Summer League Notebook: Hawks No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher is smooth but Atlanta must be patient

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 Cam Whitmore home — he’s too good to be here. He won Summer League MVP a year ago, and while you would have preferred he played more games last season, he’s just better than this level (25 points, eight boards on Sunday). Shut him down.

• The one reason to have Whitmore here at all was to form some on-court connections with No. 3 pick Reed Sheppard, which seems to have happened.

Sheppard impressed again, but what stood out during his second outing was that his pesky defensive skills — reach-ns that knock the ball away, anticipating passes — have translated to Summer League. How well all that works against NBA veterans remains to be seen, but it’s a reason to think he can be impactful on that end.

Sheppard continued to get buckets, finishing with 22 points and seven assists, although he was 1-of-5 from 3 (the one make was when the Wizards decided to go under a screen on him). Sheppard’s shooting is not the concern with him, and he is answering every other question

Bottom line, Sheppard is turning some heads.

• Dunk of the Day… maybe the Dunk of the Summer League is this poster from the Cavaliers’ Zhaire Smith.

• Rob Dillingham looked better and more aggressive in his second Summer League outing. After a rough first game (where he looked tentative and a little slow) he was attacking and creating more space in the second outing, but finished with 14 points in 5-of-14 shooting.

• Jordan Miller is playing like a guy the Clippers have to consider giving some real minutes this season.

Miller scored 36 in his first game and followed it up with a very different looking 21 on Sunday. Miller made six 3-pointers in his first game, often from the corner, but he was attacking and getting downhill on Sunday. He was making buckets and drawing fouls.

“I mean in the G [League] last year, like I said, I was just trying to figure it out, expand my game, and then I just started kind of playing with it,” Miller said of finding ways to draw fouls. “Really Norman Powell, shout out to him, I had a lot of talks with him, he gets in the line a lot. So you know, I just took the information and ran with it.”

Miller, drafted in the second round in 2023 out of The U in Miami, signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Clippers a year ago and spent most of the season in the G-League but was brought up to the big squad for eight games. On a roster with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard starting on the wing (plus James Harden on the team) there were not a lot of extra wing minutes to go around. That may not be much different this season with Leonard, Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, Amir Coffey and Norman Powell in the mix.

But Miller is demanding a longer look.

• Summer League is a benchmark for measuring the development of young players. A year ago, the Nets’ Noah Clowney just looked lost in Vegas. This year his defense has been impressive – he blocked the Clippers Jordan Miller at the rim — plus he’s scored 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting through two games, playing within himself. It’s real progress and he has clearly put in the work this past year.

• Milwaukee’s MarJon Beauchamp was one of the rare players sent back to Summer League after two NBA seasons. Through two games, Beauchamp has 41 points on 13-of-34 (38.2%) shooting overall, 5-of-15 (33.3%) from beyond the arc. Draw your own conclusions.

• No. 18 pick Tristan De Silva scored 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting for Orlando on Sunday.