Name: Zaccharie Risacher
Birth date: April 8, 2005
Height/Weight: 6’8 ½/195
Wingspan/ standing reach: 6’9 ½/8’11
Hand size: 8 ¾
Position: SF
Pre-Draft team: JL Bourg
Tools: Shooting, defense
Background: Dad played pro basketball in Spain (where Risacher was born). Named EuroCup Rising Star and Best Young Player for the LNB season this year.
Season stats (per Synergy): 11 PPG 4 RPG 1 APG 1 SPG 0.4 BPG 1.6 TOPG on 47/39/70
Quick release on his shot, and does a good job of relocating off of passes
Good cutter that times and angles his off-ball movement well
Quick to get into his shot motion off the catch; quick to get his feet planted
Smart off-ball defender that does a great job of mirroring defenders (on and off-ball), and is great at denying passes and cutting off passes before they happen
Moves his feet well on the perimeter defensively
Strong motor
Needs to get stronger to win down low
Doesn’t have great recovery ability, which can make him a bit of a liability against shifty guards
Inconsistent footwork as a shooter
Can sacrifice form for quick release against contests, leading to misses
Not overly athletic
Doesn’t have much of a handle
Negative assist:turnover ratio
Has short arms relative to his body (+1 inch)
Ball-skills’ realistic room for improvement
Defensively, Risacher’s off-ball defense is one of his biggest selling points. With size to defend multiple positions and spots on the floor, he also is intelligent in reading offenses away from the ball. When watching him, Risacher is often jumping ahead of passes as the ball-handler sees a bit of opening, but Risacher’s quick recognition of this makes it hard to pass near him. Risacher does a good job of legally face guarding while not gambling on plays and missing actions around him. His defensive awareness is a strong selling point for NBA teams in his draft range, which helps him rotate well into the next play. He is difficult to trick with fakes off-ball, and advanced offensive sets don’t confuse him. Because of this, Risacher does a great job of extending possessions, which statistically usually means that he is capable of helping to lower the expected field goal percentage of opposing possessions.
On-ball, there is concern about how well he can recover, making him decently simple to separate from. For example, stepback jumpers can shake him easily like the play below:
Risacher can be a bit stiff on-ball, struggling to quickly go from in defensive stance to a high contest. While he can easily make up for this with his size, it still can put him at a disadvantage at times, which minimizes his impact on the perimeter. However, he moves his feet well, which sets him up to be a versatile defender against slashers and shot creators.
The area that would unlock the most upside for Risacher is if he could defend the post, or paint in general, better. He will need to add noticeable strength in order to do this, as he is often pushed around in the paint, both against moves like shoulder bumps and true post moves. Additionally, he is easily movable on box outs, which will require an adjustment against NBA talent. Going to an NBA team that works well in turning players into the strongest versions of themselves would be an ideal fit for Risacher.
Offensively, Risacher is a gifted shooter with size that can elevate over contests, making him difficult to put a smaller defender on. Think of how Michael Porter Jr gets many of his jump shots off without contests limiting him, and that’s how Risacher’s jump shooting thrives. He still needs to iron out some issues in his base, including massive inconsistencies from shot-to-shot.
Risacher is limited as a creator, struggling to create consistent advantages or to get to his spots. This forces him into a primarily off-ball role, which is the main limitation to his ceiling. If he can attack closeouts in under 2 dribbles, that will open up his game quite a bit to help him not only create his own rim attempts, but also to potentially shine as a passer when put in advantageous situations that require finding the hole in the defense.
Even if Risacher is mainly an off-ball player offensively, the number of 6’10+ 3&D players in the league is less than ten, which makes him easy to envision a route towards a valuable second contract. Once he gets stronger and fills out his frame, he could negate some of his on-ball woes caused by athletic deficiencies to help keep ball-handlers in his range, while defending multiple levels of scoring (eventually towards the rim as a secondary helper). If Risacher achieves this, he has a chance to be one of the premier role players in the league as a combination of size, an elite skill (shooting), and intelligence on the court.
Projected draft range: 1-5
Expected role: 3&D with off-ball prowess on both ends.
Unplayable if: Jump shot footwork inconsistencies don’t get ironed out, which could plague him as a shooter. Additionally, if ball-skills don’t improve and limited athleticism hinder his growth his ceiling is low.
Exceeds expectations if: Ball-skills develop and 3 point shot becomes elite.
Videos:
Inconsistent footwork on jumpers
Ability to prolong possessions as a defender
