Revisiting Zaccharie Risacher

Zaccharie Risacher's recent shooting slump has put a damper on his overall fantastic season, but he remains one of the most intriguing wings in the 2024 NBA Draft.

The last calendar year for Zaccharie Risacher has been a rollercoaster. After a rough showing at the 2023 Nike Hoop Summit and a disappearing act in the 2023 U19 FIBA World Cup, Risacher’s draft stock had a skeptical outlook at best. Despite his struggles, Risacher came into this season looking like a new player, as he was a lights-out shooter. After this recent cold shooting stretch, though, Risacher’s skeptics have been re-energized. Despite all of this, Risacher remains one of the best 3-and-D wings in the 2024 NBA Draft.

One of the trickiest aspects of draft evaluation is that a prospect’s sample size is almost never big enough. College players are lucky to get to 30 games, and international prospects often have inconsistent roles on professional teams. Those problems are not relevant when it comes to Risacher, though, as he’s now played 54 games and started the majority of them. Despite having a sample size nearly double that of most college players, many evaluators are clinging more to his last 16 games rather than the entire 54.

To be clear, Risacher’s last 16 games are a significant chunk of games, and he couldn’t have shot much worse. Over his last 16 games, Risacher has attempted 63 threes, making just 22.2% of them, per Synergy. It’s been bad.

However, in his previous 38 games, Risacher shot 47.5% from three on 122 attempts. Pretty good. The idea was never that Risacher was going to shoot in the high 40s for his career, but it was incredibly encouraging that he was looking like one of the best shooting wings in a draft class largely devoid of them. So, which sample is right?

Like most things, it’s probably somewhere in the middle of the two. Whether it’s anchoring or recency bias, we can’t give in to either, especially when we have such a substantial sample size as we do with Risacher. In totality across 54 games, Risacher is shooting 39% from three, per Synergy. Coming into the year, evaluators would’ve killed for Risacher to shoot in the high 30s. He’s never been billed as an elite shooter, but if he can be league-average to above-average, it’ll be more than enough.

The biggest takeaway from Risacher’s recent stretch is that he’s probably going to end up more as a role player than the type of focal point that would warrant a Top 3 pick. It’s a bummer that Risacher’s on-ball creation hasn’t taken a leap, that his handle is loose, and that the shooting is looking like more of an average skill than an elite one. However, Risacher’s defense, work rate, and off-ball scoring still make him one of the best wings in this draft.

There’s nothing wrong with being a role player. Every year, the playoffs show us how valuable it is to have athletic, versatile wings. That’s exactly what Risacher is. He has all the tools to be a contributor to a rotation right away and the upside to grow into a really valuable starter.

So far this season, 65.6% of Risacher’s offensive possessions have come in transition or spotting up. When we include cutting, running off screens, and offensive rebounding, it jumps to 86.5%. Only 5.7% of Risacher’s possessions have come in isolation or running the pick-and-roll. Everything about his profile tells us that he’s a play finisher, which is a role that every team needs.

When spotting up, Risacher is scoring 0.93 points per possession (PPP), which ranks in the 51st percentile. In these situations, he’s shooting 41.2% from three. Risacher is also scoring 1.17 PPP when shooting off the catch (79th percentile) and shooting 40% from three. Risacher’s mechanics are a bit funky, but he’s sped up his release and even experimented some with no-dip shots off the catch.

What makes Risacher’s off-ball scoring so intriguing, though, is how he combines his ball skills and athleticism with his off-ball movement and shooting threat. Throughout this season, Risacher has shown some fascinating flashes of dynamic creation attacking closeouts. He’s proven that he’s comfortable attacking a defender’s momentum to create pull-up shot attempts, get to the rim, or create for others.

Plays like this one below are exactly what you want from a complementary wing. As Risacher receives the pass, he uses a jab step before attacking the closeout. Risacher’s drive draws the attention of the help defender, and Risacher calmly kicks out to his teammate. Risacher remains active by circling to the dunker spot before fully relocating to the wing as his defender remains focused on the ball. Now that Risacher has made himself available, he again attacks his defender’s closeout with a shot fake that sets up an open pull-up three.

Risacher’s off-ball movement also shows up in his cutting and ability to be put in motion off screens. This season, Risacher scored 1.279 PPP (62nd percentile) and 0.952 PPP (58th percentile) in those situations, respectively. Risacher has fantastic timing, a willingness to make himself available to teammates, and the size and athleticism to be utilized in a myriad of ways.

Coming into this season, it was far from obvious what Risacher would offer on offense. Whether it’s his shooting, cutting, or finishing, it has all exceeded expectations and improved significantly from previous years. Risacher has plenty to work on with his handle, passing, and scoring consistency, but what prospect doesn’t? Those holes limit what type of wing Risacher can be, at least early in his career, but he’s also proving that he has far more to his offensive game than he’s ever shown before. All of that, and we still haven’t gotten to the best aspect of Risacher’s game: his defense.

Risacher’s combination of height, athleticism, and length makes him one of the most versatile defenders in this draft. All season, Risacher has taken on a myriad of defensive assignments. Risacher has great footwork, slithers around screens, and has the length to disrupt ball-handers from a variety of angles. He has the exact profile and track record that we see in some of the most versatile defenders who switch everything on the perimeter.

The only gripe with Risacher’s on-ball defense is some of the inconsistency with his footspeed. Risacher was frequently tasked as the point of attack defender, which in some matchups led to him guarding a much quicker and smaller guard. Most of the time, Risacher was fine, but there were times when he was slow to react. In the long run, it likely won’t be a major issue and these early reps should only help his development. However, it is still worth taking note of going forward.

Risacher isn’t exclusively an on-ball defender either. When he’s away from the ball, he’s just as much of a terror. He’s very disciplined with his rotations and takes his low-man responsibilities very seriously. He consistently tags the roller, meets them outside of the restricted area, and does it all without losing track of his man. Risacher’s off-ball awareness and discipline allow him to cover for teammates, implement different coverages, and disrupt passing and driving lanes.

Where Risacher’s defense gets really exciting is when he pieces it all together within the same possession. Here, we see him navigating screens, denying drives, making multiple switches, tagging and recovering, and contesting shots. With more experience and coaching, the upside with Risacher’s defense is sky-high. Yes, I know there was a foul called in one of these clips but it’s on his teammate.

Zaccharie Risacher’s recent shooting slump has soured what’s been an overall fantastic season. Despite the shooting woes, Risacher is still shooting just under 40% from three over 54 games. Additionally, his defense and work rate haven’t been affected at all. It continues to look like Risacher isn’t necessarily the type of player that could go first overall, but his shooting improvement, off-ball scoring versatility, defense, and physical tools still make him one of the most intriguing wings in the 2024 NBA Draft.