Michael Foster: 2022 NBA Draft Scouting Report

The forgotten piece for the G-League Ignite, Foster is an interesting test between production and projectability

What is the difference between a tweener and a multi-positional player?

In some regard, impact is the only distinction. If a prospect is good at multiple things on either end, they are portrayed as a multi-positional defender or versatile offensive piece. If they are not great in a clear, standout way at one position and don’t have the clear size or athletic package to fit neatly into a position group, they see the tweener label attached to their name.

Michael Foster very well may be a tweener in every sense of the word. At 6’8” with a very strong frame, Foster’s size is a little underwhelming for a full-time 5-man at the NBA. He doesn’t have amazing length (only a plus-three wingspan), elite hops or the quickness to be a switchable 5 in most instances. Yet those same quickness issues plague him more when he’s at the 4, and the lack of a developed jump shot (only 20% from 3 this year) really hinders him.

Foster played the 5-spot for the Ignite this season and was very productive on good volume. He scored it alright, was physical on the interior and provided the team a much-needed bigger body. But their pick-and-roll defense was a mess. They altered coverages game-by-game, less about opponents and more about searching for any type of answer that could maximize their group.

With a bunch of teenagers playing on the same team in a professional league, it’s really hard to know just how much of the blame falls on Foster’s shoulders for their defensive struggles. Combine the questions about his imapct on that end with an inefficient offensive arsenal that is both mid-range-heavy and irrationally confident and it becomes more difficult to defend Foster as a top-45 prospect.

That may sound like a scathing critique, and in fairness, it does gloss over some important strengths that Foster has. He may have a strange release and overhead, shotput form, but there is real room to expand his range to 3. He could be a nice shooter atop the key and punish teams in the legit hub for pick-and-pops. Some speed and a few mechanical tweaks are necessary to get there, though.

Combine the pick-and-pop ability with what we consider a fair amount of short roll upside and there’s the ability to put Foster as a small-ball 5 that can really help his team on the offensive end in that role.