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(Ben Pfeifer) Atlanta Hawks graded C- for drafting ‘underwhelming’ top prospect Zaccharie Risacher, given his lack of creation: “The ceiling is incredibly limited compared to most top prospects”



  1. Milwaukee Bucks given F for drafting 'raw' project pick AJ Johnson.

  2. Kel'el Ware and Isiah Collier picks both graded A+ as high upside players of a high pedigree

  3. Dalton Knecht, who was picked up at 17 after falling to the Lakers could be the steal of the draft: "Knecht will contribute in year one for title-hungry Lakers" (A) Source

by Mysterious-Try9104

44 Comments

  1. arhaan_raje

    Sarr didn’t workout and if not Zaccharie, who should the Hawks have picked #1?

  2. > Dillingham is the kind of talent who can move your needle closer to a title.

    Givony said he can be their Kyrie Irving. Pelton said he can help off the bench as a rookie

    seems most are really high on Dillingham for the Wolves

  3. hott_ballz

    As a Hox fan, I fully expected that whoever we picked would get tons of hate. If the spurs would’ve traded up to 1 for him, ppl would’ve called the Hawks dumb for trading the best player.

  4. I mean, there’s no prospect in this entire draft with a ceiling worthy of #1. You can only fairly grade on the curve here.

  5. Icy-Lime-9760

    When the scouting report says the the number 1 pick has to work on dribbling and shot creation…. That’s not good.

  6. CantaloupeCamper

    “ceiling”

    I get what people mean by that, but it feels like filler for “I duno”.

    There’s a shit ton of “high ceiling” guys drafted all the time and I’m not sure they have any better rate making it to the NBA than anyone else … often you never year of them again…

  7. CoyotesSideEyes

    I like him a lot. He was 3rd on my board. I think he’s going to be a plus player for a long time.

    But the ceiling is limited in part because he genuinely can’t dribble and he’s a pretty unremarkable athlete for a #1 pick. Mediocre length, too.

    Good complementary player, better passer than most people realize I think, and a solid off-ball player. And he should be a plus defender almost immediately.

  8. NoHomeJerome89

    Kid then develops to be Paul George by year 3

  9. Wonderful-Photo-9938

    There will be a surprise Superstar in this draft I feel.

    Like we never thought Joker, Giannis, Kawhi would have been superstars, not alone Top 30 all time players. But look at them now.

    Especially Joker being a 41st pick

    Giannis and Kawhi were seen as Projects.

  10. Due_Connection179

    The Spurs getting a C+ for drafting Castle is wild to me. He seems like the most ready PG in the draft to start day 1 and really just needs to develop a 3 ball to unlock elite potential.

  11. realzitman

    Bucks pick getting an F and nobody is surprised.

  12. No_Literature_2321

    I remember when we drafted Rudy gay instead of “James harden with defense”

  13. AstroFIJI

    I think Risascher will be a good player only cause most of Reddit is shitting on him lol

  14. Look… idk how Risacher will turn out. But as a Hawks fan, picking him was the least of our worries.

    We still have the Trae+DJ combo that hasn’t really given great results so far. We were shopping Hunter apparently but didn’t trade him before we picked a wing that would theoretically eat into Hunter’s role, so the return on that would be lower.

    Given the strength of this draft and where the Hawks are, no pick was going to magically make us a legit contender, we needed/still need to make moves elsewhere so until that happens it is what it is. Not gonna put any potential failures this team has on drafting Risacher

  15. AleroRatking

    Atlanta was in a weird spot though. Sarr had no desire to go there or work out for them. They could have forced the pick but Sarr isn’t generational enough to do that either.

    And personally I always felt he was the second best player in the draft.

  16. Ilikesporks_

    does he need self creation when he’s playing with one of the best playmakers in the league?

  17. LHamiltonPP

    Very dumb of the Hawks to draft Risacher instead of a normal #1 like Wemby. F+

  18. Majestic_Funny_69

    I noticed across a lot of draft coverage the American media will spend 10 minutes glowing about US prospects who they know a lot about, but struggling to say much of anything about these European guys.

  19. AutographedSnorkel

    I was watching some highlights of him, and I have no idea where anybody is getting this notion that he can’t create. He kinda looked like store brand Giannis to me, and for this draft, that’s pretty good

  20. shadow_spinner0

    Graft grades right after the draft are dumb. You give someone a high grade because they took someone that fell? It’s not like they were creative, teams went “oh he’s still here, lets pick him”.

  21. rveets1416

    I know we do this every year but draft grades are dumb af.

    No one knows how these guys are gonna turn out and to call them busts, reaches, or underwhelming before they even step out onto the court is pretty ridiculous lol.

  22. throwawayjoeyboots

    This draft sucked. It is what it is. Every decade there’s always one.

  23. Tbh Trae gonna get him good looks hate that Lil garden gnome but he can ball

  24. EnoughLawfulness3163

    I’ve been enough A+ grades turn into busts to know that this shit is almost meaningless

  25. FriendofMySpaceTom

    Draft grades are dumb as fuck. These people should be forced to have their draft grades graded after 5 years

  26. Nightowl_IX

    Nah, fuck that. This was a shitty draft. I challenge any of you to tell me who the best player is going to be in this draft. You’re more than likely picking bench players.

    Edit: not an ATL fan but I sympathize with their shitty situation.

  27. I_AM_ACURA_LEGEND

    By this logic Feels like milkwaukee would’ve been given an F for drafting ‘raw’ prospect Giannis as well?

  28. dating_derp

    Should’ve drafted a tall athletic guy like Wiseman. /s

  29. Asbjoern135

    is it just me or does

    1. Milwaukee Bucks given F for drafting ‘raw’ project pick AJ Johnson.
    2. Kel’el Ware and Isiah Collier picks both graded A+ as high upside players of a high pedigree

    seems counter-intuitive

  30. rein_coin

    A big wing who plays defense and shoots 3s? What could the Hawks be possibly thinking? 

    All these draftniks have been telling us for years that this draft sucks. And the hawks take somebody with the second most valuable skillset (behind on-ball stars) and they’re mad?

  31. YourAsianBuddy

    I mean the Bucks’ draft room legit had college kids interns or some shit like what was going on there last night?

  32. by_yes_i_mean_no

    All analysts get draft wrong stuff all the time since it’s a crapshoot but this guy rated Jaquez as the worst of the UCLA prospects last year, worse than Clark, Bona, and Bailey and said he was not NBA quality. As a big Jaquez fan, that stuck with me lol, it was really hard for me to understand why these people couldn’t see it.

  33. wise_comment

    Just a reminder, hawksbros, That there were 3 other pics, multiple notable national Talking Heads thought we should have picked instead of Ant

    Could he be a role player? Sure. But that can be said for any number one overall draft pick.

    Let’s see the kid cook for a few years

  34. Fabtacular1

    **Atlanta:** Makes a safe, NBA-ready pick with limited upside. **C-**

    **Charlotte:** Takes a swing by picking a developmental prospect with an extremely high-upside. **D+**

    This fucking guy.

  35. Idk I just feel like if any of the other 29 teams had the #1 pick, they wouldn’t have taken Risacher. He feels like the type of flyer pick you’d take in the later parts of the lottery. Obviously Sarr wasn’t on the table but I struggle to think that Risacher should have been their alternative.

    Time will tell and I don’t think he’ll fall out of the league or anything but I really don’t see this guy being a player that can impact winning anytime soon. He has the lowest floor of any of the top picks in this draft.

  36. Dear_boat-bottle5476

    >Dalton Knecht, who was picked up at 17 after falling to the Lakers could be the steal of the draft: “Knecht will contribute in year one for title-hungry Lakers”

    No matter who they picked it would be some BS like this about them.

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