There were two items that I intentionally glossed over in my Rashad McCants/Randy Foye Death Match post: a comparison of rookie-to-injury seasons and age. With no further delay, let's dive into the former.

In his injury season (06-07), Shaddy played in all of 37 games for the Wolves. In yet another one of their too-close-to-believe-that-the-front-office-really-drafted-them-in-consecutive-years moments, Mr. Fourth Quarter Foye is on tap to play in 39 games during his injury campaign. In other words, we have a good and consistent sample size with this comparison and it is a pretty damn decent tool to use when discussing each players' relative merits.

In order to get a good grasp on how to properly compare the two players, one should take a good look at how each Wolf performed in pre and post injury. Let's start with Shaddy. I will list 3 numbers: rookie stats, injury stats, and the difference between the two. For instance, if Shaddy averaged 2 blocks/game in his rookie season and 1 in his injury season, his line will look like this: Blocks/game: 2/1/-1. Hopefully this will not be too confusing.

• Pts/36: 16.6/12/-4.6
• Ast/36: 1.7/2.5/+0.8
• FTA/36: 2.8/3.8/+1
• PER: 12.6/7.2/-5.4
• eFG: 51.3/40.7/-10.6
• rebr: 6.3/5.1/-1.2
• usgr: 23.3/20.3/-3
• Net on/off/40: +3.7/-3.2/+6.9
• Hands: 7.9/7.9/EVEN
• Net PER at the 2: -2.7/-7.2/-4.5
• Net PER at the 3: -10.4/-3.7/+6.7
• PER at the 2: 14/7/-7
• PER at the 3: 10.2/9.1/-1.1

Now for Foye:

• Pts/36: 15.9/13.4/-2.4
• Ast/36: 4.4/4.5/+0.1
• FTA/36: 3.7/2/-1.7
• PER: 14/11/-3
• eFG: 43.8/43/-0.3
• rebr: 6.9/6.3/-0.6
• usgr: 22.9/19.7/-3.2
• Net on/off/40: -1.2/+1.3/+2.5
• Hands: 12.1/13.8/-1.7
• Net PER at the 1: -3.3/-3.5/-0.2
• Net PER at the 2: +0.1/-7.8/-7.9
• PER at the 1: 13.5/12.9/-0.6
• PER at the 2: 16.9/11.5/-5.4

Since I'm not a doctor, I'll stay away from writing about which injury is harder to come back from: microfracture surgery or a dislocated kneecap. My guess is that microfracture is the harder procedure, but to each his own. What is notable about these stats is that both players suffered almost across the board in their injury years. You can pretty much write off the net/on/off/40 numbers to overall team play so those positive gains can be disregarded. The other thing that is noticable about the differences in stats is that Shaddy used his increased bulk to be more efficient at the 3 while increasing his ast/36 by nearly a whole assist. Otherwise the season was a wash...unfortunately, it is so for both players, which is one of the reasons why it is so hard to make a judgment (if one is to be made) about Foye.

Perhaps a better approach would be to compare rookie seasons to the year after the injury campaign. For Foye, this is an impossible proposition, but here goes nothing with Shaddy (I will write two numbers; his current stats and then the differential between this season's numbers and his rookie season):

• Pts/36: 19.6/+3
• Ast/36: 3.0/+1.3
• FTA/36: 2.8/EVEN
• PER: 14.5/+1.9
• eFG: 52.5/+1.2
• rebr: 6.1/-0.2
• usg: 26.4/+2.1
• Net on/off/40: +8.9/+5.2
• Hands: 10/+2.1
• Net PER at the 2: -2.0/+5.2
• Net PER at the 3: -2.0/+1.7
• PER at the 2: 16.6/+9.6
• PER at the 3: 14.6/+5.5

As you can see, the 07/08 version of Shaddy is beating the living hell out of his rookie campaign. After what can be considered as something of a lost year, the young man has shown across-the-board improvement with very solid numbers. Since we obviously can't gather the same information for Foye, let's take Shaddy's differentials and apply them to Foye's current numbers so that we can have a measuring stick for what could be expected for Foye next year in order to meet Shaddy's increase in production.

• Pts/36: 18.9
• Ast/36: 5.8
• FTA/36: 2.0
• PER: 15.9
• eFG: 49.5
• rebr: 6.7
• usg: 25
• Net on/off/40: +4
• Hands: 10
• Net PER at the 1: +1.9
• Net PER at the 2: +1.8
• PER at the 1: 21.1
• PER at the 2: 22.4

A few things: first, if Foye were to meet Shaddy's improvement with PER/position, he would be a D-Wade style All-Star. While it is quite easy to get caught up in his ball holding/offense wrecking ways (I speak from experience on this point), it is hard to remember that Rashad has improved by a wide margin between his rookie year and now. Positional PER, usage rate, points/36, etc...Shaddy is putting up wide margins of improvement that will be hard for Foye (or any player on the roster) to match. In other words, should Foye mirror Shaddy's strides from his rookie year to his post-injury season, he would be awfully close to his ceiling in less than 4 years of play. Removing the minutes-based approach, we're talking about a 17/5/5 type of player; a guy who is in the same conversation as Baron Davis, Chauncey Billups, and D-Wade. While I only hope for the best with Randy's future, he's simply not this type of player. Bottom line: Foye will be hard pressed next season to match Shaddy's improvement in his post-injury season. (Never mind that Shaddy's real numbers still compare rather well compared to our hypothetical future Foye stats.)

Finally, perhaps the single biggest factor in determining which player should stay or go if a death match ever happened, is...wait for it...AGE. At the end of his 1st post-injury campaign, Shaddy will be 23 years old. At the beginning of his 2nd post-injury season, he will be 24 with 3 full years of NBA service. At the end of his 1st post-injury campaign, Foye will be 25 years old. At the beginning of his 2nd post-injury season, he will be 26 with 3 full years of NBA service. At 26, Shaddy will be entering his 6th year in the league. It should also be mentioned that Foye is currently making about $1 million more than Mr. McCants.

If I had to boil down my whole Shaddy/Foye Death Match take to a single bullet point, it would be this: Rashad McCants is younger, cheaper, and with better stats than Foye. Going a bit further than a single line, Shaddy has shown improvement over both his rookie and injury seasons while compiling decent numbers (see eFG, pts/36) in what amounts to his 2nd full season. Oh, did I mention that he's younger and cheaper than Foye? Furthermore, McCants offers the team just as much flexibility (actually more) across multiple positions (2/3) than does Randy at the 1 and 2.

Well, that about does it for now. I have a feeling that the death match decision will come sooner than later but we'll just have to wait and see.

Until later.

UPDATE:: I'll add something I wrote over at the T Wolves Blog Forum:

While I get the fact (and have noted it in the past) that Shaddy has the potential to wreck an offense with his ability to hold the ball too long and get his, the gap between a shooting guard getting his and finally becoming a relatively good team player is much smaller than the one between a soon-to-be 25 year old undersized combo guard who had never run an offense before becoming a relatively good point in the premier basketball league in the universe.

Foye is much farther away from being an above average point than Shaddy is being a good 2 who doesn't disrupt his team's offensive play. Add this notion to the issue of age and it's hard to see Foye as having more upside than the younger, cheaper, and better producing McCants.