Randy Foye Star Trib article
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:13 pm
http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/33338789.html
Just thought this was a really nice Randy Foye article in the Star Tribune. A piece:
Just thought this was a really nice Randy Foye article in the Star Tribune. A piece:
These Timberwolves, who open their 20th season Wednesday, without question are Al Jefferson's team, but the franchise has entrusted the directing to Foye, an explosive scorer who must show in his third season he can master the tone, nuance and shadings required from winning NBA point guards.
"I never knew who said I didn't," Foye said when asked about his progress learning the position. "I call the majority of our plays."
Randy Wittman has allowed him the freedom to do so in many instances, and he calls Foye's transition from prolific collegiate scorer to a pro point guard a process that is ever "evolving."
"That's when your team gets good," Wittman said. "When you have a quarterback out on the floor who knows what you want, so I don't have to stand up and call every play. He's still got a ways to go. He still has to work at it, but he is working at it."
His first two NBA seasons proved inconclusive. Thrilled to play alongside Kevin Garnett his rookie season, Foye demonstrated he doesn't fear failure by scoring nearly half of all his points in fourth quarters and overtimes.
Stunned and discouraged when Garnett was traded the following summer, he limped through his second NBA season physically and emotionally, missing the first three months because of a troublesome injury and adapting to a completely deconstructed team that won three times in the season's first seven weeks without him.
While Foye waited for a developing crack in his kneecap to heal, Portland's Brandon Roy --for whom Foye was traded on draft night in 2006 -- played his way to the cusp of stardom.
"I was just free my rookie year," Foye said. "Coming into my second year, I felt a lot of pressure because I knew I was one of the key guys after [Garnett] was gone. When I got injured, I took it tough. The team was struggling so bad, I wanted to play so bad, a lot of times I was in tears when I went home at night time."