The Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv guard spoke to Frankie Sachs about what makes his team special in this week's EuroCup interview
Marcus Foster: 'I can help this team elevate'
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Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv has been in the headlines since a splash of high-profile signings, which have made the club a serious contender for the BKT EuroCup crown. Despite all the big names, no player has put the ball in the net more for Hapoel this season than Marcus Foster with 188 points.
A combo-guard with EuroLeague experience, Foster has been a go-to scorer at most stops in his career, but this season has taken on a different role and – after an adjustment period – he’s been thriving in it.
Foster, 29, is among the league’s most-efficient shooters, having made 70.3% of his two-pointers and 43.5% of his threes to average 13.4 points.
In this interview, Foster discusses how he adjusted to his role on this team, who Hapoel’s unsung heroes are, what it’s like to play for coach Dimitris Itoudis, and how Hapoel’s demanding schedule helps the team, among other topics.
Congratulations on your three-game winning streak in the EuroCup. The team is getting contributions from everywhere and you guys aren’t even at full strength! How is the vibe in the locker room?
"The vibe is very high right now. I think we're figuring out what we need to do to be a good team and especially at this time of the season, with four EuroCup games left, we want to find some momentum heading into the playoffs."
You’ve always been a great scorer, but this season your scoring efficiency has been truly outstanding. What do you attribute that to?
"This year it's more about just focusing on being the best role player I could be for this team as far as my scoring ability; defensively, just trying to do all the little things and just focus on whatever minutes I have, I have to be the best, you know, not for my individual self, but for the team. So it's a different role but I understand the goal we have as a team and the talent we have, so I feel if I can be a star in my role, I can help this team elevate and get to where we need to be."
Can you talk more about that role and how you’ve adapted to it?
"I think just being patient and taking the shots I’m allowed to take. You know, usually I'm in a role where I can come down and take some bad shots and, you know, force some things, but this year with the team we have, I have to be more efficient. I have to execute in the time that I have and also I'm playing with great guys on my team. When you're coming down and Patrick Beverley has the ball, you know [the opposition's] defense is a little more worried about him or Yam Madar or Antonio Blakeney, Bar [Timor], you know. It's just the people I'm surrounded by, there's so much attention on other guys and there's attention on me, so the time I have when I have the ball, I just have to be efficient and make the reads and make the plays I know how to make.
"I think it's definitely different expectations, like I was saying; this is a role that it took me a little bit to get to understand how to play. Usually, I'm the guy that is trying to make the plays every time down, trying to get guys going. Now there are situations where I can sit back and let them work for me, in the sense of coming down, just spacing out the court, sitting in the corner. They might not get me the first two or three times, but eventually, the ball's gonna come around to me just because those guys know how to dissect the game and get players better each time, so like I said, it's a very different role than I’m used to, but I'm enjoying doing something new on the court."
Was it difficult mentally to adjust to playing such a different role on a team?
"Yes. At the beginning, it was very difficult. As you can see I wasn't playing the best at the beginning, but I started to figure it out and game by game, I started getting good at what I'm doing right now. Of course, my whole career in Europe, outside of Panathinaikos, I was really the main guy, the creator, I was making the reads, I'm making the passes most of the time. I'm 80% of the offense on my team. So I've definitely missed that aspect of it, but I like being around elite-level players and on a high-level team that has a very big ambition to win and go to the EuroLeague. It makes it all worth it for me. I remember coming in when I signed. What I'm doing now is what I talked about. I always say less is more. The less I do, the more valuable I am to this team. I don't have to overdo it, overforce it sometimes, but you know at the end of the day, I still gotta play my game and that's what the fun part about it is. I'm enjoying it. How can I still play my game but also do less and help my team? So it took me a while to get it and now I feel like I'm in a groove where I'm understanding what I need to do each night."
"It took me a while to get it and now I feel like I'm in a groove where I'm understanding what I need to do each night."
When you signed with Hapoel, the team had already signed Johnathan Motley and made it clear that it was aiming high. And then came Ish Wainright, Patrick Beverley and later Bruno Caboclo. What were your reactions as the team kept getting stronger?
"It just made me more confident in the situation I'm in. You know when you're coming in and you're making the team, you know, you have all these ambitions and goals, but you never know what could happen throughout the season. So you know the more and more we’re signing, the more and more I understand that this team, this organization is serious about what they're trying to do. So it just put... I wouldn't say it puts the pressure on us as players, it just puts a different perspective on what we need to do on the court. I think that's why there's so many eyes, so much attention and so much talk around the team when we win games and lose games. I was just excited about being around these guys, some guys I've known for a while, some guys that I'd seen play and some guys that I've always wanted to play with, like Joe Ragland, so I'm just excited that I was one of the guys chosen to be a part of this."
The rotation can be very deep with contributions coming from all over. Who would you say is the unsung player, the player who gets the least credit for his contributions?
"I would probably say Bar Timor or Ish Wainright just because those guys are so solid for us every night. You know, you got Bar leading us and doing different things. Some games Bar may have 12-15 points for us or some games; like last game against Jerusalem [in the Israeli League], he had 7 assists. Bar does a little bit of everything and he defends for us. Guys like that who aren't, you know, I would say the guys like Patrick Beverley, Johnathan Motley, Antonio Blakeney with the higher name as far as the standards of NBA and stuff like that, we all know Bar has a big name in Europe because he's been a consistent player, but you know, every game he's bringing another dimension for us that helps us win. And then Ishmail Wainright, he just does all the dirty work for us. He's guarding the best players. He may not be getting the most shots on the team, but he also can shoot, so he's a threat on the offensive end for us and as you can see in games, Ish just sits down and does the dirty work, gets deflections and he's on the floor and he's talking to guys. When you got guys like that in the locker room, it helps us a lot."
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The big midseason addition was Yam Madar, who wasn’t playing much in the EuroLeague with FC Bayern Munich but has looked great since returning to Hapoel. What can you say about playing alongside him?
"It's great. You know, sometimes I'm watching him play and I forget how young of a player he is because of the way he carries himself on the court. He has a very mature game and he helps me be able to score some of the easy shots that I score sometimes because the way he drives and kicks puts me in situations to make the game easier for me. And just this energy every day, he's trying to learn, he's trying to be a better player to help his team and he also takes information in. You know at the levels he's played in the past couple years with Partizan, Fenerbahce and Bayern Munich, he understands the level of what it takes to have a good team and also be a good player."
What has it been like to play for Coach Itoudis? What kind of impact can you say he’s had since taking over?
"It's tough. I'm not gonna lie. It's very tough, but it's a good thing. You know, he's a very hard coach. Elite coach. I understand why he is one of the best coaches in Europe and why he has titles and all that because every day he's asking for perfection, and he's not [just] asking for perfection from Patrick Beverley or Johnathan Motley, he's asking from everybody. From the guy that plays the most to the guy that may never play. And that's what I like about him. And what I like even more is he's teaching me how to be a different dynamic player, like what we've been talking about. He's teaching me how to play off ball, he's teaching me how to defend guys, what I need to do when guys are coming off the pick-and-roll. He's really teaching me the game in a way I've never been taught before. So I never thought I would be in a position where he would be my head coach. So, you know, it's tough some days, but I'm enjoying it and being a part of this process with him."
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The security situation is Israel has meant that you guys are playing all of your “home” games in Bulgaria. Of course, the demanding travel schedule is a burden. But I imagine there must be some positives to that in terms of team bonding and off-court chemistry.
"It's difficult to have to travel like that and going to Samokov, Bulgaria, a small, small, small place and, you know, not much to do there, but it gives us that bonding time. We're at the airport every week. Long bus trips, so we spend a lot of time with each other, and it helps us bond and like I said, this team is something I've never been a part of as far as on the court and off the court. We're a very close team, and not just the foreign players. The foreign players and the Israeli players are very close. So I'm just enjoying being part of this."
How much can that off-court chemistry help the team on the court?
"A lot. I believe it helps a lot. I think, through my past years playing different teams, the closer teams are, those are the teams that win at the end. Because you start to understand each other, you start to know each other. So I think that's gonna be a big part and I think that's what's helping us right now gel and as we are because we're with each other every day."
"This team is something I've never been a part of as far as on the court and off the court. We're a very close team."
You have played all the teams in your group at least once and you know the other Israeli team in the EuroCup, Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, pretty well. How far do you think Jerusalem can go in this competition?
"Jerusalem is a very good team, very well-disciplined team on defense. I think that's what makes them so good. And when you've got a guy like Jared Harper who's leading the way, it also helps them a lot, I think they have a chance to be a final four team with a chance to go to the championship regardless who they play in the semifinals, whether it be us or Valencia, Bahcesehir. Whoever they play, I think they definitely have a chance to make the finals.”
Can you imagine a scenario where you guys are playing them in the semifinals or the finals and what that would mean for Israeli basketball?
"I think that would mean a lot to Israeli basketball. I'm not sure if it's ever been done before but I think it's something that would be great for this country and just to put people to understand how good of a basketball place this is to play, so that would be something amazing if it did happen that way."