Hawks’ Zaccharie Risacher making a statement in competition for NBA’s top rookie

“I think it’s a strong case,” Snyder said when asked following Friday’s practice. “You have to look beyond some of the quote, unquote numbers. Although, if you look at the progression, even in a statistical case, over the course of the season, it’s pretty impressive. That’s a credit to who he is, his talent and as a human being and his character, and he just embraces everything, whether that’s when he’s making shots or he’s not making shots. Defensively, he’s really a complete player, and he’s got a high ceiling.”

While Snyder encourages the world to dive deeper than the numbers, Risacher’s stats speak for themselves. After struggling with his efficiency at the beginning of the season while adapting to the NBA pace, Risacher has the second-best efficiency among rookies who have attempted seven or more field goals per game. He has the third-best 3-point shooting percentage among rookies who average at least three 3-point attempts. In the past 22 games, he has averaged 14.4 points on 45.5% shooting from 3.

But even as his stats affirm the work he has put in, he craves knowledge and readily listens to any of his coaches or teammates who step in to provide it.

Following Friday’s practice, Risacher played a series of one-on-one matchups with Georges Niang, Garrison Mathews and Vit Krejci. After they finished, Niang stayed behind and worked on some isolation moves with him, while Hawks assistant Ryan Schmidt looked on.

“I think, there’s two types of young players, right?” Niang said. “Ones that want to know everything, and others that think they know everything, right? And Zacch has clearly shown that he’s someone that wants to learn as much as possible. And you think about that through the language barrier, through being young, it’s impressive to see where he started and where I was, in Cleveland, and what your thoughts were from an opposing-team aspect, to where we are now and how much he’s grown.

“And you can’t be serious if you don’t have him in the Rookie of the Year conversation. I think his progression throughout the year, especially on a team that is winning and trying to make the playoffs, I think it’s been impressive what he’s been able to do. And for sure, it wouldn’t be a surprise to me if he won Rookie of the Year because he truly deserves it.”

The rookie has moved up in the NBA’s Rookie Ladder, which is a ranking of the top rookies in the league. Spurs guard Stephon Castle leads the ranking, and Vegas Insider gives him the best odds of winning the award.

But if voters decide that Risacher is the Rookie of the Year, the 19-year-old said it would mean a lot to him. But, that isn’t where his focus is with 13 games left in the season.

“It would mean a lot for me,” Risacher said. “But right now, I just focus on the moment. And yeah, we’re trying to get a good spot for the playoffs. And I feel like I’m just focused on what we can do as a team right now, than an individual award. But yeah, obviously would be great to have it, but right now it’s just not where my focus at.”