1:00 PM CT 10/14/08 By Alec Schimke TimberwolvesPress.com Beat Writer This season marks the 3rd season that Randy Foye will be a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves and it also marks the most critical year in Foye’s career thus far. No longer can Foye use the rookie excuse or the injury excuse to blame for his average play but it is now time for this young man to take a big step in his NBA career and help the Timberwolves win some games. Let’s face the fact, the Blazers got the better deal on draft night when they acquired Brandon Roy for Foye, but that is in the past now and it’s time to stop thinking of what could have been. I’m not expecting Foye to be an all-star point guard, although I think he has the potential to be one, but I’m expecting him to be an everyday starting point guard whom the Timberwolves can rely on night in and night out. We have not had solid point guard play since the 2003-04 season when Sam Cassell was an all-star and it just so happened that we made the Western Conference Finals that year. Sure we had some other pretty damn good players as well on that team but if the Timberwolves want to return to the playoffs they are going to need a productive point guard. Randy Foye will get every opportunity this year to show that he was worth a first round selection as he will open the season as the starting point guard with a much improved roster offensively. Foye has more weapons to pass to in Mike Miller and Kevin Love and should get more open shots with the attention that will be spent on Al Jefferson and Love in the post. Let’s get one thing squared away right now; Foye does not have a future on this team as a shooting guard. Mike Miller and Rashad McCants both play the position much better than Foye with their natural ability to shoot the basketball. Foye may be better suited in the NBA as a shooting guard but on this team it’s not going to happen as we need him more at point guard than at shooting guard. Not only does Foye face stiff competition in the shooting guard position but lurking behind Foye is Sebastian Telfair, who had his best season as a pro last season and isn’t about to just give up his minutes without a fight. Telfair is by far a much more natural point guard with his ability to penetrate and dish but his size and decision-making will land him on the bench to start the season. Don’t be surprised though if Telfair gets just as much minutes as Foye does in some games as he can do a wonderful job running an offense when he is on his "A" game. However, Foye and Telfair have one big difference and that is that Foye can create his own shot and Foye can be a dominant scorer in the NBA if he wants to. Here’s a guy who averaged 20 points a game as a senior for Villanova so there is no doubt that he can score the basketball. We all saw glimpses of what Foye could bring to the table in his rookie season when he was labeled as “Fourth Quarter Foye” after hitting several clutch shots in crunch time. Last season however was a different season; Foye’s knee injury really hurt his progress in becoming a more dominant scorer. There was no doubt that Foye was out of rhythm at points last season and wasn’t as confident in his offensive game as he should have been. But last season is in the past and Foye has now had a full off-season to get healthy and regain that confidence that he showed in his rookie season. If there was one sign that Foye finally caught on last season it was in the last 10 games of the year when he averaged 17.4 points and 5.1 assists a game. This is the kind of production the Timberwolves need from Foye, he doesn’t need to be Chris Paul but he just needs to put up 15+ points a game and 5-7 assists a game. The Timberwolves have plenty of other options to score the basketball but if Foye can establish himself as a Ryan Gomes type player who comes in each night and puts up consistent numbers the Timberwolves will be a much better team. Just think of the difference it will make if defense's have to respect Foye on offense. That opens up Mike Miller and Rashad McCants for open jump shots and gets Al Jefferson and Kevin Love easy lay ups down low. One area that Foye needs to really be more confident in this season is his ability to finish his drives to the basket. Foye has the natural ability to get to the hoop, he just needs to be more confident when finishing. I think Foye has the potential to be a Dwayne Wade type player in terms of getting to the foul line in that Foye is big enough for a guard to draw fouls in the lane. We have shooters on this team which means that Foye does not need to rely on his outside game as much as he has done in the past but he should instead be penetrating and looking to dish or score. His goal should to get to the foul line 6 to 8 times a game. I have Foye averaging 15 points a game this season which I think is very realistic and maybe might even be a bit low in terms of his potential but he still hasn’t shown us that he can be a consistent scorer. But if the last 10-15 games showed us anything last year it is that Foye does have a future on this team if he plays up to his ability. This is a make or break season for Randy, if he doesn’t produce the way that he should he could be on his way out in a trade after this season. In my opinion this is Randy's first true season as professional basketball player. He has now had two years of experience behind him but one season was filled with injuries and the other was his rookie season where he spent most of the time learning. Now Foye knows what is expected of him and most importantly he is healthy. We will now see the true potential of Randy Foye whether it is good or bad but this season should give us a good implication of whether or not Foye will be in the long term plans of this team.
Foye, Foye, Foye, Foye......Foye. And to think that it was rumored that he was a deal breaker in possibly getting Iverson...76er's wanted him in any deal with Minnesota but the brass wanted to stick by him. Despite KG making it clear that he wanted AI to play with him in Minny. Not saying Foye isn't a good player, but some players just don't fit with team needs...I hope they learn something from cross-sport State-mates (Vikings) and don't put too much faith in an important position (ie; QB or PG) into the hands of a player that can't handle it.
