Scouting Report
Strengths
Finishes well in and around the lane
Good in PnR action as roll man & to follow play for offensive rebounds
Rebounds at a high clip (9.3 season) – will push in transition
Decent passer out of the post and on the move (2.1 ast season)
Has good size and strength
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Weaknesses
Shot selection is poor at times – takes wild forced shots
Needs to improve his footwork on the block – tries to play bully-ball
Must extend his range out to the 3pt line (27.3 season)
Ball handling needs works – primarily a straight-line driver
Average athlete at best
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Summary
Michael has good size and strength, which allows the opportunity to finish in and around the lane at a high clip. He is active in PnR action as a roller and on the offensive boards. He is also a decent passer out of the post and on the move in transition as well as DHOs. He needs to extend his range out to the 3pt line, improve his handle and work on his footwork in the post.
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Video
Honors
McDonald's All-American (2021)
Jordan Brand Classic (2021)
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Reports
Notes
Tarkanian Classic - Las Vegas, NV - 12/18-19/2018
Michael is a true hybrid big; he has the size, strength, and athleticism to mix it up on the interior. He also has the ball skills, shooting touch and quickness to play on the perimeter as well. He is a matchup nightmare for whoever is in front of him on both ends of the floor. He likes to ignite the fast break with his ability to snatch down rebounds and push the ball in transition. He will drift on the offensive end if the ball does not swing his way on a regular basis. He is also not a great passer, typically waits until he gets in trouble before he looks for an outlet. While he is physically imposing, he does not use his body well in the post. Overall, he still has room to grow but I see no reason why he would not be an exceptional player at the college level when his time comes.
UC All-American - Atlanta, GA - 3/31/2019
Really getting after it on the defensive end. Running the floor and hitting the jumper from the outside. Showing off his handle on the fast break
NBPA Top 100 - Charlottesville, VA - 6/11-14/2019
Moving well without the ball finding himself the beneficiary of a lot of drop off passes at the rim.
Chick-Fil-A Classic - Columbia, SC - 12/19-21/2019
Day 1 - Made C&S 3 from L corner. Block at the rim. Nice touch around the rim with contact. Make C&S 3 from the top of the key. Jumper is looking smoother since the last time I saw him. Nice lefty drive into jump stop and short jumper make. Blocks shot at the rim, gathers the rebound, pushes in transition and AST to streaking Terry at the rim. Make step-back 3 from the left corner. Displaying a little athletic ability as he almost caught 2 bodies on back to back plays.
Day 2 - Gathered offensive reb and put back for 1st basket of the game. Thunderous dunk off a baseline drive from the right corner. Explosive in the open court and showed nice touch at the rim. Easy dunk off drop step on the left block. Going to work on the interior with back-to-back post ups with face up jab-steps and head fakes for dunks.
Iverson Classic 2021- Bartlett - TN - 5/7/2021
Straight-line drive for easy R hand layup. Uses his strength to bully a smaller defender in the paint. Def reb push in transition, crossover past the defender at the top of the key, and finishes in the lane with a right-hand dunk.
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Offers
Volume Shooting Analytics:
Foster Jr. was certainly not a volume shooter in the G-League, but his data is significant enough to suggest that he has the potential to be a volume shooter in the NBA. He ranks in 7th among all eligible players in volume shooting potential.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aWf_Zo6VEGwks59X3t8QREW2DMppLREv/view?usp=sharing
This data was created by AJ Wahl by ploting each game of a player's most recent season. The x-axis represents the amount of threes taken per minute, in order to normalize for minutes played. The y-axis is simply the player's three point percentage in that particular game. The line represents the trend between a player's three point volume, and their success. A upward slope means that a player gains efficiency as they shoot more often, and a downward slope means that a player loses efficiency the more shots they take. Note that 0.2 3PA/36 is roughly 7 3s, and 0.3 translates to 11 3s. Only players with an R^2 value above .04 were analyzed, to ensure that each player has at least some correlation between their attempts and their frequency.
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Defensive Versatility Analytics:
Foster Jr. is an above average defender out of position, in the 56th percentile of bigs. He allowed just 32% from 2 and rarely fouls his opponents.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FosDqz9XUmi-1ykuNH25GzuSbeeUoee6/view?usp=sharing
This data was hand-tracked by AJ Wahl and Bryon Cook. Every single defensive possesion of each player's season was analyzed. This dataset includes all possessions when the defender is guarding on-ball, in man-to-man, and against a player not within their position group who shoots the ball, is fouled, or commits a turnover. The percentile listed above is a players standing compared to their postion group calculated by compliling and weighing various different metrics derrived from the hand-tracked data. This data only measures a portion of a player's impact, but it is clear that the ability to defend out of one's position group is a vital skill to contributing to winning basketball at the professional level.