TRADE: Dallas receives Zaccharie Risacher in 3-team deal

[mvossman]

I don’t want to reignite the earlier conversation about Risacher starting, nor do I want to get into whether Flagg is a SG or not.  So, I’ll ask it this way.  What can Max do as our presumed starting SG that Risacher can’t.

I fully understand that Risacher has always played almost exclusively at SF.  That isn’t my point.  Max hits a higher percent of his 3’s.  But, ZR can put it on the floor and create his own shot about twice as often.  Those are generally SG skills.  Their games are otherwise fairly similar…but ZR is two years younger and 3 1/2 inches taller.

Masai (and maybe Schmitz) seem to like positional size.  I guess what I’m saying is I can just as easily see lineups with Kyrie, Risacher, Flagg a PF and a C as I can Kyrie, Max, Flagg a PF and a C.

I liked taking the risk on Risacher back when we were talking about it at the TDL.  We know what it looks like to see him score 30 points in an NBA game.  I’m not saying he should start.  In fact, he was much more impactful coming off the bench last season.  But I don’t think he has to completely strictly for SF minutes because I think he’s basically a taller and younger version of Max with better handles and a worse 3 point shot…for now.

I would argue that with Flagg plus a PF and a C on the floor you need as much spacing as you can get and Max provides that more than Risacher does right now.  I would also argue that Max might be more suited defensively to taking on the more difficult guard assignment compared to Risacher.  Another option would be to put Flagg at PF and start both Max and Risacher.