TRADE: Dallas receives Zaccharie Risacher in 3-team deal

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

Check the thread below.

https://x.com/dlee4three/status/20789807...02948?s=46

I don't know how to access all these advanced stats but I have to say this matches my eye test.

1.  Risacher offers almost no offensive creation.  That's why I compared him to DFS.  (I'm not too familiar with Nate Aments game and people comparing him to Ament)  Hopefully he has the awareness to know his future in the NBA is as a 3 and D role player.  

2.  Dallas needs another PG/ballhandler/offensive creator.  I'm not buying Sergio/Larry having as prominent a role this season as a 20yr old rookie as many other on this board seem to believe.  We have so many front court players that are dependent on someone else making plays for them. That's why I've been out on guys like Mathurin and Kuminga, who don't create offense for others.

The good news is all we have to do is trade some combination of Gafford/PJ/Klay for a capable PG.

[F Gump]

The good news is all we have to do is trade some combination of Gafford/PJ/Klay for a capable PG.

1 I would include Naji and Martin in that group with Gafford/PJ/Klay of potential outgoing players, since they have to reduce bodies from the roster total.
2 The big problem is figuring out who that PG would be, of course. 
3 I have 4 criteria, but don't see an answer yet. 
Available. 
Priced to fit what Mavs have to offer. 
Better than DeLarrea will be in a year (otherwise, they just invest the minutes in DeLarrea). 
Not a million years old. 
4 Given former connections, could Van Vleet be a potential answer?
5 One thing to consider -- while we have doubts about the Mavs youngsters' capacity to do the job, it's possible they have no such doubts whatsoever. They may be 100% confident they already have their answers in Sasser and DeLarrea. 
6 BTW - while I like the idea in theory, when I take a closer look, is Cason Wallace really a PG, or an offense creator? The stats scream "NO!!!" And while he looked good in the playoffs when we were all watching OKC, he's not much of a scorer either. 
7 IMO the Butler trade being floated to fill this need would make no sense at all. And it really doesn't fit the way we've seen M/M building this roster.

[FireNicoHarrison]

FVV and Kyrie are a bad pair because size but i agree that he is the type of player we need.

[michaeltex]

My memory is fading...

Why was Risacher the #1 selection in his draft? Was the draft class that poor or were there too high expectations?

Just watched PandaHank's highlight reel for Zach on YouTube and he looks pretty good. How did he fall out of rotation last year?

Is it a confidence thing, a skills thing or a team direction thing?

[KillerLeft]

My memory is fading...

Why was Risacher the #1 selection in his draft? Was the draft class that poor or were there too high expectations?

Just watched PandaHank's highlight reel for Zach on YouTube and he looks pretty good. How did he fall out of rotation last year?

Is it a confidence thing, a skills thing or a team direction thing?

I really like the player (his potential, at least) so I'll try to be objective:

There's really no way to make all of Risacher's struggles the team's fault. His rookie season was actually pretty promising, especially the 2nd half of it, but last year was not great. While he bears a significant portion of the responsibility for that...

...when the team traded Trae Young, they also changed offensive systems, moving away from most of the things Risacher was starting to figure out. Essentially, they made him into a standstill shooter (like DFS, for example), which seems like it would be easier on the surface, only he has been a VERY streaky shooter. The percentage paints him as right around or slightly above league average, but the reality is that he'll shoot 28% for a month then 51% for a month...and so on. If "3&D" is your entire role, and you can't be trusted to hit 3's, the coach tends to lose faith in you. 

But, there are plenty of smart Atlanta observers who will tell you two things: 1) that reduced role sold Risacher and his development pretty short. He got caught in a regime change, and the new regime didn't care about him the way the old one did, so developing him got put low on the priorities list. 2) that the eye test tells you he's a GOOD shooter, not a league average shooter. He's got to get over being inconsistent, and who knows whether he will or not, but skills wise he is a movement shooter in a 6'10" frame (word is he has grown a bit over the last year). He has a high release and can get shots off with a variety of quick footwork setups, running off of screens from different directions, and even off the bounce. This is something DFS was never in danger of implementing into his game, not even a little. He just has to become more consistent. 

He's very disruptive on defense, using his length in passing lanes, and by all accounts he's a very smart player. He knows where to be on defense, understands how to make adjustments to actions on both ends of the floor, etc. 

Slightly made a decent point yesterday: judging by what the Mavs paid to get him, we don't know yet whether they even have him in mind for a rotation role yet. I imagine they do, but he's right. They paid a price that makes it ok to just sit him for half a year, working with him in practice and bringing him along slowly. No idea what their plan is, but I think we'll know a lot more when they do/don't pick up that option on 10/31. It's more than the MLE for his last season, and that's kind of the last downside of him being the #1 pick. 

Interesting thing about that: while the Mavs have his bird rights, should they choose NOT to pick that option up, they'll only be allowed to pay him up to that 4th year option on his next deal. So, they could conceivably not pick up the team option and then offer him a new contract (for cheaper) next summer, only they wouldn't have the ability to compete with offers north of $17 million AAV unless they somehow had the cap space to do it. Bird rights wouldn't help them in that scenario. I'm not sure that will be a problem, but it sure is interesting, and I think we'll find out a lot about how they view him or what their plan for him is when we find out whether or not they're picking up that option.

[KillerLeft]

Risacher has warts, but right now, at this very moment, he is more qualified to attack a closeout off the dribble than anyone who was on the '24 finals team not named Luka or Kyrie. So is Aldama, and honestly I assume Biberovic is, too, and I think Riasacher is better at it than either of them.

De Larrea will be good at that. Ishenko can do that (once he's ready to be put on the floor).

It's pretty easy to see what the Mavs are thinking overall, to an extent.

[mvossman]

My memory is fading...

Why was Risacher the #1 selection in his draft? Was the draft class that poor or were there too high expectations?

Just watched PandaHank's highlight reel for Zach on YouTube and he looks pretty good. How did he fall out of rotation last year?

Is it a confidence thing, a skills thing or a team direction thing?

To answer your first question, yes it was a very poor draft class.

[KillerLeft]

To answer your first question, yes it was a very poor draft class.

Yeah, and Risacher caught fire as a shooter through the last month of his season leading up to the draft, inflating the buzz on him a little too much. 

But, it was a super weird draft class for sure. I think the only two players who'd be guaranteed to go ahead of him in a redraft are Castle and Sarr? Anyone else? There are some other borderline ones.

[mvossman]

Yeah, and Risacher caught fire as a shooter through the last month of his season leading up to the draft, inflating the buzz on him a little too much. 

But, it was a super weird draft class for sure. I think the only two players who'd be guaranteed to go ahead of him in a redraft are Castle and Sarr? Anyone else? There are some other borderline ones.

Yeah it’s looking like one of the worst draft classes in recent memory

[FireNicoHarrison]

And the Spurs picked best player

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

jeffSkinWade and SlightlyBiased: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paXAQ6b900o

Hoops Tonight talks about the trade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SQjDxemfNU

[vfromlmf]

I don't understand all the confusion about where Risacher fits in the rotation. I'm no expert on his game, but he sure seems a lot like a younger, longer Max Christie, and the counting stats slightly favor Risacher.

I expect Klay to be gone and Max and Zacc to share rotation minutes in the 3&D role player slot. They'll guard point-of-attack and spread the floor.

[Chicagojk]

I think May will need to work his magic with Zach on his confidence.   It happens.  Sometimes you fail or fall short of expectations and get in a funk.  Sometimes you recover and wind up being a better player after this.  Sometimes you don't.   I think it is going to take a skilled approach to rebuild his confidence.   

Did anyone see he was drafted as 6'8 and was supposedly measured recently and he is now 6'10?

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

I don't understand all the confusion about where Risacher fits in the rotation. 

The confusion is:  it's debatable if he's an NBA rotation player right now. Should he be getting developmental guy minutes or regular rotation player minutes?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LxHKEZBEQuQ

[michaeltex]

I think May will need to work his magic with Zach on his confidence.   It happens.  Sometimes you fail or fall short of expectations and get in a funk.  Sometimes you recover and wind up being a better player after this.  Sometimes you don't.   I think it is going to take a skilled approach to rebuild his confidence.   

Did anyone see he was drafted as 6'8 and was supposedly measured recently and he is now 6'10?

I think Lively claims he's grown an inch or two over the last year. I guess these young guys aren't done growing yet, which could explain some early career inconsistency.

Anybody measured Coop lately?

[KillerLeft]

Really, the Mavs didn't give anything up, so this is all developmental upside.

The only downside, and something we should keep our eyes on, is that option on 10/31. If they care enough about him as a potential part of their future, that's going to be a significant amount of money to commit for next season, when several things will need to happen, such as...will they want Lively back? Will they want Naji Marshall back? Are Gafford and PJW still here? Etc...

I kind of lean towards the idea that they wouldn't have bothered with this trade if they were (for sure) just looking at him as a short term Mav, so I kind of expect them to take the option, but...maybe the plan is not to take the option, let him play out the year and decide next summer where he stacks up on the priorities list? You run the the risk of losing him in the best case scenario of his season, but it would have to be one hell of a season for someone to come along and offer him at above what you can pay, so that could potentially be a pretty good gamble, especially since you might not want him at all, I suppose.

What's interesting about this for me is the implications it has on some of the other salaries on the roster. If I really believe in Risacher and I'm really invested in his future here (no idea whether they are, and the trade was so cheap there really aren't clues there), I kind of feel like I need to shed some long term salary by the deadline at the latest in order to give myself the flexibility to do what I might want to do with guys like Christie, Lively and Risacher (there are a lot of coming question marks, all of a sudden), and ideally, I'd probably want to have the OPTION of getting all three of those guys inked to their next deals (in the absolute best case for all of them) WITHOUT going into the tax next season. Maybe they'll be ok with paying tax that soon, but I'd be tempted to avoid starting that clock for a 3rd season if possible, I think.

Obviously, there are scenarios where you don't want any of them back, or maybe just Christie, etc. But, in the best case of everyone's developmental season, I would expect the books to demand some tough decisions next summer.

[KillerLeft]

jeffSkinWade and SlightlyBiased: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paXAQ6b900o

Hoops Tonight talks about the trade:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SQjDxemfNU

Jason Timpf is such a gift. In the vast sea of talking heads just hitting the trendy "narrative" talking points without the slightest clue about anything of substance, he really stands out. Even among those with substance, most of them seem to be more about the CBA/business side of things, which is very helpful, but it's really tough to find people who break down the actual basketball sides of these topics.

[F Gump]

Really, the Mavs didn't give anything up, so this is all developmental upside.

The only downside, and something we should keep our eyes on, is that option on 10/31. If they care enough about him as a potential part of their future, that's going to be a significant amount of money to commit for next season, when several things will need to happen, such as...will they want Lively back? Will they want Naji Marshall back? Are Gafford and PJW still here? Etc...

I kind of lean towards the idea that they wouldn't have bothered with this trade if they were (for sure) just looking at him as a short term Mav, so I kind of expect them to take the option, but...maybe the plan is not to take the option, let him play out the year and decide next summer where he stacks up on the priorities list? You run the the risk of losing him in the best case scenario of his season, but it would have to be one hell of a season for someone to come along and offer him at above what you can pay, so that could potentially be a pretty good gamble, especially since you might not want him at all, I suppose.

What's interesting about this for me is the implications it has on some of the other salaries on the roster. If I really believe in Risacher and I'm really invested in his future here (no idea whether they are, and the trade was so cheap there really aren't clues there), I kind of feel like I need to shed some long term salary by the deadline at the latest in order to give myself the flexibility to do what I might want to do with guys like Christie, Lively and Risacher (there are a lot of coming question marks, all of a sudden), and ideally, I'd probably want to have the OPTION of getting all three of those guys inked to their next deals (in the absolute best case for all of them) WITHOUT going into the tax next season. Maybe they'll be ok with paying tax that soon, but I'd be tempted to avoid starting that clock for a 3rd season if possible, I think.

Obviously, there are scenarios where you don't want any of them back, or maybe just Christie, etc. But, in the best case of everyone's developmental season, I would expect the books to demand some tough decisions next summer.

I'm guessing they will decline Risacher's option - is there any way they see him as becoming a more-than-MLE player next summer to keep, in just one season, if they like him? They lose RFA control that way, but I don't think he is likely to be RFA the following summer anyhow (because the QO would be way big). Might as well rip off the bandaid next summer and get on with it. 

To speak to your points more broadly, payroll is always an issue, and some of the decisions ahead will be very predictable.

1 Will they pay tax this year? No. Next year? No. That's virtually set in stone (assuming this team this year is about as mediocre as everyone currently expects).

It's not the number of years, but rather the status of the team in the standings, that will determine a change some day re tax. Unless a team is in the upper echelon, where they expect a possibly-long playoff run and perhaps a title if everything falls right, they avoid paying tax. Dallas is no exception. Expect them to act accordingly. 

2 Will the Mavs be able to afford all the contracts going forward? No. Will they have minutes for all their young (or old) players to showcase what they can do for the next contract? No. Will some players walk for nothing at some point? Very likely.

Contracts will expire, and new deals loom, every year, and on average it will be 4-5 every year. Maybe more. Next summer it looks like about 6-7, and 5-6 more the following summer. The goal has to be to figure who to pay, and how much, and who NOT to pay, because you can't avoid the regular churn. It's how the NBA works. 

You will lose SOME players. You can't keep them all. But that opens payroll and minutes for someone else. No biggie, if you make the right choices.

3 Mavs supposedly have a whole roster full of good players with good futures. Some young, some not as young. The task from here is less about transactions and more about figuring which ones are their top 6-8 to build around. Until they are all in games taking their lumps, it will be hard to figure that part out as to which are really keepers, and which are not.

[FireNicoHarrison]

We took a 21yo former #1 for NOTHING, this is the perfect trade.
No matter if Zach will be out of NBA next year, i like the Masai way.

Yes worst case scenario is a supercharger Josh Green, best case a supercharger DFS.

[Chicagojk]

Just by reading different things it appears this is a clear win, win, win trade for all parties.   OKC fans may not be happy but they probably understand and knew this was coming.  They keep Dort out of the west.  Dort had a down year last year and it will be seen how he plays on a different team.    OKC clears things up and probably still enter the season as the favorite for 27 title.   

Hawks are probably better switching out Dort for Zach.    Shooting concerns are real though in ATL.    He will royally piss off the East like he did the West teams though.   More importantly they have flexibility going into next year.  There roster is really full, so minutes could be an issue.    Jalen Johnson is really good but if he is not a true #1 then they have more work to do in order to be a contender.

Dallas gets a young player who projects as a role player to their star.   It may take some time to rebuild his confidence and find a role he can flourish in but dallas has that time.