Between now and the June 28 NBA Draft, SUPERSONICS.COM will break down one of the top 15 prospects in the draft per day, getting audio analysis from Sonics Director of Basketball Operations Dave Pendergraft and commentary from Sonics play-by-play broadcaster David Locke and SUPERSONICS.COM's Kevin Pelton. Today, Villanova guard Randy Foye.
Pendergraft's take:
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Locke's take: What is a point guard in the NBA today? Is the point guard a John Stockton-type or is it a scoring combo guard like Jason Terry or Dwyane Wade?
Your answer to that question will dictate what you think of Randy Foye. If you want a traditional point guard then you will think Foye is too small and not good enough as a distributor. If you want a big shooting guard who is a pure shooter then you will knock Foye down the list - Foye shot just 41% in his senior season.
However, if you want someone who is a player with or without position, Foye could fit into the Top seven of the draft.
Foye is a dynamic scorer who can play in traffic and he was an outstanding rebounder as a college guard. Rebounding is usually one of the skills that translates well from the college game to the pro game.
Time to put Foye to the Locke three-part test.
There is no question that Foye was the man at Villanova. He was helped by backcourt-mate Allan Ray (a broadcaster disaster if he is drafted by the Sonics), but every night the opposing team was building their plan to stop Foye. Despite that pressure, Foye still averaged 20 points a game.
Because the Big East is so Big (they have something like 20 teams), Foye only played two teams in conference twice. The second time he played Syracuse, he had 21 points, six rebounds and six assists which, was better than the first match-up. Also, his second game against UConn he just 6-of-18 but in the first game he was only 3-of-10. UConn was a tough match-up.
Foye’s big-game play was terrific. In the NCAA tournament Villanova lost in the Elite 8. Foye scored 17, 24, 29 and 25 points in the four games. He also averaged seven rebounds a game. Much of scouts' concerns about Foye are derived from his matchup against the athletic Arizona team who forced him into seven turnovers.
Bottom line on Foye is he is a player. When a team drafts a player without a true position the\re is a bigger chance that he underperforms than if you can put him into a slot. However, as the game continues to evolve players like Foye are going to play regardless if they have a true position.
Foye may not be projected in the top seven, but keep an eye out for team where he fits a need and he may catapult up the board.
Pelton's take: When I was thinking a couple of weeks ago about which draft picks would most benefit from the evolution of the NBA, Foye shot immediately to the top of the list. As much as we talk about many different changes, the number one effect of by the new rules interpretations limiting contact on the perimeter is allowing guards to get to the free-throw line more and shoot a higher percentage.
If you watched the NCAA Tournament, you know nobody in this Draft gets to the paint better than Foye, who just seemed to live near the basket despite opponents focusing their game plan on stopping him. Foye attempted 18 free throws in the last two games of Villanova's tournament run. When you combine Foye's quickness and his size, he could be unstoppable on the perimeter as a pro.
There's just one thing I don't get - why is his field-goal percentage so low? Yes, he shot a ton of 3-pointers (nearly half of his shots as a senior were 3s, which he hit at a 35.0% clip), but his two-point percentage (46.3%) was dismal as well. I didn't see enough of Foye, honestly, to figure out exactly why there's this disconnect, but it will be a big issue in the pros.
On the other hand, if Foye gets just a little better at shooting the j and finishing ... look out. It may not matter what position he ends up playing, as long as he's got the ball in his hands.
