because people assume he's going #1 they are nitpicking? But if he goes lower, which is more appropriate, it shouldn't be anything people are clutching their pearls about. If you didn't bring it up with Miller, Murray, Smith these past few drafts why are you suddenly caring now? It's disingenuous.

The fact you're comparing Risacher to Brandon Miller is wild.

Miller absolutely hand ball handling skills at Alabama. Alabama ran a strict offense and he was used mostly coming off screens and catch n shoot. But every few times throughout the game they would let him iso off the dribble.

Risacher has not shown that kind of ability from what I have seen. People just missed the ball on Brandon Miller if you ask me. I vouched for the Hornets to take Miller and it was clear as day he had guard skills as a 6'9 wing.

Risacher is pure 3&D.

Brandon Miller was 20 y/o at Alabama while Risacher was 18 y/o playing pro ball. Besides those scant few ISO opportunities not much separates their style of play. You don't think over the next year that Risacher can improve his handle and bag to justify getting a few ISO opportunities like Miller got? So no improvement at all? Guy is stuck being the player he was at 18 y/o for the rest of his career? How good was Miller at 18 y/o btw?

I get that you're excited about Miller and he is a good young player and core piece to build around but like the rest of the 2023 draft class he's a bit overrated. Comparing Risacher to him, when both have similar builds, athleticism, skillset and NBA roles, shouldn't elicit shock. You're either wildly overrated Miller, wildly underrating Risacher or a combo of both. They can both be really good role players. Saying Risacher is in the same tier as Miller isn't insulting to Miller.

[JustBuzzin]

Risacher has as much on-ball talent as Brandon Miller displayed last year and at a younger age yet I don't recall you or anyone bringing his lack of on-ball skills up in your evals for him. All anyone should care about is can he dribble with his head up. Can he bring the ball up the floor on a fast break and score or find the open man. Can he penetrate off contests. Can he take mismatches off the dribble. He has already shown this at 18 y/o.

There's really not many on-ball creators in the NBA at the wing position and the ones that are are elite. Nobody is putting Risacher in that category so what's with all b.s. about him lacking this skill at 19 y/o or even potentially not ever getting it? Not being an on-ball creator is baked into his evaluation. He's as good a prospect as he is without it. If he develops that part of his game it's just gravy. Maybe because people assume he's going #1 they are nitpicking? But if he goes lower, which is more appropriate, it shouldn't be anything people are clutching their pearls about. If you didn't bring it up with Miller, Murray, Smith these past few drafts why are you suddenly caring now? It's disingenuous.

The fact you're comparing Risacher to Brandon Miller is wild.

Miller absolutely hand ball handling skills at Alabama. Alabama ran a strict offense and he was used mostly coming off screens and catch n shoot. But every few times throughout the game they would let him iso off the dribble.

Risacher has not shown that kind of ability from what I have seen. People just missed the ball on Brandon Miller if you ask me. I vouched for the Hornets to take Miller and it was clear as day he had guard skills as a 6'9 wing.

Risacher is pure 3&D.

Brandon Miller was 20 y/o at Alabama while Risacher was 18 y/o playing pro ball. Besides those scant few ISO opportunities not much separates their style of play. You don't think over the next year that Risacher can improve his handle and bag to justify getting a few ISO opportunities like Miller got? So no improvement at all? Guy is stuck being the player he was at 18 y/o for the rest of his career? How good was Miller at 18 y/o btw?

I get that you're excited about Miller and he is a good young player and core piece to build around but like the rest of the 2023 draft class he's a bit overrated. Comparing Risacher to him, when both have similar builds, athleticism, skillset and NBA roles, shouldn't elicit shock. You're either wildly overrated Miller, wildly underrating Risacher or a combo of both. They can both be really good role players. Saying Risacher is in the same tier as Miller isn't insulting to Miller.

It has nothing to do with excitement. It's clear as day these 2 are not the same type of players.

You can't give Risacher handles and shooting ability to Miller a few years down the line. You're basically saying Risacher will improve in all areas a few years down the line. It's possible he never develops those skills. Then he's basically what he is right now a 3&D player.

If Risacher had a handle he would be the #1 pick right now. Look at his scouting report it says his weaknesses are ball handling and shot creation.

[bravor]

Passing is another one unfortunately. With his basket IQ he should be a much better passer than he is. If he can develop a good midrange game, incl. a post up game, maybe he will be able to improve that area.
The way he bounced back after losing a year basically without development when he was at Asvel 2 years ago pretty much sums up his ability to expand his game. In the NBA, needless to say he would have even more facilities/technicians to improve. That being said, his ceiling is not that high imo, but at least he has a good chance to reach it unlike many of our prospects who are mostly empty promises.

[JMAC3]

I think Miller is more talented for sure and we have seen him do it at a higher level in a bigger league... so yeah of course I prefer Miller to Risacher. I am more so saying it is silly to say he can't get any better at these skills when the vast majority of the wings in the league lacked these same skills as college freshman. People want to act like PG came into the league as one of the most skilled players ever, same with Tatum. These guys have improved massively as iso, playmakers and shot creators year over year.... most are assuming Miller continues to get better and he is already 21. Yet for some reason people want to assume Risacher is just not able to do so....

Those are the extremes sure, but people are still gassing up Trey Murphy and Jalen Johnson as guys on the rise who are going to get soooo much better.. when those guys were worse prospects then Risacher and started developing way later.. Jalen turns 23 to start year, Trey turns 24 next month... yet we think Risacher has no room to improve when he turned 19 a month ago? It makes no sense.

[Cammo101]

Yeah, I'm not seeing any of this Miller/Risacher comp. Miller was a shooter first, but he was a much more talented overall scorer and a significantly better athlete. Risacher is a solid athlete and a really good standstill shooter, but his ability to put the ball on the floor and go to the basket is essentially zero. That will improve some, but very much caps his ability to be a first or even second option in the NBA.

[JMAC3]

Yeah, I'm not seeing any of this Miller/Risacher comp. Miller was a shooter first, but he was a much more talented overall scorer and a significantly better athlete. Risacher is a solid athlete and a really good standstill shooter, but his ability to put the ball on the floor and go to the basket is essentially zero. That will improve some, but very much caps his ability to be a first or even second option in the NBA.

I guess Bilal Coulibaly can't improve at all, almost 20. He was even worse than Risacher in French A league and already showed a whole NBA season that he isn't able to put the ball on floor. Him and Risacher both must already be completely done improving and zero new skills will be added. Tough break.

[Cammo101]

Yeah, I'm not seeing any of this Miller/Risacher comp. Miller was a shooter first, but he was a much more talented overall scorer and a significantly better athlete. Risacher is a solid athlete and a really good standstill shooter, but his ability to put the ball on the floor and go to the basket is essentially zero. That will improve some, but very much caps his ability to be a first or even second option in the NBA.

I guess Bilal Coulibaly can't improve at all, almost 20. He was even worse than Risacher in French A league and already showed a whole NBA season that he isn't able to put the ball on floor. Him and Risacher both must already be completely done improving and zero new skills will be added. Tough break.

Yeah, that isn't at all what I said. Obviously players improve, and Coulibaly is oozing with potential. But, rarely do players turn something non-existent or a deficiency into an NBA level skill. I like Risacher fine and absolutely think his game will improve, but I don't think just because he's young he will magically add a skill-set out of thin air that he doesn't seem to have now.

Risacher is #4 right now on my big board. I think he is a nice player. But, he isn't close to the prospect Miller was coming in last year and, like every other player in the world, he can still be judged by what he does well and what he doesn't. And if he doesn't turn a deficiency into a strength, which is unlikely, then he is probably going to top out as a nice 3 and D role player.

[FarBeyondDriven]

The fact you're comparing Risacher to Brandon Miller is wild.

Miller absolutely hand ball handling skills at Alabama. Alabama ran a strict offense and he was used mostly coming off screens and catch n shoot. But every few times throughout the game they would let him iso off the dribble.

Risacher has not shown that kind of ability from what I have seen. People just missed the ball on Brandon Miller if you ask me. I vouched for the Hornets to take Miller and it was clear as day he had guard skills as a 6'9 wing.

Risacher is pure 3&D.

Brandon Miller was 20 y/o at Alabama while Risacher was 18 y/o playing pro ball. Besides those scant few ISO opportunities not much separates their style of play. You don't think over the next year that Risacher can improve his handle and bag to justify getting a few ISO opportunities like Miller got? So no improvement at all? Guy is stuck being the player he was at 18 y/o for the rest of his career? How good was Miller at 18 y/o btw?

I get that you're excited about Miller and he is a good young player and core piece to build around but like the rest of the 2023 draft class he's a bit overrated. Comparing Risacher to him, when both have similar builds, athleticism, skillset and NBA roles, shouldn't elicit shock. You're either wildly overrated Miller, wildly underrating Risacher or a combo of both. They can both be really good role players. Saying Risacher is in the same tier as Miller isn't insulting to Miller.

It has nothing to do with excitement. It's clear as day these 2 are not the same type of players.

You can't give Risacher handles and shooting ability to Miller a few years down the line. You're basically saying Risacher will improve in all areas a few years down the line. It's possible he never develops those skills. Then he's basically what he is right now a 3&D player.

If Risacher had a handle he would be the #1 pick right now. Look at his scouting report it says his weaknesses are ball handling and shot creation.

"scouts" opinions means squat to me. They had 4 star rankings on Sheppard. Why should I care what these people say? Miller is basically a 3 and D player And yeah, I am saying Risacher should improve in all areas. ALL these kids should. If you aren't expecting Risacher or any of these other guys to improve then what's the point of taking younger prospects with perceived upside?

Improvement is baked into their draft status. You're comparing a 20 y/o playing in college basketball and elevating him above the 18 y/o playing in the pros. That's on you. Maybe YOU think it's obvious and scouts and talking heads you trust agree with you but I don't. I don't think either Miller or Risacher will ever be more than high level #3 or low level #2. What did Miller do as a rookie that has you so excited? He wasn't some fresh-faced 19 y/o, he was a 21 y/o putting up 17-4-2 with less than a block and steal a game on 55 TS% on a bad team.

Let's revisit this thread after Risacher's age 21 season. Until then it's all kinda pointless

[crows2]

I don't think either Miller or Risacher will ever be more than high level #3 or low level #2.

I think that’s the distinction most people are making. The majority likely see Miller as having the potential to be a good number 2 option, whereas Risacher may only have the ceiling of a number 3 option. You have a different opinion, which is fine. But the opinion of the majority is reasonable too on the evidence currently to hand.

If you think Risacher can be a number 2 option eventually, he might be worth number 1 in this draft.

[coutournant]

21pt 8 rb for Risacher against Euroleague team Monaco. He's averaging 16.2pt 8.4rb in playoffs, this numbers are dominating perfomance level in FIBA games. He's really improving and becomes quietly the go-to-guy of his team during the postseason.
His level of confidence has really raised lately

[JustBuzzin]

21pt 8 rb for Risacher against Euroleague team Monaco. He's averaging 16.2pt 8.4rb in playoffs, this numbers are dominating perfomance level in FIBA games. He's really improving and becomes quietly the go-to-guy of his team during the postseason.
His level of confidence has really raised lately

He drops to Charlotte I would be a happy man.

Of all the players he seems the least likely to bust. At worst he's a 3&D role player.

[_jin]

Impressive game from him tonight, he looked like a veteran. I didnt think JLB could even win one against Monaco but we're in for an interesting series. His POA defence on the Monaco guards was outstanding, and Monaco has the best set of guards in the league, even with Mike James out. I feel like he's a perfect fit to fill that hole at SF on the Spurs but with his playoffs performances I dont think he'll fall to #4.

[remi_222]

Read on Twitter

I watched the game and he could have finished easily with 30 pts if only he wasnt passing the ball to the PG instead of being aggressive drawing foul going to the basket. The problem to me for him is that he didnt have any repetition of things he's supposed to do as a top pick. He shows good handle but we never see it consistently. He needs to be more daring, he's too much of a system player ( SPURS ).
Good thing is that he isnt affraid of challenges and his level and intensity matches the challenge. His rebounding and defense are fantastic !

[King Ken]

He's nowhere close to Miller but he's a way better fit for team ball than Miller. If the Hawks keep the pick, Risacher should be it. At the end of the day, he reminds me of Kevin Huerter and Tony Snell on offense and that worked with Trae offensively and defensively, I really see a lot to like.

[FarBeyondDriven]

I don't think either Miller or Risacher will ever be more than high level #3 or low level #2.

I think that’s the distinction most people are making. The majority likely see Miller as having the potential to be a good number 2 option, whereas Risacher may only have the ceiling of a number 3 option. You have a different opinion, which is fine. But the opinion of the majority is reasonable too on the evidence currently to hand.

If you think Risacher can be a number 2 option eventually, he might be worth number 1 in this draft.

please explain

everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. Time will tell. It's not lost on me that the same people saying the 2024 class and its prospects are weak are the same people that think the 2023 class and its prospects are great. I see zero evidence that they're right. The 2023, albeit it's very early, looks like I thought, overrated and average at best. And there's no evidence they're right about 2024 because they haven't even been drafted and played in the NBA yet. So I'm struggling to see this evidence you're alluding to.

[JustBuzzin]

I vouched for Brandon Miller pretty hard last year. Trust and believe if I thought Risacher was the same kind of player I would be going crazy for him to go #1 in this weak draft. The fact is he doesn't have that handle or at least hasn't shown it yet.

Brandon Miller had a few ankle breakers literally as a rookie. His handle was much more developed than Risacher. That helps when you try to create your own offense. Risacher is a pure 3&D from what I have seen. If he can improve his handle and create his shot then I can see some Brandon Miller in his game. Right now he's not that kind of prospect.