Zaccharie Risacher's shooting has been anything but impressive to start the year.
Coming off a stellar end to his rookie campaign in which he shot over 40% from range from January-April, the ceiling looked limitless for Risacher's jumpshot, much improved from the sub-30% mark that plagued the rookie from October to December of last year's campaign.
Unfortunately for Zach, his long-range shooting appears to have regressed back to his holiday season shooting of last season, almost perfectly matching last year's 29.5% mark with a 29.0% clip to date.
The entire idea behind drafting Risacher was his shot, and if he can't even crack 30%, much less the league average of approximately 36%, it would appear that selecting the young French phenom first overall over the likes of Alex Sarr and Stephon Castle is a decision looking worse and worse by the day.
Contrary to popular belief, however, Risacher's shot is far from his largest strength. Thanks to a hidden statistic, Hawks fans can breathe a sigh of relief.
Risacher has been the most positive, winning Hawk to start the season
While +/- can certainly be a misleading statistic in small sample sizes (see the current leaders in the league, Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. sitting at +18.5 and +15.0 over the 3 combined games they've played this year), as the season progresses, real patterns can be gleaned from the players with enough minutes.
Zaccharie Risacher leads all Hawks with a +/- of +6.4 per 100 possessions, good for 51st leaguewide (including a vast number of players with minimal playing time, as above), with the next best Hawk being Dyson Daniels with a +4.9 margin, good for 72nd leaguewide.
The idea that a player whose greatest strength has failed him to start the year is somehow leading his team in contributing to winning games is downright baffling. Furthermore, it highlights just how much Risacher brings to the table in his all-around game.
Risacher's improved defense over the offseason has been realized, and once his shot returns to the form that we know he's capable of (see his performance in the latter half of his rookie campaign and his pre-draft Euroleague stint), Zacch will quickly become one of the most coveted assets in the entire sport.
While Risacher may never become a true 1A scoring option, 3&D wings with legitimate creation upside are just as much (if not more so) of a critical aspect of a championship team, an archetype that he has already demonstrated he's within its upper echelon.
Look for Coach Snyder to give Risacher more and more burn as the season progresses - once that shot comes back around, it's no exaggeration to say that the Hawks will have one of the best all-around wings in the entire league.