Nothing has come easy for former, brief Washington Wizard Randy Foye since he joined the NBA in 2006. But the reversed-organed kid (Situs inversus for you doctors) from a rough neighborhood in cold New Jersey has always had cloudy obstacles to overcome.

A Kevin McHale draft day deal sent Foye as the No. 7 pick (via the Boston Celtics) from the Portland Trailblazers to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the No. 6 pick, Brandon Roy. While Foye averaged a respectable 10.1 points per game and a December 2006 Western Conference Rookie of the Month award during his inaugural pro campaign in Minnesota, Roy enjoyed Rookie of the Year honors for the Trail Blazers.

As Foye steadily increased his scoring output in the coming years, Roy shot up the charts as a top player in the league’s top conference, making the Western Conference All-Star team as a reserve in 2008, 2009 and 2010. During those three years Foye’s T-Wolves shuffled through three coaches, never winning more than 24 games in a season. In Portland, Roy enjoyed team success under coach Nate McMillan, winning 30 more games than Foye in 2009 and leading the Blazers back to the playoffs after a five-year drought.

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Don’t blame Randy Foye.

He already made it, so he doesn’t have to worry about you, or me, thinking he’s not good enough to cut it. Randy Foye is an NBA player and the league is his oyster … sort of.

Right now, he doesn’t have discretion to go where he pleases … a situation which would probably suit him best. His fate is in the hands of the Wizards. They can elect not to extend Foye, who is at the end of his rookie contract, a qualifying offer ($4.8 million for ’10-11), thus making him an unrestricted free-agent.

Or, they can extend the offer, whereas Foye becomes a restricted free-agent of the Wizards. If he doesn’t receive a longer-term offer from another team, which the Wizards could match, or an offer from the Wizards themselves, he’d end up in D.C. for one season at that $4.8 price and would be an unrestricted free-agent in the Summer of 2011.

I’ve mostly assumed that Ernie Grunfeld will not extend a qualifying offer to Foye. Randy thinks he’s a point guard. Flip Saunders would probably tell you otherwise. Him taking up salary and a roster spot might not be necessary. Simple as that.

On the other hand, you must wonder if Grunfeld will be determined to retain some value from the fifth pick he sent to Minnesota last Summer, along with Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas and Oleksiy Pecherov, in exchange for Foye and Mike Miller — and let’s face it folks, Miller is as good as gone from Washington.

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Flip Saunders took an unusually long amount of time to get to his press conference after Saturday night’s 109-95 loss to Orlando. Wait, strike that, nothing has been “usual” this season, or rather consistent when it comes to how long the coach takes to get from locker room to media room.

It’s just that on Friday after the 105-99 loss to the Hawks, Flip was at his podium seat and ready to answer questions before anyone knew it. The only initial witnesses were cameramen and perhaps one, two at the most, members of the media.

Saturday the healthily attending media waited and waited, humorously speculating on what the coach could be doing. Others, myself included, looked at the box score, calling out numbers of note and then applying the proper reactionary facial expression. All of this is leading to a story about Shaun Livingston, trust me.

When Flip’s presser finally concluded, the media scrambled toward the locker room knowing it could be relatively empty. One of the games few positives, Andray Blatche, was already dressed and talking in the hallway amongst his post-game posse, meaning that pickings could be slim.

What players would be left? Only Al Thornton, JaVale McGee, Alonzo Gee and the two point guards, Randy Foye and Shaun Livingston. Gee didn’t garner any media attention and McGee was able to escape while Thornton was being questioned.

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Ups and downs, lefts and rights, ins and outs. This has been a season of mixed results for Randy Foye. He’s gone from being a featured complimentary role player, to unchallenged starter after the suspension of Gilbert Arenas, to veteran on a mix-mashed team of youthful newcomers. The one constant surrounding Foye’s first season with the Wizards has been change.

If Andray Blatche is the longest tenured, active Wizard, that would make Randy fourth on the chart behind Nick Young and JaVale McGee. Foye is 20 months older than the former, 51 months older than the latter, and has played over 10-percent more minutes this season than the two combined. Randy started the year as the ninth oldest guy on the roster.

Ask anyone about Randy Foye the player and they will probably say something along the lines of, “Well, not really a point guard, not really a shooting guard,” and then politely follow with, “He’d make a nice combo guard off the bench for some team, perhaps playing alongside another play-maker.” This is probably the role envisioned for him from last June’s trade and into October’s training camp. PlayFoye alongside Gilbert Arenas or Mike Miller and watch the magic happen. The magic didn’t happen.

Randy’s early-on issues were only partially a result of his deficiencies as a player. He was trying to fit into a new system next to new teammates, who in turn, were trying to do the same themselves.

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{Sam Cassell measures Earl Boykins next to a kid}

The Wizards have found a lot of ways to lose games this season. Monday’s 99-88 loss to the Boston Celtics wasn’t as disheartening as most of them. So, I guess you can chalk up another moral victory on the penitentiary walls of your Washington Wizards basketball fandom. Congrats.

Most fingers are pointing toward the fourth quarter and justifiably citing it as the main culprit. In the period, the Wizards only mustered 10 points to the 25 of the Celtics. Rasheed Wallace scored eight points by himself, and combined with Tony Allen, the duo put up 14 points and seven rebounds in the final period. Starters Paul Pierce (ankle injury) and Kendrick Perkins didn’t play in the last 12 minutes and Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett only played six minutes apiece in the fourth.

The Celtics bench came alive to save the day. Otherwise, Boston looked sloppy and old. Cherish that 2008 championship Celtics fans, it will be the only title you see from your current squad.

Meanwhile, the Wizards managed just one assist while making only two their last 18 shots of the game.  Of course, they just had one assist to eight made field-goals in the third quarter. At halftime the Wizards had 13 assists on 18 made field-goals. So, if you don’t feel like doing math, they only had two assists to 10 made FGs in the entire second half and 15 assists to 28 FGs for the game.

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{flickr/Keith Allison}

Kevin McHale once told Randy Foye, “Anything [Dwyane Wade] can do, you can do.” I doubt Wade would have come up short in three crucial game situations as Foye did in Chicago, but the team and fans are finding out that the 26-year old might be worth keeping after this season. He has stepped up his play in Gilbert Arenas’ absence, and has proven to be a high character guy.

Not counting the blowout in Cleveland (because the Wizards were going through mental shock from the last-minute indefinite suspension of Arenas and Foye didn’t even start), in the seven games Foye has filled in as the Wizards’ starting point guard, he has averaged 18.6 points (.438 FG%), 7.1 assists, 1.9 turnovers, and 3.3 rebounds per game.

Of course, give any player more minutes and his numbers will go up. Foye has averaged 38:40 minutes over his last seven compared to 17:39 over his first 32 games. To put his latest stats in perspective, it’s best to compare his numbers per 36 minutes between the defined pre- and post-Gilbert Arenas eras [note: Foye's one missed game came November 14th against the Pistons; he had a sprained ankle].

Here are Randy’s per 36 numbers over the recent seven-game span with the amount of change from his first 32 in parenthesis: Read more »

I don’t want to pick on Randy Foye. He’s a good guy who wants to succeed in the most honorable way possible. His numbers have also been admirable as of late. Over the last five games, Foye has averaged 20.6 points, 7.8 assists, 1.8 turnovers, 4.0 rebounds and a block and a steal. So, I can’t exactly blame Foye for having the ball in his hands at the end of regulation, the first overtime AND the second overtime with the game on the line, but I can blame the Wizards as a team for putting Foye in those situations.

It’s absolutely unfathomable that neither Antawn Jamison nor Caron Butler — the stars, the studs, the captains, and perhaps two Wizards in the midst of their swan songs with the franchise — had the ball in their hands in any of those crucial waning moments where the game was lost, but could have been won. Remember the game winners Caron Butler hit against Toronto and Indiana last season? I do.

But the Wizards fought the whole way. Butler, Jamison and Brendan Haywood combined for 77 points, 46 rebounds and 159 minutes. The team limited turnovers, only six, and shared the ball to the tune of 23 assists. The bench didn’t provide much, aside from an eight point flash from Earl Boykins, and got outscored 27-14. Andray Blatche put up a stat line of three missed shots, two rebounds and three fouls in 10 minutes.

The Wizards lost 121-119 to the Bulls in double-overtime. Oh well, nothing new. It bes like that sometimes.

{Randy Foye’s Three Moments}

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Foye started feeling uneasy when David Kahn refused to meet with him after taking over general manager, but he still was startled to get the call from agent and Ernie Grunfeld that he was headed to Washington in a multiplayer deal.

via Michael Lee, Wizards Insider – ‘Foye discusses return to Minnesota‘

I don’t know David Kahn personally, but I do know this doesn’t sound good. Even worse when you consider that Randy Foye first learned of his trade to Washington via HoopsHype.

I understand professional basketball of the NBA is a business, but that shouldn’t cast aside the common courtesy of rational, reasonable, and humane behavior toward a fellow employee when changing cities and potentially moving family is concerned.

In fact, this sounds downright cowardly of Mr. Kahn.

So… that’s how he treats his players. Read more »

The Milwaukee Bucks game seems like it was ages ago. And when deciding which aspect of the game to break down, I was conflicted at first. Should it be what happened after Gilbert Arenas went down at the 7:12 mark in the fourth quarter, specifically, the 9-0 run that occurred in the two minutes after that?

Naw, why focus on the positive? This team will only improve if they continue to recognize and remember what went wrong. And with the Wizards, there’s usually a lot to choose from. What obviously came to mind was the 32 points scored by Michael Redd, his first 30+ point effort since January 16, 2009.

If I posed to question to you, ‘Who was responsible for letting Redd have his way on the offensive end, including him getting to the free-throw line so much, where he went 15-15?,’ you would probably say, ‘Randy Foye.’ And I would say, ‘You are a correct, astute observer of the Wizards, sir.’

Everyone is certainly happy that Foye has recently arisen from the depths or irrelevancy … probably not enough for Ernie Grunfeld to retain him after the season … but there’s a lot of season left and victories in the small battles are worth feeling good about. Still, Foye is a poor perimeter defender, and the Wizards have a plethora of inefficient perimeter defenders.

So, despite all of these foregone conclusions, I decided, what the hell, let’s break-down how Redd was able to get each of his 32 points. Read more »

After Monday’s practice, before setting off for hostile territory in Ohio, Brendan Haywood, Caron Butler, Randy Foye and DeShawn Stevenson are prodded to talk about the rivarly/history between the Wizards and the Cavaliers.

Other practice coverage links:

• New look Wiz get ready for Cleveland rivalry [DC Sports Bog]
• Butler expeced to play vs. Cleveland [Wizards Outlet]
• Foye is fine about not getting an extension [Wizards Insider]

Ok, Halloween Night, at the Verizon, ready for the Wiz to make up for last night’s loss in Atlanta. Unfortunately, the Wizards didn’t just lose the game, but they lost Caron Butler too.

Butler had an MRI and X-Ray today that revealed no structural damage; the diagnosis was a bruised kneecap. Before the game, Flip Saunders said he expected Butler to be back in the lineup against the Cavs in Cleveland on Tuesday. The official injury report is that he’s day-to-day.

In Caron’s place, Randy Foye will start; Mike Miller will move to the three-spot. Arenas obviously still starts at the point and Fabricio Oberto and Brendan Haywood will hold down the front court.

I spoke to Foye before the game. He said it will be a little bit different on out the court with the starters, but he will have the same mindset to play his game … be aggressive on offense, execute plays, and play hard on defense.

Foye will likely matchup against New Jersey’s Courtney Lee. He said he played against Lee last year and knows he’s a slasher who also likes to shot the corner three. His main goal, as with most any defensive assignment, is to make it tough on Lee before he gets to ball so that he can’t get in a good position to score.

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{Game Faces}

A focused pre-game Gilbert Arenas.

A plotting, thinking Flip Saunders.

Contrasting bench facial expressions.

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(flickr/coolgates)

There was a mini-spike in Randy Foye news last week. On Monday, after watching a video about Foye on NBA.com, I wondered if he could be ‘the’ difference maker.

On Wednesday, the WaPost’s Michael Lee put together a nice piece on Foye off his notes from a previous meeting. Here, we learned of a potential style conflict between Foye and former T-Wolves head coach, current Wizards assistant, Randy Wittman. Lee also related something Kevin McHale once told Foye before a matchup against Dwyane Wade, “Anything he can do, you can do.” Foye battled and finished with 29 points to Wade’s 31. The game came down to a last second foul call that Foye did not get … Wade probably would have.

Predating Wade-Foye comparisons, looking back into John Hollinger’s vault, we find Foye associated with Vinny Del Negro. Before he was drafted in ’06, ESPN compared Foye to Ben Gordon, while NBADraft.net to Chauncey Billups. But it was DraftExpress FTL … in their ‘best’ case, Randy Foye is Mike James; worst case, Juan Dixon. Yuck.

Clearly it’s time to use historical record to compare Foye. Here are the requirements that I plugged into Basketball-Reference.com:

Looking for a season in which a player was: Read more »

It’s been over seven weeks since June’s trade and I still don’t have a good feel for Randy Foye. What can we really expect from him?

I’ve heard the opinion of others, read breakdowns about him, seen his highlight clips, and read his ho-hum twitter feed. But it’s hard to fully gauge Foye as a player until I’m able to study his basketball flow through full game observations.

Then I saw the below video from NBA.com. In a clip that’s only about three minutes long, I came away thinking that basketball talent notwithstanding, it’s pretty cool to have a guy with Foye’s history of overcoming challenges on the team. He’s like a mini-Caron Butler full of inspiration.

And on yea, don’t forget about his situs inversus.

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The dust from yesterday’s trade has somewhat settled, but the building is still under construction.

So after my initial thoughts, the first set of web reactions, and Brendan Haywood’s musings, it’s time to go through the second run of Miller/Foye trade react quotes.

And remember, Ernie Grunfeld is likely not done dealing … especially judging by his quote in USA Today: “We might get out of (the draft) altogether. Very seldom do you get a 32nd pick who’s going to come right in and help a veteran ballclub.”

Of course, this could mean drafting someone and selling them for cash (as the case with Billy Walker to the Celtics last season), or packaging it with Mike James’ expiring contract for some sort of help down low (please be the latter, please be the latter).

Here goes….

WWW:

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