Randy

Foye

“This is the best group we’ve had in so far,” said Fred Hoiberg, who is heavily involved in the team’s pre-draft scouting. “Just their intensity, their energy level, their willingness to compete.” Coach Dwane Casey compared Foye to Marcus Banks, a speedy shooting guard who can play the point.

Foye is a sleeper in this draft and was arguably the best player on the board at No. 7. He’ll see some playing time for the Blazers this season, but probably won’t have much fantasy value this year.

Under the rookie salary scale, Foye will make $4.23 million in the first two years of the deal that runs through 2007-08. The Timberwolves hold club options for the next two years of the contract. It remains to be seen how much fantasy value Foye will have this season, but he’s expected to be NBA-ready this year. We should have a better idea of his value once training camp starts.

Mo Williams and Caron Butler were both very quiet tonight, allowing Foye to play well. He’s worth owning in many leagues, but make sure there’s not an option on your waiver wire with more upside.

This isn’t too surprising, and it’s further confirmation that Randy Foye can be dropped. Young has his work cut out for him to provide anything more than late-round value in 12-team formats, but playing next to Chris Paul will give him a best-case scenario for quality looks. Of course, this assumes that Young can kill the shot-selection issues and lackadaisical play.

He was 2-of-8 for five points on Monday, and Nick Young is simply getting more minutes than Foye at this point. If you want to drop Foye for a hot free agent, like Iman Shumpert, it makes sense.

Foye has struggled with his shot and is statistically obligated to pick it up. He entered tonight’s game shooting 35.4 percent from the field, and will start moving back toward his 41.1 percent career average. He has hit 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) shots from the field over his last two games. He’s worth strong consideration as a pickup in 12-team formats.

If it’s any consolation, the Clippers shot 36.8 percent from the field in this 81-78 barnburner. Foye has really struggled shooting the ball and unless he totally falls off a cliff, he’s bound to get things pointed in the right direction. That’s actually what had been going on in the two games prior to this, before the entire Clippers squad fell off the wagon.

Foye struggled to get free from the Celtics’ strangling defense, as did Chris Paul (14 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals). Luckily the Clippers have five games this week, and owners starting Foye can pretend that it was just four.

In case any owners were holding onto him with the hope that he’d receive steady playing time despite the arrival of Nick Young, this should be enough to convince you to drop him and move on. With Young in the fold and Mo Williams also needing minutes, there just aren’t enough minutes to make Foye a fantasy asset.