Anyone who knows basketball understands success is predicated on effective point guard play. No question the performance of Timberwolves’ point guards Mike James and Randy Foye will determine whether the team makes the playoffs this year for the first time since 2004.
So far neither James nor Foye have consistently played like point guards who can transform the Wolves from their malaise of .500 basketball. The Wolves’ play during the first half of the season has been characterized by losing close games, not winning against inferior teams and inconsistent team performance. A careless pass, a misguided dribble, even stepping out of bounds at a game determining moment has too often defined the Wolves’ point guards. A problem, too, is that neither James nor Foye has inspired much praise as a defender.
Evidence of the team’s frustrations with losing close games is dramatized by the record since Randy Wittman became coach on January 23. The Wolves are 2-5 under Wittman with four losses by three points or less.
The opportunity remains for James and Foye to make the Wolves better. But will it happen? Although James was a coveted off-season free agent acquisition, talk is that Toronto, his former team, wanted to change him from a starter (he averaged 20.3 points, 5.8 assists last season) to a reserve. As the Wolves’ starting point guard his play and statistics (11.1 points, 4.1 assists) have been mostly underwhelming and his star season with Toronto looks more like an aberration than a sign of results to come.
Foye, the team’s No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, understandably plays at times like the rookie he is, making mistakes in judgment and execution that cause problems. His stats (8.9 points, 2.5 assists per game) are somewhat impressive when compared with others in the NBA’s 2006-07 rookie class but they aren’t of the quality that will fast track the team to the playoffs.
Neither James or Foye are highly creative playmakers, the kind of players who look like they will ever stir comparisons with Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Baron Davis, and, yes, former Timberwolf Stephon Marbury, the best Wolves point guard ever. James or Foye can’t play with flash but by simply improving their shooting, setting up their teammates and providing solid leadership, including in game deciding moments, they can give the Wolves a better chance to win (example: see former Timberwolf Chauncey Billups in Detroit).