YouTube Gold: Caleb Foster

We’ve talked before about how JJ Redick saw Christian Laettner hit that magnificent shot THAT CUT THE LIVING BEATING HEART out of Kentucky and told his dad he wanted to play at Duke one day.

We don’t know who Caleb Foster saw but he’ll probably be asked about it eventually since he said he always wanted to go to Duke.

So what do the Blue Devils have?

When you watch this video you see a kid who is young, still quite thin, who can shoot and pass and who is very quick. He also has great instincts.

Being that it’s summer ball and that most highlights are all about offense, we can’t really tell much about his defense. Other than that, about the only thing we’d wonder about his shot.

Great shooters just know how to do it and the best know that to drop the ball over the rim without touching anything requires extension and fingertip control.

And he knows that. His shot is soft.

And plenty of guys have had unorthodox shots and succeeded, notably Larry Bird, who was one of the game’s greatest shooters, but who didn’t have a textbook form. Tom Heinsohn had a very flat shot because he learned to shoot in a gym with a really low ceiling.

Didn’t matter. They were both great.

What may matter with Foster is that he shoots the ball kind of low and in front of his face. He can get away with that in high school but as the competition increases, he may need to move it up higher because a lot of guys like, say, an AJ Griffin, are likely to spike it.

Or maybe not. He may be talented enough to get away with it. Because he’s a really, really promising player.