Trudell: James ranked 4th in the entire NBA in three-point percentage last year, shooting a considerably higher percentage (44.3%) than his previous career high (39.3% in 2004-05). How do you account for the improvement? Babcock: A lot of it is just getting more minutes, and getting more looks and opportunities. He had an opportunity and he certainly took advantage of it. Trudell: Randy Foye garnered league MVP honors in Vegas after averaging 24.8 points on .530 shooting in five games. According to ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst, Foye was virtually unstoppable, showing "star-like quality and getting to the hole whenever he wanted." Can you give us your take on the former Villanova All-American? Babcock: He is a very, very talented player. He is another one who is not a true point guard, but more of a scoring point guard. Randy can put the ball on the floor and go anywhere he wants to. He has an explosive first step, and is explosive on the dribble. He's extremely strong, and if you give him just a little seam, he is like a running back where he'll get in there and split it. Trudell: What is the most impressive thing about Minnesota's latest rookie? Babcock: The thing I've been unbelievably impressed with Randy, and especially in our offseason workouts, is his ability to finish. I knew he could finish in college, but most rookies finish in college and come in with NBA level players and length, and all of a sudden they can't finish anything. It takes them a couple of years to figure out. But Randy has been finishing over everybody. Trudell: Talk about Randy in terms of shooting the ball... Babcock: He can shoot the ball too -- he's not a pure shooter, but really more of a scorer. But like Mike James, he's tough and competitive. If you watched any Villanova games last year, you saw that he wants those big shots, and he's made a lot of them. You don't want to have too high of expectations on rookies, because no matter how talented they are, they have to go through a learning curve. They'll have nights when they look like rookies, and nights when they look like they're still in college. It's an up-and-down thing, but Randy has a lot of pride, and I think he's going to be a very good player in this league. Trudell: What is another reason why you think Randy will succeed in the NBA? Babcock: I think that what he did in college, he's going to be able to do in the NBA, because he is physically strong enough. It might take him a while to adjust, but a lot of guys did certain things in college, and they come to the NBA and just don't have the physical ability to do the same things, and never will. However, Randy has the physical ability to do that. It's just going to be a matter of learning the league, learning the players, and so on. Trudell: You've talked about the fact that neither James nor Foye are of the "pure" point guard breed. How do you see the newest Timberwolves working together on the court? Babcock:They both can score and pass, particularly when they put the ball on the floor, drive and kick it out. They can certainly play together, and are both strong enough to defend the two guard position. There is always the question you ask that isn't so much offensively, but how versatile is the player, and whom can he guard? If you are playing two "point guards" together at the same time, can one of those guys guard a two? The answer is, both of our guys can guard a two, and that's really important. If you throw two point guards on the court at the same time and neither one of them can guard a two, then that guy is just going to get posted up like crazy and you're going to have problems. --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 218.170.216.216