Hawks top pick Zaccharie Risacher impresses again in preseason

The Hawks moved to 1-1 in the preseason last night, falling 104-89 to the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a struggle offensively from start to finish, as no starter finished with more than 10 points. However, coming off the bench for the second straight game, #1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher put together another impressive performance, leading the team with 14 points on 5-11 shooting and hauling in eight rebounds.

This comes just a few days after Risacher had 18 points on 7-9 shooting, including 3-4 from behind the arc, with three rebounds and a couple of assists in the Hawks preseason opener against the Pacers.

Atlanta basketball fans haven’t had a lot to cheer about in recent years. Their magical run to the Eastern Conference Finals feels like a distant memory. The Hawks haven’t won a playoff series since, and the experiment with Trae Young and Dejounte Murray was a massive failure, forcing them to hit the reset button this offseason.

Landry Fields wasn’t able to get back too much for Dejounte Murray, but Dyson Daniels is a promising young piece that the club is hoping can take the next step in his development this season. The Hawks also feel like Jalen Johnson is a star in the making, but their road to being a competitive team again hinges largely on Zaccharie Risacher.

This was a draft where pundits said having the #1 overall pick would eventually get a general manager fired because the crop of prospects was so weak. There was a lot of drama surrounding who the Hawks would select, and many people were surprised when they heard Risacher’s name called. However, through his first two appearances, Zaccharie Risacher has looked the part and then some, a very promising sign for the future of the organization.