Hawks improve 'immediately' at wing with Zaccharie Risacher

With the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks selected French basketball player Zaccharie Risacher, a 6-foot-9, 19-year-old forward that played with JL Bourg in France.

On Thursday, The Morning Shift was joined by Hawks host Mike Conti, who shared his thoughts on the selection of Risacher and the level of expectations fans of Atlanta should have.

“I think we have to give him a chance. He has a very, very high ceiling,” Conti told Tiffany Blackmon, Mike Johnson, and Rob Tribble adding that there is “an element of risk” for the Hawks by taking Risacher No. 1 overall. “But there’s the potential of a very high reward because of that ceiling.

“He’s a good shooter, he’s a very good defender. He’s going to make the Hawks immediately better defensively on the wing,” Conti said of the impact Risacher brings to the Hawks.

While Conti shared his optimism for the Hawks landing Risacher, he would go on to express concern in how Quin Snyder plans to insert the 6-foot-9 forward. “Does he envision Risacher playing as a shooting guard off of Trae Young or Dejounte Murray,” Conti asked hypothetically.