Notes on Zaccharie Risacher

One of the prospects that caught my attention in ANGT Valencia was Zaccharie Risacher. So, all those brief notes are based on his performance in four games.

Zaccharie Risacher

• Born on 8 April 2005, in France.
• Notable French basketball player, son of Stéphane Risacher. He has been involving in basketball almost from birth.
• Plays for ASVEL as a shooting guard-small forward. One of the top three 2005-born prospects of ASVEL. Notable prospect in his generation thanks to his pure shooting, physical projection, and BBIQ.
• 36 points (8/22 2FG (6–11 under the basket), 6/20 3FG (1–4 from the left corner, 3–5 from the wing), 2/2 FT), 21 rebounds (five of offensive), two assists, six steals, six turnovers, three blocks, and 28 EFF at the ANGT in 96 minutes.
• Standing 6-foot-5 with a skinny frame, Zaccharie Risacher has great potential physically. Although he is only 15 years old, his length is perfect. Agility and strength can be seen in the lower body from the hips to the knees. The torso is generally flexible but of course, it is impossible to talk about any strength. The arms are long and there are nice popping from the deltoids to the elbows. Triceps only have stiffness, but biceps have visible popping. The shoulders are narrow, the chest is narrow and weak but this is natural and actually exciting. Because Zaccharie Risacher will be the pure shooter that perfectly fills his length if he continues to exercise fitness disciplined, which archetypal could attract all 30 teams in the NBA.
• There is nothing extraordinary about his athleticism skills. He is quick with the ball and also without the ball. Not smooth or explosive, also, limited leaping.
• He is a very calm and quiet person outside the court as well as on the court, per sources. Of course, he listens to what his coach talks, and he talks to his teammates, but in general, the calmness and silence are in his character.
• Projectional skill archetypes: Catch-and-shoot, corner shooter, deadeye, tireless shooter, cold-blooded, transition scorer, quick first step, space creator, d&k, over the rim protector finisher, off the ball scorer.
• Projectional overall archetypes: Three-and-D versatile, scoring secondary handler, off-screen shooter, or one position defense + skill shooter. All depends on his improving curve on dribble penetration, passing, and finishing through contact.
• Can be the target on hammers.
• Can be the target on d&k.
• Can be the target as a shooter on curl/shallow/UCLA/flashy/floopy cut based sets.
• Can be the target on roll-replace based sets as a corner shooter.
• Can be the target on a lot of types of BLOB/SLOB as a stationary shooter. Esp, on three weak, spread red, and rip DHO.
• Nothing outstanding about defense right now.

Skill-set Evaluation

Zaccharie Risacher’s game revolves around spotting up 3-pointers. Despite he is not a dangerous shot-creator yet, the talented 15-year-old prospect is a good shooter in stationary. When you look at his stats-sheet on ANGT Valencia, you probably will feel that he is not a good shooter. However, ZR’s shooting form, decision-making mechanism, and potential as a shooter give huge excitement. At least, for me.

Has natural bending on the hip and alignment on the knees, which are pretty important. Because if the shooter has natural bending and alignment on his lower body, it means that he will be an excellent target on the weak-side, the reason why it, is hard to contest shots of this shooter. And as you know, being a dangerous shooter on the weak-side could make you a good-term NBA player because in today’s basketball (esp in the NBA) everything revolve around spacing. At end of the day, you will need a skilled shooter, and in my opinion, ZR has that potential.

Interestingly, he has no dip. Thanks to the elbow points being close to the abs, ZR can lift the ball directly like leverage. Above the head and high, very high release. He has excellent timing and sensitivity on the balance hand in my opinion. He can adjust the strength of the shooting hand. HOWEVER, ZR sometimes has these three major issues when shooting, which are what prevents him from being an outstanding shooter in every sense right now. First, he sometimes holds the ball too close to his right shoulder and his angle is lost. Second, raises his right foot earlier than his left foot, and in these positions, the ball hits to the beginning of the basket. Third, his left elbow is very wide as he releases the ball. At the end of the day, it is true that ZR has a shooting mentality with good shooting form. He can fix all these three problems in the future.

Does Zaccharie Risacher currently have assets that make him worthwhile, apart from his shooting and physical upside? I do not think — right now. However, some flashes that he showed occasionally throughout the ANGT Valencia were frankly promising. The right-handed Risacher is very smart while finish inside the paint. He knows that he has not ideal strength that allows him to finish in traffic. So if the big defender does not have an ideal position, ZR attacks the big’s shoulder, step back, and throws a dished floater. However, he has not a good touch in the air, so has room to work.

There was a possession, where he drives to traffic, changes his direction after hesitation, and makes money through contact. Oh, yeah, I remembered. vs Malaga, third quarter. If he can do this consistently, well, his projection will higher. Very higher. And he has the time to add this weapon to his arsenal.

I think Zaccharie Risacher has potential to be a good scoring secondary handler. He already has a shooting threat and also, he excels at off the ball threat. He does impressive jobs on cutting to free-spaces. He knows how to bite the defender with zero-step, body fake, or burst. He has good instincts to cut smartly.

Despite some flashes that he has shown occasionally, ZR is a weak passer. He can do swing passes but that is it. Nothing more.

On the defensive end, the French scorer has good anticipations on the straight lane (bbal genes here), is able to come to the table with deflections thanks to his eye-hand coordination, and knows the rule of the low stance. I mean, he has the fundamental package on the defensive end. However, the lack of elite strength makes him an easy target in ISOs, and pick-and-roll games. Again, you can see the upside here too. He just has to put the work and has to be consistent, which is very natural for a 15-year-old basketball prospect.

Looking to future

The way of the NBA in the new age seems to be fit for point forwards. Zaccharie Risacher plays forward as he is one of ASVEL’s tall players and requires the team’s rotation as such. However, I think the highest projection of this kid is the shooting guard spot that can slide forward during the GAME. He can stay calm on the court and his shot is fine. Klay Thompson? A very high comparison. More realistically, Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, and CJ McCollum are some of the names I can think of. Frankly, I see such a projection for Zaccharie Risacher.

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I’m Kuzey, 20. I’ve been writing about basketball since I was 9. I worked in Eurosport Turkey for two years. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I worked as a consultant. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Paul Eboua, Aleksej Pokusevski, Arturs Kurucs, Yves Pons, and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, Xavi Pascual, Jonathan Givony, Dimitris Itoudis, Ekpe Udoh, Pero Antic, Maurizio Gherardini, Georgios Printezis, Sasa Obradovic, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams, bla bla bla. Anyway, hit me on Twitter. @kuzeykg