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2024 NBA Summer League – San Antonio Spurs v Atlanta Hawks
LAS VEGAS — Zaccharie Risacher is one of those guys who just makes the game look graceful. He is the definition of a fluid athlete.
That hasn’t always translated to success through a couple of Summer League games, but it’s easy to see why the Hawks took him No. 1 and a lot of scouts thought that was the right choice.
Sunday’s game against the Spurs was a good example. For his first shift to open the game, the Hawks ran nothing for him, and he floated through the opening minutes mainly standing in the corner. Atlanta got the ball in his hands in the second quarter and he showed off a smooth stroke from 3, handles better than thought pre-draft (he dropped a guy with a crossover then missed the shot) and his passing and feel for the game were impressive for a 19-year-old.
He just couldn’t hit a shot Sunday. Risacher finished with 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.
What Hawks Summer League coach Ronald Nored was more focused on was Risacher’s defense.
“One of the things is recognition of the ball and pressure on the ball,” Nored said. “And those are two things that we’ve been coaching all camp, the first couple of games and the first game was solid, tonight was better.”
There’s a lot of development for Quin Snyder and the Hawks to work on with Rizacher. He needs to get stronger, work on navigating screens and defense in general, and get his shot to start falling.
But watching him, it’s easy to see how that could come together.
Here are some other thoughts from Day 3 of NBA Summer League:
• Also of note on the Hawks, they ran a 2-3 zone defense for stretches against San Antonio, and you never see zone at Summer League.
• Spurs first-round pick Stephon Castle, who stood out in his Las Vegas debut (and before that in the California Classic) is out for the remainder of Summer League due to a sprained wrist, the team announced. The Spurs are wisely being overly cautious with him here, Castle has already shown plenty and learned the lessons he was going to get out of Summer League.
• Hey Rockets, time to send…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/summer-league-notebook-hawks-no-042041699.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-07-15 04:20:41
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