Atlanta Hawks’ GM Landry Fields On Selecting Zaccharie Risacher At Number 1

Atlanta Hawks’ GM Landry Fields On Selecting Zaccharie Risacher At Number 1

I guess I could open up here uh obviously we took Zachary riches which we are uh thrilled about you know he’s a guy that we’ve identified early who’s been high up for us from the beginning and um couldn’t be more excited to welcome him and his family to Atlanta so I’m sure there’s plenty of questions out there so I’ll happy to answer and jump into those Rafael Haynes with the three-point conversion what stood out with that as far as the pay well you start just by what you see uh 610 he’s got the ability to play on both sides of the ball can defend uh versatile Defender um really really good shooter and a high IQ type of player you know the the amount of development that he’s had uh up until this point is is fantastic and he’s still only 19 he’ll be 19 all throughout next year and I’ve consistently said the important qualities for us uh in the past about those types of players and who we want in this building at the end of the day and he possesses a significant amount of those so um thrilled thrilled to have him Landry where was the the separation for Zachary compared to the other guys who were available for you to select like what was it about Zachary that just made him Above the Rest yeah it it was a it was a long process there was a lot of good players in this draft and we considered a lot lot of different guys um but at the end of the day when you look and paint the entire picture from the human to his game to some of the projectables that we have from uh from analytic space I mean we’re that’s ultimately what went out um getting a chance to meet him as well um talking with him was uh was great as well so I mean it was close there’s a lot of really good players here we had a lot of guys that we considered one more follow up on how you how you narrowed this down um you you you talked about defense how important was that specific uh element of his game and terms of what what you guys need yeah um very important um and it’s not just stuff that we see with the potential on the ball the versatility and switching um off the ball as well in the right spots anticipating well I think there’s other areas that we can continue to develop and him having the growth mindset that he does and the love for the game is going to make that that much easier so uh yeah defense was was really a huge part of all this that’s why I say before just the total package things that we can look at offensively and defensively for a well-rounded player landre you said that you identified him early that he was a front runner for you guys so I guess how early what stood out about him and then how was your phone like going off the hook up until the very you know second the draft started or was it pretty quiet oh we we got quite a few phone phone calls and um you know as we’re looking out and we’re starting to Define and identify the types of players that we do like you know it’s kind of your early early sense and early observations on players it put him pretty high right and that’s just kind of the overview surface level when you start to dive in deeper with each player um you know a lot of this stuff stayed you know and he he remained he remained at the top for a long time um you know the last week or so we had a few guys that we were still also high on and then had a lot of debates um about each one of those guys and compare and contrast and things that were you feeling are very important for us at this point in time and you know he ultimately won out um this is Edwin Pow with the hul beat um over here got you um a two-part question uh first um what is an area of growth that you would like to see for Zachary to grow in and secondly do you see a current maybe possible NBA comp for him as far as his game is concerned um I don’t necessarily have a comp I you know that’s always an interesting territory to get into I think that you know the initial area that we would see is just body Improvement um that’s going to happen naturally over time and when we get them into our program and our development system that will come about more and more you know you look at the rookies last year that we drafted to where they’re at now you know standing up here I was looking at a picture of those three and I was like it’s quite a transformation in a year so um that’s something that we’d initially look at and make sure we have a good plan for him going forward landre over here um how do you envision his role offensively and kind of what he can be shortterm long-term on that end of the floor yeah I mean it’s going to be a more so a Quin question um but you know some of my takeaways kind of things that I’ve said just a role of being able to be a switch Defender the versatility of moving up and guarding bigger guys and even guarding down the way he’s able to move his feet on that side of the ball and then shooting being at a premium in this league especially for a guy that is 610 like that is that is really really helpful and uh what I really enjoy too about his game is what he does when he doesn’t have a ball in his hands you know he doesn’t just stand like he’s moving he’s cutting he’s crashing for boards so just keeping those extra possessions alive putting us in the best position every game to to be successful you need that out of all those guys so um there’s a lot of IQ there that uh that we like and um those are some of the things I see Landry kind of going a little bit bigger picture there I’m sorry good good go ahead um how does drafting Zachary kind of affect your plans shortterm longterm like going with a wing instead of a big there just how does this all kind of affect those different plans that you have you you know it it having this pick it wasn’t necessarily about any direction I think that we took this as an opportunity to get who we felt was the best player in the draft and that’s a player that we weren’t going to set sit and project with a roster would look like at the end of the day just felt like this is a guy that no matter what really the roster looks like we can build with yes L Michael with AJC um he’s just 19 years old and every Prospect has things they need to work on but what do you see as his NBA ready skills like how can he help you guys you think right now uh shooting um that looks pretty good uh from what we’ve seen and then I do think you know defensively he’ll have to get stronger and um take contact but he plays with contact and we’ve seen him play through contact so uh early on players that are able to get on the floor typically impact the defensive side um but with him to have kind of both and something that should be good for him Landry Terrell Thomas these iring times have you had a moment there you are right in front have you had a moment yet this evening to speak with Coach Snider and if so what were his thoughts on the pick overall and we’ve seen over the last two seasons of course the first two picks have come uh from France they’ve been International Players so what does that say overall about where the international game is going yeah I mean I I I never want to speak for Quinn but throughout this process he’s been an an incredible support partner um great to get his thoughts on all these players and uh I know he’s thrilled at the end of the day with Zach and as far as this is the game globalizing I mean you saw a lot of players here taking in the first round I think it was four players from France you know alone so that’s uh that’s unique that’s special and it’s just great for the game at large and um makes makes me happy makes our our travel a lot more fun too hey Landry it’s Jam Johnson with ATL Fox fans um we saw picture of you Quinn and Kyle in France and just wondering just to confirm where you looking at Zachary there and were you also like did you want to confirm like to bring him in for a workout after that as well yeah no yeah we were definitely there to see him and uh we obviously weren’t being bashful about it but uh it was a a moment not necessarily to to confirm any scheduling of stuff but um you know at that time too when we got the number one pick you he was still playing not a lot of guys were still playing and so uh decided to take that trip go see him and catch him and then come back to the States and also I just wanted to ask you does when you’re deciding on who to pick at number one does um the fact that a player may not want to be here in Atlanta or an agent says something about them not wanting to be here does that play into which you’re you’re going to pick and who you decide on picking that’s a good question and no not at all at the end of the day there’s enough information on all these guys for make a well and informed decision and and uh even so still with other things um that transpire through this draft process still felt Zach was the best Landry how much fun how much fun was it to pick at number one as far as I know it’s been different picking at any other time so you get the first pick yeah you know so it’s all on you so did you enjoy it oh it was it it was a hell of a time frankly like we all enjoyed it you know the the time that we had beforehand was awesome we had an unbelievable moment moment with one of our staff members Zach Walsh uh throughout this process and him being able to call in the pick I think is really really really neat and really special for not just him but this organization somebody that’s been here as long as he has and seen as many things as he has uh for him to take a part of that whole process I think it’s just an opportunity with with number one right where those are the things that make it really fun it’s of course picking the player but when you have those type of opportunities uh to honor a number of Staff members that we have um that’s really special and fun that yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean and that in the pick for sure but that was a cool moment I know it’s really early uh have you thought about any sort of offseason plan for him given that you said earlier he’s he played later into the summer than most of these guys does that affect the way that you would handle him over the summer summer league all those things you know we we’ll take it into account but um we’ll get him out here hopefully by tomorrow um and then uh we’ll already have sort of a development plan for him ready to rock uh just two quick questions with the Zach wash how did that decision come about like how did you pick him to to make the call and that kind of stuff well he he’s been here for a long time he’s been with a number of different teams uh in in individuals organization I think frankly at the end of the day he what he embodies as as a member of this organization was something that was needing special for us to honor in that moment and to have the number one pick and look at the types of people whether you’re a player coach or staff member come in uh it was just really cool to to stand up there with him and say like hey this is a great example of everything that I’m talking about with that Hawk DNA and somebody who absolutely loves their craft uh so it’s just a cool cool moment for him and when you take a player at number one there’s always the expectation of him being an immediate impact player facing the franchise I mean do you see that in Zachary and I mean he’s only 19 years old too I mean do you see that potential and being a starter in Impact this year I I you know it’s hard to project out in terms of playing minutes and all that stuff but of course we want him to be the absolute best player he can be now how we’re defining franchise player I’ll leave that to you um but there’s nobody that wants to see him succeed more than than us and we’re going to absolutely set him up to do that thank you all right thanks everyone