Good Lord. I go from 6-8 inches of rain in Little Rock to 6-8 inches of snow upon returning to Minnesota. While I'm getting tired of winter, I'm glad to be back in Minnesota. As much as I love the mid-south (Ms. Stop-n-Pop is an Okie and yours truly has lived in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas), it was nice to get out of a hotel and back into my own bed. That being said, I already miss the BBQ and the sweet tea. Come on Minnesota, rise up to the culinary challenge and produce a regional cuisine greater than the Juicy Lucy!!!

Anywho, thanks to League Pass on line I was able to catch most of the Wolves games during my time down south. I also had the chance to catch the Celts in Memphis. Rather than sit here and give you a lame overview of the last 5-6 games, I'd like to write a bit about the impending Rashad McCants/Randy Foye death match.

Folks, while he has improved his game of late, Foye is a combo guard ("tweener" if you want to be nasty) who can't really play the one while being incapable of guarding the 2. Perhaps ironically, his greatest defensive and point-based weakness has been displayed in the 4th quarter. From being unable to work a late-game 2 man spiel with Al Jefferson to getting torched by Rodney Stuckey, Foye has shown himself to be a decidedly average player. This is not a bad thing. It seems bad when you consider that his career will always be the meat in a Brandon Roy/Rudy Gay sandwich, but he's going to be a serviceable pro; a guy who can get you 13-15 points with 5 rebounds and assists. Not bad. However, at what cost does his production come at when he can neither defend the 2 or play the 1 at an above average level?

On the other hand, Shaddy has shown signs (of late) of being able to work his Vinnie Johnson shoot-em-up microwave magic within the larger context of the team's offense (whatever that may be). He doesn't hold the ball nearly as long as he used to and he has shown the ability to work the 2 man pick-and-roll game in the 4th; a trait that is nice to see in the team's only legit perimeter threat.

Getting around to the meat of the matter, the Wolves are going to have some backcourt decisions to make regarding Mr. Foye and Mr. McCants. Shaddy hits free agency 1st and he's made it more than clear that he thinks he's a starter. If he continues to compile a near 15 PER with 15 ppg, he's going to get his opportunity whether the Wolves like it or not. Should the team hit the lotto jackpot and snag Derrick Rose one of the 2 guards will have to go unless Marko Jaric can find a home closer to Ms. Lima. I haven't even talked about what they will do with Sebastian Telfair.

The bottom line here is that Foye and McCants are redundant. They are 6'4" combo guards who each have question marks that nag their game. Who should stay and who should go? Let's take a look at the numbers (Shaddy is listed 1st, then Foye; stats can be found here and here):

• PPR: -3/1 vs. 1.1- Advantage Foye
• Rebound Rate: 6.0 vs. 6.4- Advantage Foye
• Pts/40: 21.7 vs. 14.7 Advantage Shaddy
• PER: 14.55 vs. 10.99- Advantage Shaddy
• eFG: 52.3 vs. 47.9- Advantage Shaddy
• FT/FG: 13 vs. 13- Advantage EVEN
• Roland Rating: + 3.1 vs. -1/4- Advantage Shaddy
• Net on/off: +8.9 vs. +2.3- Advantage Shaddy
• eFG net: +3.4 vs. +1.2- Advantage Shaddy
• Ball Handling TO: 67 vs 24- Advantage Foye (even with adjusted minutes Foye ends up on top)
• Bad Passes TO: 56 vs. 34- Advantage Shaddy (adjusted for minutes, Shaddy comes out on top)
• Hands Rating: 9.9 vs. 13.4- Advantage Shaddy
• Ast/48: 4.0 vs. 6.0- Advantage Foye
• Clutch eFG: 43 vs. 54- Advantage Foye
• Net PER at position*: 2 = +2.8, 3 = +3.7; 1 = +4.0, 2 = -3.0- Advantage Shaddy

* NET PER is measured by taking the individual players' positional +/- PER and weighing it against the team's positional +/- PER. For instance, Shaddy has a -1.8 PER at the 3 while the Wolves average a -5.5 at the position. Therefore, he has a +3.7 at the position compared to the team's average.

Overall, Shaddy wins the head-to-head battle. His offensive numbers are significantly greater than Foye's while his play making numbers (PPR, Ast/48) don't sag all that far behind. Interestingly enough, Shaddy's on/off and +/- numbers suggest that either he holds his own defensively or over performs on the offensive end to such an extent to make his time on the court more valuable than his off-court alternative.

Whatever happens in the Wolves' future, they will have to deal with having drafted two very similar 6'4" combo/tweener guards who both have issues playing either the point or the off guard. Should they have the opportunity to draft a player like Derrick Rose, their past draft mistakes will be compounded even further, as Rose clearly is the 2nd best player in the draft and could offer the Wolves a game-changing talent that would be hard to pass up on. Even without Rose, if they decide that Bassy is a legit back-up option at the 1, they are faced with a situation where the redundancy remains, especially with the large salary of Marko still on the books.

The main point of this comparison is to show that outside of Jefferson, no player on the Wolves' roster should be considered a safe rebuilding option. Each player has their pros and cons and they are similar enough in production and overall value to make picking between one or the other a decision that should be taken seriously while, at the same time, not causing them to lose too much sleep over casting one of them aside in the greater rebuilding effort.

From a personal standpoint, I think the choice is obvious at this point: you go with Shaddy. He is the team's only legit perimeter threat as well as the one player who can really create his own off the dribble. Yes, he has issues with working in the Wolves' offense, but not only has he shown improvement over the course of the season, the Wolves' offense may be part of the reason why he seems to slow things down when he goes into "get mine" mode. Both Foye and Shaddy are guards that would likely work better in a situation where a team ran a few less screens and 1/2 court point-to-point sets. Spacing and slashing would seem to benefit both of them more than what is being run at the moment and perhaps this is part of the problem.

Whatever the issue is, I think it is past time to begin thinking about how to rate their values against one another. I'll leave you with this: Foye performs above the team average at the 1 with the net PER stat. Part of this has to do with his superior shooting and rebounding compared to Bassy. Despite this number, Foye's PPR, assist rates, and ast/to numbers are decidedly sub-par compared to Telfair. When he switches over to the 2, he becomes an even more ineffective player; netting a -7.8 PER at the off guard compared to the team's -4.8 average at the position. Conversely, Shaddy performs at a consistent level across both the 2 and 3; netting positive PER ratios compared to the team's positional averages. All in all, the Wolves, with Bassy on the sidelines, lack a true point. Not only does Shaddy offer them a more flexible option across multiple positions, but he does so with superior numbers to Foye.

Until next time.