Tyon Grant-Foster Scouting Report
Fighting back from health issues to win WAC Player of the Year shows his dedication to the game. Combined with key elements in his game, it completes his NBA appeal. Which teams should target him?
In the season-opener of his junior year at DePaul, Grant-Foster was rushed to the hospital, whereafter he missed two full seasons before getting cleared to play. It was clear Grant-Foster wanted to prove to the world what he had to offer.
With 20 points and 6 rebounds per game, he won WAC Player of the Year. What partially mitigates the potential health issue is that he didn’t miss a single game while averaging over 30 minutes a night. For the NBA, Grant-Foster offers a combination of defensive versatility, a constant motor, and a variety of ways to score. This scouting report is meant to break down his game and translate that to his role at the next level.
Player Profile
At 6’7”, Grant-Foster has a long and wiry build. He has a great burst and can play with a continuous change of pace with the ball in his hands. This helps him to generate paint touches as a slasher, which will be asked of him early on in his NBA career.
With a seven-foot wingspan and a consistent motor, Grant-Foster is an active defender in terms of motion. He’s impacting passing lanes, resulting in 1.7 steals per game this year. At 210 pounds there’s still room to fill his frame at the next level.
Despite looking slim at first sight, he has the strength to initiate contact against a three, two, and one at the collegiate level; for an NBA team, there’s room to expand this via a franchise’s strength and conditioning program; that’s something an NBA decision-maker has to keep in mind.
Defense
There are a few areas of development in Grant-Foster’s defense, with the most important one being that he often moves too much without the ball in his hands. That combined with his struggles in his rotations makes it clear that he needs more reps at the next level, which isn’t a bad thing considering he missed two full seasons.
In the first play, Grant-Foster looks to cover the area of the paint, while his teammate is busy defending the potential post-up. The late closeout leads to the spot-up shooter having enough time to cash in on the wide-open three.
His defensive footwork is another area of development. In the second play, Grant-Foster puts his pivot toward the sideline, instead of using his other foot to pivot toward the baseline to force the ball handler to drive into the strong side. Instead, there’s a wide-open driving lane for the easy two points.
Against stand-still shooters, Grant-Foster is much more comfortable as he’s actively showing how quick and twitchy he moves on the court. What stood out is that he offers help defense actively, without giving up too much ground to the perimeter.
Another area that stood out is that Grant-Foster positions himself well using the painted area as his limit in terms of how far he can go in his help defense; this gave him enough space and time to recover in the first play below. On a better-spaced NBA floor, positioning and awareness are key to succeeding as an off-ball defender.
An area of development is a lack of focus which occurred on a portion of his defensive plays, with the last play being an example. A consistent focus on the game is a must-have in his profile; something he has to prove in the early stages of his career. That’s an area an NBA decision-maker has to keep in mind.
This continues to translate in his off-ball defense as Grant-Foster didn’t show consistency in his defense against cutters. Whether it’s him being overaggressive in terms of fighting through the screen as shown in the first play or losing his focus on his assignment by ball-watching in the second possession, Grant-Foster shows he needs more reps before being ready to be a neutral defender at the next level.
A positive is that he’s making the right reads, but needs to be a tad quicker in executing them, with the last play being an example. For the next level, the risk in his profile is that the NBA is running more motion-based plays, and being able to rotate quickly becomes the base to succeed as a team defender.
The road to improving as a defender will be largely determined by Grant-Foster’s positioning. While projecting a role as a wing defender who’ll often switch to the perimeter, the feasibility comes with him knowing where he is on the court and the quickness of his decision-making.
In the first play, we see Grant-Foster stepping out of the interior with his pivot foot twice, where he’s unbalanced in the second sequence, leading to the ball handler blowing by him to draw the foul at the rim, regardless of Grant-Foster’s great burst and quickness.
In the second play, it’s much of the same where Grant-Foster uses his left foot as the pivot foot, helping the ball handler to get the open driving lane on the side of the baseline, instead of forcing him to the strong side with his right pivot foot. His physical tools can make up for a chunk of positioning mistakes, but at the NBA level he’ll face better athletes that’ll make this area of his defense a risk for NBA teams in terms of their defensive rating.
Despite several areas of development, Grant-Foster’s motor is currently the biggest unique selling point he has to NBA decision-makers. This becomes clear after seeing him guard against pick-and-roll sets. He’s an improving screen navigator who slides decently between the ball handler and screener on the last play below.
However, when he’s too locked in on one-on-one situations, the focus becomes less, making him get stuck on the screen in the first lay below on the possession that led to the opponent’s potential tip-in after the offensive board, which was caused by Grant-Foster being too late rotating to the interior to be ready for the box-out.
His physical tools are worth betting on in the long run. The second play is an example of how the outcome might look if the feel for the game on the defensive end improves after getting more reps. At certain moments in a game, a team needs an aggressive-disruptive defender whose job it is to take a ball handler out of his rhythm, and with Grant-Foster’s size and filling frame, that’s a potentially valuable asset to have on an NBA bench.
Offense
At 7.9 free-throw attempts per game, Grant-Foster is one of the best foul-drawers in the country. His handles combined with explosive drives make him a continuous threat to opposing defenses, with the first two plays below being an example. The translation to the NBA comes at Grant-Foster being utilized as a weapon to put opposing players into foul trouble and using the threat of his explosive drives to force opponents to use different defensive schemes that focus on protecting the interior.
The floor spacing makes up for the pace that many whistles cause to drop. However, while being a 55.2% rim-finisher on 201 attempts on the season, the efficiency hasn’t been consistent. In Grant-Foster’s case, that matters less due to the high volume of about 6 rim attempts per game on the season. He’s forcing his shot more often than not, leading to him having to work on his shot selection in the next few years.
As a pick-and-roll ball handler, shot selection is the biggest area of development that’s currently causing him not to be able to contribute to a neutral offensive rating at the NBA level. With Grant-Foster’s rim attacks being his biggest threat, he tends to settle for long jumpers, where he’s bailing the defense out.
In the first two plays, he milks too much time off the clock which causes the defense to be comfortable in doubling him near the sideline. Although he has the handles to dribble out of most pick-and-roll coverages, Grant-Foster takes the tough threes off the dribble instead of making the extra pass. Looking at his numbers—33.1% while being assisted on 3/4 of his makes—he’s much more efficient by attacking the rim, as shown in the last play below.
For an NBA team that doesn’t mean much in the early stages of his career, due to the ball touches being less than he’s used to getting at the moment. But in terms of projecting untapped potential, it’s harder for an NBA team, and that combined with his age isn’t a good position to be in for Grant-Foster.
In his potential NBA role, Grant-Foster will be asked to serve as a spot-up shooter early on. And that’s where things are looking more projectable for the next level. He’s an excellent weapon while coming off screens, showing a combination of a high vertical jump and high release on his jumpers. At the collegiate level, the threat of his vertical pop near the rim makes him a dangerous weapon on out-of-bounds plays from both the sideline and baseline, as shown in the first and last play below.
What stood out is that on most of his plays while coming off screens, opposing teams had to have help defense ready at all times. His physical tools form a solid base to serve as a connecting wing at the next level. And being a scorer defenses pay attention to in off-ball situations is a good feasibility test for the next level.
While scoring 20 points per game, most of Grant-Foster’s production comes from the interior or free-throw line. This is a result of his physical tools and his knowing how to utilize his body to put points on the board. In a league where shooting became one of the most important skills, Grant-Foster could offer team depth in terms of reliable offense in case the three-ball isn’t working.
Grant-Foster is a smart cutter when playing off-ball, with the details being the reason for his success as an off-ball play-finisher. His two years of JUCO experience early on in his career has helped him develop that aspect of his game, however, the next task for him is to get more consistent.
In the first play below, Grant-Foster knows the defense focuses on mitigating the risk of his vertical pop near the rim, whereafter he decides to cut to the rim after a teammate cuts through the rim first, confusing the defense and leading to him landing home the dunk after the baseline out-of-bounds play.
In the second play, he works on making himself the forgotten man by utilizing the horizontal screen set near the elbow, selling the defense the idea that Grant-Foster will attack the rim via his drive from the perimeter, instead, he finishes off the backdoor cut.
Isolation basketball is one of the most reliable feasibility tests to determine long-term potential as a scorer. In Grant-Foster’s case, that’s an area that’ll keep NBA decision-makers intrigued with his profile, despite the areas of development in his game.
What stood out is that he’s an unpredictable paint touch who knows how to break down defense off the dribble. With his great burst, his focus is to shake a defender out of balance by using a combination of jab steps and hesitation moves. That combined with his great handles makes him a crafty scorer inside the arc while being able to use his strength in initiating contact.
In a switch-heavy NBA, that’s an area where he’ll be able to serve as a microwave scorer off the bench. Taking into account that he averages close to 8 free throws per game, his ability to draw fouls at a high clip makes him an interesting option for switching onto opposing bigs and putting a few extra fouls on their name. That’s a valuable trait an NBA decision-maker will be intrigued by.
NBA Draft Projection
In terms of his dedication to the game, Grant-Foster is an example to many of his peers. He fought back serious health issues to win WAC Player of the Year while doing it in a way that’ll help him at the next level.
However, he has too many areas of development on the defensive end that’ll limit him in the potential amount of NBA minutes he’ll play early on. His positioning, focus, and slow decision-making are intangibles he must improve to be in contention for NBA minutes. His consistent motor partially makes up for the above-mentioned areas, but not enough to warrant an NBA roster spot in the short run.
His handles combined with his burst are the base for a potential high-end slashing wing at the next level. That combined with his ability to break a defense down off the dribble and get to the free-throw line in bunches make him a weapon an NBA team would love to have on its bench.
In the short run, the sacrifices to the defensive rating outweigh the additional offensive rating his presence will bring to the table. There’s a role for Grant-Foster as a microwave scorer off the bench, but it’s in his best interest to use the college eligibility he still has to transfer up to a higher-ranked conference and work on the above-mentioned areas.
If he becomes a better team defender and a quicker decision-maker while maintaining his level of rim presence, Grant-Foster will see his draft stock rise next season. With NBA teams that are in win-now mode valuing experience on cheaper contracts, Grant-Foster has the opportunity to rise to the late first round of the 2025 NBA Draft.