{"id":161432,"date":"2025-10-06T07:15:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T11:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=161432"},"modified":"2025-10-05T15:39:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T19:39:25","slug":"atlanta-hawks-2025-eurobasket-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/10\/06\/atlanta-hawks-2025-eurobasket-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"What Hawks Learned From 2025 EuroBasket Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks began training camp this week with <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WilliamsLaurenL\/status\/1973060970319589764\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">11 international players<\/a>. Three of their European products &#8212;<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porzikr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is<\/a> (Latvia), <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/risacza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zaccharie Risacher<\/a> (France), and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/krejcvi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">V\u00edt Krej\u010d\u00ed<\/a> (Czech Republic) &#8212; had busy offseasons, representing their countries at EuroBasket 2025. Oftentimes, NBA players describe international competition as a benefit for staying game-ready and in shape during the offseason. All three described their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/14\/atlanta-hawks-takeaways-eurobasket-2025\/\" target=\"_self\">EuroBasket experience<\/a> and how it helped ready them for the 2025-26 NBA campaign.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_161114\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-161114\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-161114\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/09\/USATSI_27203139_168404789_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-161114\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sep 29, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks center Kristaps Porzingis (8) poses for a photo at media day. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Porzingis Puts Health Scare Behind Him<\/h3>\n<p>When the Hawks acquired Porzi\u0146\u0123is, they knew the health-related risks. The star center suffered from a mysterious illness toward the end of the 2024-25 season, which impacted his conditioning in the playoffs just a few months ago. However, both he and Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh expressed zero doubt regarding the big man&#8217;s health ahead of training camp.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Saleh: &quot;We&#39;re super confident in Kristaps&#39; health.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BTRowland\/status\/1971575203949068686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 26, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>On Media Day, Porzi\u0146\u0123is\u00a0gave reporters <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MRKHoops\/status\/1972712520419864819\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more details about how<\/a> he felt EuroBasket helped his conditioning.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;It was good for me to have EuroBasket this summer just to get back in shape &#8230; Getting my lungs and everything good again was super important &#8230; I feel fantastic right now.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He certainly showed no signs of the mysterious illness in the Round of 16 when he dropped 34 points and 19 rebounds against Lithuania. In fact, he confidently said it felt like he &#8220;had the gas tank again&#8221; on Media Day. He&#8217;ll need it, as the Hawks&#8217; fast-paced, motion offense is in stark contrast to the Boston Celtics&#8217; halfcourt-focused, 3-point barrage.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_126839\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-126839\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-126839\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) shoots against the San Antonio Spurs in the first quarter at State Farm Arena.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25348974_168404789_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-126839\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Feb 5, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) shoots against the San Antonio Spurs in the first quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>EuroBasket Enhances Risacher&#8217;s 3-Point Shot<\/h3>\n<p>Risacher found his stroke from beyond the arc in the second half of his rookie campaign and never looked back. He never shot below 36% from outside over the final four months of the season and continued that success in EuroBasket, posting a 41.4% mark from deep. The 20-year-old also looked like he sped up his jump shot.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Zaccharie Risacher\u2019s shot is picturesque, and, despite his tall frame, lightning quick<\/p>\n<p>He always adjusts his timing to catch in order to get his shot off as quickly as possible and to increase the fluidity of his shooting motion<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s exactly what ELITE shooters do <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NxiLGmb0iD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/NxiLGmb0iD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Point Made Basketball (@pointmadebball) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pointmadebball\/status\/1961834819597582492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>When asked about any adjustments to his mechanics, Risacher explained the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KLChouinard\/status\/1972707812397686866\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">benefits of enhancing his base<\/a> and fundamentals.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Honestly, I was working on the fundamentals, the basics &#8230; Being quicker and quicker is just, a lot of times, having that base first, so I was really working on that.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Another one of Risacher&#8217;s priorities this summer was getting stronger, and he did just that. The 2024 first overall pick <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nbadraft.net\/2024-nba-draft-combine-anthro-measurements\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weighed 195 pounds<\/a> at the draft combine, but the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/hawks\/news\/atlanta-hawks-announce-2025-training-camp-roster\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hawks list him<\/a> at 215 entering this season. Last season, stronger players often bumped Risacher off his spots or drove into his chest on offense. He knew he needed to <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MRKHoops\/status\/1972699466265158128\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">address this over the summer<\/a>. &#8220;I\u2019m in the weight room a lot. That was something I needed to work on\u2026 add some pounds &#8230; I feel like it\u2019s going to help me get better too,&#8221; expressed Risacher.<\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_155446\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-155446\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-155446\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Apr 11, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Vit Krejci (27) controls the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/USATSI_25906041_168402037_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-155446\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apr 11, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Vit Krejci (27) controls the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Krej\u010d\u00ed Becomes a Defense&#8217;s Focus<\/h3>\n<p>Unlike Porzingis and Risacher, Krej\u010d\u00ed was the only current NBA player on the Czech Republic national team. As a result, defenses played him physically and game-planned to get the ball out of his hands. His team went winless at the tournament, but Krej\u010d\u00ed told reporters <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MRKHoops\/status\/1972692182512398752\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he took valuable lessons<\/a> from the experience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t pretty, but it was a good experience. It was a lot different than playing here, being the main focus of the other team &#8230; They were physical,&#8221; explained Krej\u010d\u00ed.<\/p>\n<p>The 25-year-old is set to play an <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/20\/vit-krejcis-development-and-2025-26-role-with-hawks\/\" target=\"_self\">important reserve role<\/a> this upcoming season. Over the last two seasons, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder played him everywhere but center. He likely plays backup small forward minutes behind Risacher to begin the 2025-26 campaign. However, Krej\u010d\u00ed&#8217;s playmaking and improved 3-point shot will take pressure off the offensive initiator behind franchise point guard <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Dale Zanine-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks began training camp this week with 11 international players. Three of their European products &#8212;Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is (Latvia), Zaccharie Risacher (France), and V\u00edt Krej\u010d\u00ed (Czech Republic) &#8212; had busy offseasons, representing their countries at EuroBasket 2025. Oftentimes, NBA players describe international competition as a benefit for staying game-ready and in shape during the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5516,"featured_media":161604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,61,62,3],"tags":[1131,1195,138,49809,49147],"class_list":["post-161432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-international-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-eurobasket","tag-fiba","tag-kristaps-porzingis","tag-vit-krejci","tag-zaccharie-risacher"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161432"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161607,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161432\/revisions\/161607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}