推 penguin0924:我收一下 找時間翻 10/11 20:58
http://www.startribune.com/511/story/734497.html
Every season, some player has to win the NBA's Rookie of the Year award.
It's written somewhere in the league's by-laws, presumably, that the honor
must be bestowed, one way or another, in spite of most head coaches'
feelings toward rookies. And many times, believe it or not, the award
goes to a guy completely lacking in NBA experience prior to his first
training camp and preseason.
In other words, Randy Foye has as good a chance as the next young man,
assuming the Timberwolves give him a legitimate shot at it.
The proper care and feeding of rookies is not something Minnesota knows
much about, at least over the past decade. In that time, the Wolves either
were selecting late in the first round (thanks to their solid finishes) or
not at all (due to the Joe Smith debacle). You have to go back to
Wally Szczerbiak in 1999-2000 to find a newbie who played more than
bit roles. Before that, Stephon Marbury in 1996-97.
Both those guys were taken among the top half-dozen picks, same as
Foye (allowing for the pre-arranged switcheroo on draft night with
No. 7 Portland). Both averaged more than 29 minutes in their first
pro seasons, both started at least 53 times. Both eventually backed
up their lottery status by making it to an All-Star Game.
And Foye? On the brink of his first NBA preseason schedule -- the Wolves
face Milwaukee tonight at Target Center -- no one has penciled him into
any starting lineups. A logjam in the backcourt, in fact, could make
minutes harder than usual to come by. And Dwane Casey, in his first
year as head coach, went slow and easy with last season's prize rookie,
Rashad McCants.
McCants, the No. 14 pick in 2005, played more than 19 minutes in only
nine of the team's 82 games. He topped that 23 times in his final
28 appearances, started 12 games down the stretch and averaged 12.3 points
after the All-Star break. But his spot duty early, driven by Casey's
concerns about defense and a reluctance to rush him, kept McCants off
the league's all-rookie teams.
"Last year there were times with 'Shaddy' where everybody was like, 'Well,
we have to take it really slow,' " said Wolves vice president of basketball
operations Kevin McHale. "Hey, give them as much as they can take. They're
going to have good games and bad games, like anybody.
"As a young player, you're going to [have] peaks and valleys. But when
you've got it rolling, just because you're young doesn't mean you don't
have it rolling. I'd go out on a limb and say Randy Foye has probably had
it rolling in games since he was 10, 11 years old."
Foye, 23, was a four-year starter at Villanova, the Big East Conference
Player of the Year as a senior. He was ready to go this summer, earning
MVP honors at the Vegas Summer League after getting to the rim at will
(24.8 ppg, 53 percent shooting) against that competition.
He was ready to go this fall, too, after working informally with
Kevin Garnett and others before camp. But organized scrimmages with real,
live coaches are a little different, and Foye looked hesitant the other
day in practice. On the athletic plays he was fine, grabbing a rebound,
bursting out of the pack on a break. Across midcourt, though, Foye pulled
up at times and waited for a veteran like Troy Hudson to take the ball.
And in the team scrimmage Saturday in Mankato, Mike James pressed and
stripped him in another early lesson.
"I want all the veteran guys to bring everything at me, so I can see
what it really is," Foye said. "Then when I confront it in the game,
it's not going to slap me in the face, like, 'Oh!' "
Said Casey: "A lot of the nuances of the NBA are still new to him.
He's working his butt off learning -- he's a sponge -- and he's getting
a lot of new information thrown at him. I'm sure his head is about to spin
off right now ... So it's probably taken away a little bit of his creativity.
But once he digests [it] and lets it come naturally, then it's going to
help him a lot."
Then again, owner Glen Taylor said last week in camp that the Wolves --
had they held the No. 1 pick overall -- still might have drafted Foye.
McHale said he would have looked hard at Adam Morrison and Tyrus Thomas,
but liked Foye in the top three.
That suggests a season spent more on the court than on the bench, especially
for a team that won 33 games last season and can't waste any more time.
"My whole thing is, you should get what you earn," McHale said. "I don't
want to put pressure on him. The worst thing you can do is say, 'Well,
we're pinning our hopes on this young kid.' I think that just crushes
them.
"But I also don't think you should hold them back and say, 'The guy's
playing great. If we're not careful, he'll play too good.' He'll dictate
how much he plays."
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