I get it that they are both undersized two guards and Foye is not your typival point guard and might not ever develop into an above average point guard in the league. However, unless your ready to give Telfair the full-time duties this year, then you’ll have to live with Foye as the WOlves starting PG for 08-09. In this case, Foye and McCants, can coexist together and Telfair provides a nice option for resting Foye and McCants, while providing a more traditional Point in terms of Assists and turnover.

But, Foye gives the WOlves a better chance to win than Telfair when he’s running the show. At least, that’s what the second half of last season demonstrated. Foye should improve by leaps and bounds this year. He sat out half a season with a knee injury last year and was playing with completely new teammates from his rookie year. I think both Foye and McCants can have break-out seasons this year and if they do, along with improvements from Brewer and the additions of Love and Miller, the WOlves could approach McHales prediction in wins. I don’t see McCants starting this year, but I anticipate many games where Foye and McCants will be on the floor together in the 4rth when the game is on the line. There’ll be no death match, at least not this year.

about Foye and Telfair. I do think that Point guard should be a high priority in next years draft and Foye and McCants could be evaluated against each other. I also like Telfair a lot. I think he has a good back up.

But, the Wolves were not winning much with Telfair running the whow last year and they won more once Foye came back. I think Starbury’s comment is a great quote, one of the greatest of all time, but I don’t think there is any more truth to it than any other position. In fact, the quote by itself is just plain ludicrous. It infers that point guard is not a coachable position. That Starbury learned nothing from Flip or any other coach. When, in fact, point guard is one of the most coachable positions to play. It requires more study than any other position. Of course, there are going to be natural point guards and those with more natural ability. But, players can and do learn how to play point guard at a more proficient level as their career goes on. Steve Nash did not come into the league as an MVP and Chauncey Billups was far from NBA point guard his first few seasons in the league. The point has been played in many different ways and styles by many great players, so I am not even sure I know what a classic point is or how a point should see the floor other than they should read the defense and call out plays – which is obviously more complex than it sounds, but also something that one only learns from playing thee position. It would be foolish to declare with absolute certainty that Foye will someday be a better than average point guard in the league, but no more foolish than saying than he will never be a better point guard than Sebastian Telfair. Foye has enough talent to be an effective point guard on a playoff team in the NBA. I believe that from what I have seen of him so far, but I won’t bet any money on it.

But your main point is mute. Right now Foye IS the starting point guard and he will be begin the year as the starting point guard regardless of how the rest of the preseason goes. That could change, but it is not likely. If it does change, I would bet Foye still gets the majority of minutes at the point in the 4rth quarter alongside McCants or Miller at the 2.

Telfair was signed as the backup and unless Foye and the Wolves win don’t improve upon last years winning percentage over the first three months of the season, that is unlikely to change.

my mind is saying one thing and the fingers go do something else (I know thats what the preview is for).

I think the question btw Foye and Telfair comes down to who gives the Wolves a better chance to win and I think I’d rather have Telfair go down with an injury right now than Foye in terms of the Wolves success this year.

As for McCants and Foye on the floor at the same time, there might be some tension, but I don’t think Foye not making the pass to McCants is because he wants his. His hesitation is rather due to what S&P points to in ragards to his level of development as a nba pg. He just doesn’t look comfortable with it at times and sure of his decision making (should he pass it to McCants and slow the offense down, all the pick and roll with Gomes, shoot the three or pass it inside to Jefferson – too many split second decisions that he cannot take the time to think about, but he still is). Give them time, I don’t think there is any anomosity between Foye and McCants right now.

Sheeeeez…

Good points.

I think there is a comparison that could be made of Foye to Billups in that he could eventually become a shoot-first guy who happens to bring the ball up and not your prototypical pg.

and I think S&P point is that McCants could justy as well be that guy.

You make a good argument in the case of skills and physical make-up. I would suggest that the difference is most likely in personality and mental make-up.

It could be as simple as Foye is an extrovert while McCants is an introvert. I say this without knowing either or either’s personality makeup. Perhaps, I and everyone else, has just been conditioned by Wolves PR and scouts to consider Foye and McCants a shooting guard without any basis in support. I doubt it though. There is something in Foye that makes him a candidate as a Point guard that McCants doesn’t have. I juist cannot put my finger on it, but I’m going to start looking.

As an aside, I think the right-handed Foye is slightly overblown. Foye drives to the right because teams have a difficult time taking it away, even when he is well scouted. He is better at going to his right and if a defender plays him that way, it opens up angles to make the pass inside to big Al. The fact that he cannot go left with the same ability as he can go right might be what keeps him from ever developing into a Wade/Kobe/Jordan type of player, but the fact that he seems to be able to score by going right when the game is on the line and teams want to keep him from shooting a three and passing into big Al is a good thing.

conditioned by Wolves PR to consider Foye a PG and McCants a SG.

We could do an IQ test. No, I don’t think it has anything to do with intelligence, either. I would not doubt it if McCants is a lot more intelligent than Foye. I wouldn’t doubt it if he was the most intelligent player on the team. And, I wouldn’t doubt it if his intelligence translates onto the basketball court and he has a high b-ball iq as far as analyzing the game. I don’t know if any of that is true, but I suspect McCants is ac tually a pretty smart person judging by his quotes, tattoos and stories I’ve read on him. That is not a very big sample for determining intelligence, but…

No, it has to do with leadership, I suspect and leadership and intelligence don’t necessarily go hand in hand (current commander in chief – exhibit A). Foye is more decisive with the ball and I think he wants to be the leader on the floor more than McCants. McCants might even be too smart to be the leader, as in he might have too cavelier an attitude to be concerned with whether or not his teammates look up to him. He might just care more about having a sweet jump-shot and taking his man off the dribble and letting that speak for itself. Foye, is perhaps more mature or as I said earlier he may be more of an extrovert than McCants.

I’m just throwing crap out there as evidence that I don’t really know. I’m neither a McCants hater (of which there seem to be many) nor a McCants lover (of which I’ve known only one – he posted as born to be hated/dying to be loved), but I do think that Foye and McCants duplicate parts stop at their physical comparisons and each can bring different dimensions to the game and the Wolves success. The Jury is still out, but I think Foye has the potential to lead the Jefferson/Love era WOlves to the playoffs as the starting PG and McCants has the potential to be a valuable contributer as a scoring machine off the bench while providing a physical presence on the defensive end. IO son’t see them competing against each other in these respective roles. However, if (and this IF is a likely polssibility and S&P’s main concern with Foye), Foye cannot man the point spot for this team and the WOlves are forced to focus on a starting PG in next year’s draft and/or the free agent market, then Foye and McCants will be competing for minutes with each other and the death match will ensue.

in bringing up the bell curve was not to have a discussion on it, but point to the extremeness one can go in determining someone’s intelligence. I mentioned it and intelligence testing sarcastically which can doesn’t always come accross in blog comments. I agree with your sentiments on Charles Murray wholeheartedly. I also respect Wims contributions and his insights to Wolves bball. I just have a fear that the so-called McCants haters who question McCants intelligence may be influenced by some of the same motivations that influence defenders of Murrays work. I cringe a little when the idea of intelligence is brought up and wanted to make the point that I think McCants is probably very intelligent contrary to our conditioned view of free thinking black men with tatoos.

Race is difficult issue to discuss and, though my comment on intelligence was in response to you, it was aimed at a broader audience. I don’t know how things are in Belgium, but in Minnesota it can be frustrating. I hear it all the time from people you wouldn’t consider racist, but you can’t help wonder as they question the intelligence of a black quarterback, but don’t ask the same questions of their white counterparts.

I might be overly sensitive about it. I think you’re right about McCants. There does seem to be something and “mindset” is about a close as we come to pointing to his shortcomings. I don’t think his mindset is as off, though as many peopole characterize it. He is prone to making some mistakes on the floor, but sometimes he does show his heart is in the right place. He has been saying positive things about a six-man role coming into this season and I also like the idea of McCants showing a hard foul on the opposing teams superstar as long as its not cheap. I’m not sure of the situation you are referring to, but I’d guess that McCants hard foul was purposeful and deserving, though I might be wrong.

Yelling at the refs? well, what’s wrong with tim Duncan’s mindset? Or Michael Jordans? I think competitiveness and questioning refs go hand in hand. I’d rather he was more reserved, but sometimes someone on the team has to get these refs attention so they will give the WOlves the same respect they give other teams. The preseason seems a little overboard, but perhaps (I’m gueesing) he’s laying the foundation for the season or actually settling something from the past. Usually, there is a history between refs, teams coaches and players and there may be more to a reaction than we know.

I just wish people would judge him fairly. There are many times his play deserves criticism and sometimes its a result of his mind not being in the right frame. But the same can be said of a lot of players. He doesn’t have to be the main piece to the Wolves (he needs to realize this as well). A sixth man role is very deserving, even for the WOlves. They have a lot of talent on their roster right now and if he can come in and help win games for us he should be satisfied. However, My fear is that McCants still sees himself as a superstar in the league. I don’t want him to think hes Kobe or Manu, but I do want the WOlves to run some isolation plays for him at times, maybe even in the 4rth qtr. But I don’t think he’s the star and we shouldn’t judge him that way. He’ll continue to make some mistakes and probably continue to lapse on the defensive end. But, for now, I’m happy he’s on the roster and I hope he throws kobe or Labron to the ground if they blow past one of his teammates at Target Center, through the middle of the lane and hope to slam it home to make ESPN Highlights. That would show leadership.