Ex PAO guard Marcus Foster names favorite player, talks return to EuroLeague / News - Basketnews.com

Foster named Mike James as his favorite player for his consistency and variety of moves, both on and off the court. Foster feels he's a EuroLeague player, and his return to the competition might come in the future.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Marcus Foster is three years removed after last playing for Panathinaikos Athens in the EuroLeague. Despite being out of the league, the 28-year-old guard is inching toward a return.

Marcus Foster

MIN:23.24PTS:18 (60%)REB:3.5As:3.5ST:0BL:0TO:5GM:2ProfileBCL2023/2024

After playing in multiple countries and leagues, Foster is back at BCL's Rytas Vilnius in Lithuania again. However, his eyes remain on the EuroLeague, at least as a fan now.

"I follow Panathinaikos a lot. That's like the Lakers for me. That's like a team I wanted to play for. I'm always happy I got to play for them," he said in an interview with Lukas Katilius from BasketNews.

Foster's favorite player is AS Monaco's guard Mike James.

"Mike James is my favorite player, not just in Europe," he said. "His confidence, the way he's taking shots, the way he's getting into his moves and just watching him workout in the summer, he's doing those exact same moves in games, and he's doing them at crucial moments of the game."

"I like him. He's always him. At the end of the day, he's going to speak his mind, he's going to be on Twitter talking. I just like him for that," the former Panathinaikos guard said.

Besides Panathinaikos, Foster follows several other EuroLeague teams as well.

"I'd say Baskonia. I like watching Markus Howard, I played him in college. Always Barcelona, Madrid - those are just two tactical teams. Olympiacos. I respect their coach [Georgios Bartzokas] so much and how he gets the guys to play real good basketball. I'd rather watch EuroLeague before NBA. Just the style of play and every possession matters - it's good basketball," Foster proclaimed.

Last year, Foster was a key player at Rytas and was named into the All-BCL Second Team. He returned to the tournament in a crucial stage for the Lithuanian team. However, Rytas got knocked out of the competition after losing to Peristeri bwin.

With the focus centered around the Lithuanian League (LKL) now, Foster hasn't ruled out a comeback to the EuroLeague. On the contrary, the player feels it's close.

"It feels far, but it feels so close for me. I know I'm a EuroLeague player, I know I can play at that level. Defense is what's going to carry me. That's what got me there in the first place because when I was playing in Israel, I was the top scorer, but I was also guarding the best player every game. I think that's something that I'm going to have to do," he said.

"Everybody knows that scoring is what I do, but now, they're also going to have to respect me on defense," Foster explained. "That's what I'm looking forward to, trying to show people, 'Ok, he's a high-level player because he can do it on both ends.'"

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