When is it Randy Foye's Wolves?

[Chance1117]

The Wolves have been great as of late! It is no secret that the emergence of Randy Foye has been a huge part of the Wolves wins. Last night FSN talked about Foye much more then usually for good reason. I'm just curious what you opinions are.

How long does Foye have to play at this pace before it is Foye and the Wolves not Big Al? Or do you think that Foye still needed to play even better to become the leader of the team? Or would you just say Foye, Big Al and the wolves.

I think this is a fun interesting topic...

[Wingman]

Reading game recaps recently it has been a lot of Foye leads Wolves..., Foye shines as Wolves..., Foye and the Wolves...

But it really doesn't matter. We need them both to do well of we want to win games.

[4ho5ive]

I think it will always be Big Al's team since he was the guy we brought in when we sent our original face of the franchise to Boston. Unless the team decides that Love is our franchise big and attempts to sell high on Jefferson, i really dont see this being anyone elses team

As much as i love Foye, he needs to keep this up for an entire season before we can talk about him being a main cog in this teams future. I want him to keep it up. but a fantastic 10 game stretch isnt gonna make him the pack leader.

[john2jer]

I don't really think it's anyone's Wolves just yet. Yeah Big Al has been the best player for the last two years, and Foye has been Foye-tastic as of late, but neither of them have demonstrated true leadership qualities just yet.

The team needs to turn to Foye before it becomes his team. The closest thing they have to that is early in the season they'd dump the ball to Al and then just stand around, but I think that was mroe Wittman's failures than Jefferson's leadership.

[C.lupus]

I was just making another thread on Foye but you beat me.

I think Big Al and Foye can both be cornerstones. Whose team it becomes depends on who steps up a leader. True leaders lead naturally. Maybe both are born followers, IDK. A leader will emerge eventually, though.

As for Foye, I just put together his stats for the season so far:

Foye's numbers for 19 games under Wittman:
ppg/ rpg/ apg/ spg/ to
13.2/ 2.9/ 5.6/ 0.8/ 2.4

Foye's numbers for 18 games under McHale:
ppg/ rpg/ apg/ spg/ to
18.3/ 3.9/ 3.7/ 1.3/ 2.2

18/4/4 aren't allstar numbers but that is some nice improvement and those are some decent numbers for a 3rd yr SG. I think he has a legit shot at being a 20/5/5 type player in this league. With Big Al (a consistent 20/10 guy) and Love (potentially a 15/15 guy), that is a nice threesome as a young core. I'm liking this team more and more.

I think it is also becoming clear just how epically bad Wittman was as a coach.

[john2jer]

So what you're saying is the threesome would be Foye, Love, Big Gay Al.

Sounds super.

Love is a fantastic rebounder, but 15 boards a game is pretty near unheard of, especially next to a good rebounder like Jefferson.

I think they're a tall do-it-all SF like Marvin Williams and a big defensive point guard like Jrue Holiday away from being a very solid team.

They need to bring in a solid coach that will earn everyone's respect from the get go. A strong personality that knows the game, especially defense. Not someone they can walk on or second guess.

[Calinks]

Foye has had some great games but he has played well before (not this well) and regressed. Like last season towards the end he was great but then this year he was struggling until a couple months ago. Maybe that has something to do with how Wittman used him and his PG responsibilities. Right now though, Big Al is bringing 20 and 11 every night. Foye is looking more and more like one of the crucial finishers we need. It's a lot easier for a guard in the NBA to get his shot when he really wants it then a big. Right now the NBA is a guards game and we will definitely need a reliable one to be a good team at the end of the day.

[4ho5ive]

So what you're saying is the threesome would be Foye, Love, Big Gay Al.

Sounds super.

Love is a fantastic rebounder, but 15 boards a game is pretty near unheard of, especially next to a good rebounder like Jefferson.

I think they're a tall do-it-all SF like Marvin Williams and a big defensive point guard like Jrue Holiday away from being a very solid team.

They need to bring in a solid coach that will earn everyone's respect from the get go. A strong personality that knows the game, especially defense. Not someone they can walk on or second guess.

Seems like you, rev, myself and a few others are thinking exactly the same as to what we want to accomplish with this team.

We should also take into consideration that Foye couldnt hit a basket to save his life the first 10 or so games and was actually benched for awhile. I think that eventually just like with the Celtics and Lakers of the 70's and 80's, the Spurs the last decade or so and the Lakers of the early 00's and even the Pistons back when that it isnt really one guy's team. Sure Magic, Bird, Duncan, Shaq and Zeke where probably the most memorable players from their respective teams, but it was the core of Bird/McHale/Parish, Magic/KAJ/Worthy, Duncan/Robinson and Duncan/Ginobli/Parker and Shaq/Kobe.

I see it as having a great core that can grow and figure each other out, and with Jefferson/Foye/Love?? we may just be on our way.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I don't know if anybody on the team is good enough to take ownership, but I know if I need a clutch basket, I want the ball in Foye's hands before Jefferson for the time being. Earlier in the year I would've said Jefferson all the way, but lately it's been Foye who's got the juice.

[WallyWorld]

It may be just me, but when I look here and on other boards, read articles etc., it seems as if fans are starting to get a little sick of Al Jefferson. Is his attitude and poor defense beginning to be noticed by the masses?

The biggest thing regarding Foye in my eyes has been his consistency. He is now starting to score big numbers with regularity and having dud games only rarely. Soon his scoring average will hover around 17 ppg.

[john2jer]

It may be just me, but when I look here and on other boards, read articles etc., it seems as if fans are starting to get a little sick of Al Jefferson. Is his attitude and poor defense beginning to be noticed by the masses?

The biggest thing regarding Foye in my eyes has been his consistency. He is now starting to score big numbers with regularity and having dud games only rarely. Soon his scoring average will hover around 17 ppg.

I think it's more because there's the potential comparison to Zach Randolph due to skillset and physical attributes. Zach isn't much of a winner, and Al has won yet either.

Now once the Wolves as a team start putting it together and can have a successful season, I think Jefferson will get more credit. Stats don't mean anything if your team doesn't win.

Plus Al Jefferson isn't overly flashy. He probably shoots just as many lay-ups as dunks, if not a lot more. People like Amare and DHoward are flashy. Good, but flashy. Flashy makes Sportscenter. Winning makes Sportscenter. The Wolves don't fall in those two catagories.

[funkatron101]

It may be just me, but when I look here and on other boards, read articles etc., it seems as if fans are starting to get a little sick of Al Jefferson. Is his attitude and poor defense beginning to be noticed by the masses?

I haven't heard anything about his attitude other than him being humble, but for a little while now I have been questioning if he should be the team's centerpiece or not. He is a beast on the block, and gets his rebounds, but when he is on the floor, the team losses the identity it seems to be gaining.

Most of those great perimeter passes we are seeing is when Al is on the bench.

Al is a great individual player, but is he making the team better?

[revprodeji]

I am not getting sick of Al Jefferson by any means.

[PeeDee]

I think, in most cases, declaring a centerpeice of a team is a bad idea in the first place. All it does is force an identity and doesn't play to your players' strengths. (Obviously, this is the case with Wittman and the emergence of Foye since Witt's dismissal.)

Al does, however, need to learn how to be a better teammate. I get the feeling he gets frustrated when he's not getting the rock and then there's the whole issue of him being a blackhole.

[Calinks]

Who's sick of Big Al? I still love him. He is struggling as of late and forces too many tough shots. PeeDee is right in Al has to be a better teammate. He needs to look to pass more. I think a big part of that is hm not trusting his teammates because they have been ball droppers but now that the team is playing well, he will have to get used to trusting them and letting them make plays. Al will be much better off when other teams start respecting the 4 other guys on the floor and don't double and triple Al nearly as much. Centerpiece talk is all fun and dandy but a team belongs to no one, not Al or Randy.

[revprodeji]

With Better teammates Al will learn to grow. He can learn to spend more energy on defense and rebounding. usually he has only been able to focus on scoring because we needed the scoring.

[PaintPatrol]

I'm not sick of Al but last night when he turned into the triple team and turned the ball over with the game on the line kind of pissed me off. I know he was just trying to make a play but if he makes a pass there and we go up 3 or maybe 4 we likely win. I guess what I'm getting at is he needs to know when to force it and when to give it up.

[C.lupus]

I can't say I'm sick of Al but, as others have said, he needs to stop being a black hole and play a more team-oriented game. His low post moves are a thing of beauty and we need to keep going to him but he needs to start trusting his teammates and learn how to pass out. This will come with time. He hasn't had teammates worth trusting until recently and they all are still learning how to play together.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Not sick of him by any stretch, but I always want more and as the team's best player, he's held to a high standard. The standard is not to be the best player on a crap team, the standard is to be the best player he can be, and he can be a lot better. Better conditioning, better defense, better shot selection.

[4ho5ive]

Anybody else get the feeling from watching the games that Al doesnt really like Foye?