2024 NBA Summer League - Atlanta Hawks vs Washington Wizards

2024 NBA Summer League – Atlanta Hawks vs Washington Wizards

The Atlanta Hawks used the first pick in the draft to sign Zaccharie Risacher, the French winger with considerable potential.

Trae Young Apparently, he doesn’t expect much from him this season. Most of the time, when a team’s star player talks about a draft pick, it’s in clichéd terms about how much he likes the rookie’s game or work ethic, and always about his potential. However, when Young went on the P podcast with Paul GeorgeHe did not sugarcoat the reaction to this class project and to Risacher in particular.

I talked to him. A lot of people were saying that I didn’t tweet about them or stuff like that on draft day and stuff like that. I’ve always done that and stuff, but I sent him a message backstage right before Summer League and just wished him luck. That kind of thing… We haven’t figured it out yet, but he played right before Summer League overseas…

“I want to be honest with you, and no disrespect to the guys that were drafted, I mean from the outside looking in… a lot of us look at them as role players that are coming in anyway… I feel like the GMs this whole year are probably just trying to figure out who’s going to be the best role player for their team. As good as Alex Sarr is, I don’t think he’s going to be their [Washington Wizards] franchise player in the future. You know what I mean? He’s going to be a great player, he’s going to have a long NBA career, but the outlook of these guys coming in. It wasn’t like they were going to be Luka [Doncic] type guys or zions [Williamson]you see what i mean?

Two quick thoughts.

First off, Young just summed up pretty much all of the scouting analysis going into this draft. One or two players will stand out and become stars, but this class is made up of role players.

Second, Risacher could be one of those stars in the making, but Young is right that we shouldn’t expect too much from him this season. Risacher is an incredibly graceful and fluid athlete who showed flashes during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, but also had stretches where he simply floated during games., doesn’t have much impact.

Risacher averaged 14.5 points per game on 39 percent shooting in Las Vegas (25 percent from 3-point range). He still has a lot of work to do to get stronger, learn how to defend and navigate screens, and get comfortable shooting at the pace and space of an NBA game. Watching Risacher, you can also see how this could all come together in a few years.

But don’t expect much from Risacher this year. Neither should Trae Young.

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