Wolves: Foye Not Performing
By Stephen Litel
November 2nd, 2008
Last season many fans emailed me or commented on my posts both here or elsewhere, stating I was a Randy Foye “lover.” Downtown Journal even featured Foye on the cover at the start of the season, as my words proclaimed the season as the beginning of the “Foye and the Boys” era. Many times throughout the 2007-08 campaign, I stood up for Foye, making the point we should all reserve judgment on Foye until he is able to remain healthy for a season to truly determine what he will become in the NBA.
Three games into the 2008-09 campaign, the Wolves stand at 1-2, losing at home Saturday at home against Dallas and Sunday in Oklahoma City. Although both games were “winnable” for the Wolves, they were, in the end, notches in the loss column. There have already been positives for the team, as they have shown a collective heart and will to compete. Yet, the greatest low early on would be the play of Foye, the starting “point guard” and self-proclaimed leader of the Timberwolves.
Quite simply, the Timberwolves do not perform as well with Foye running the show as they do when career journeyman Kevin Ollie is on the floor. Over the summer, the Timberwolves re-signed Sebastian Telfair--who will return to the team after his suspension Wednesday--and many of the coaches and players stated his improvement was noticeable. In only three games, head coach Randy Wittman is quite annoyed with Foye. If he is unable to find a consistently steadying presence on the team, he will find himself sitting on the bench more than he finds himself on the court soon.
After his return from injury last season, I spoke with Foye one-on-one at his locker prior to a game. During the course of that interview, the ever-confident player compared himself to Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, an All-Star, a two-time Most Valuable Player of the league and a player seemingly born to play the point guard position. As the words came out of his mouth, I found it to be exciting he has such high hopes for himself. Due to the fact he believes himself to be a leader on this team, the confidence and desire to excel on the court were commendable.
Now, I find myself leaning towards believing it to be overconfidence--bordering on flat out arrogance--from a player who has not accomplished a single thing to this point in his career.
However, in all fairness, I must also acknowledge they are only three steps into an 82-step walk. There is plenty of time remaining for Foye to figure it out, find his stride and begin to walk on his own, jog and--in a perfect world--find a way to sprint.
Determining Foye’s true position and status on the team are incredibly important to the--hopefully--future success of the franchise. He is the player on this team with the most to gain and the most to lose at the same time this season, so watch him closely. Foye is under a lot of pressure this year and after a horrid start to the season, the bricks are piling up on his shoulders.
