When Randy Foye met with media the day after the trade to acquire he and Mike Miller was finalized, he sounded like a man who was both eager and hungry to make a change.  During his three losing seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves,  he  endured three coaching changes in three years, and he was never given a clear, defined role.

While Foye was not the kind of player who would complain about his situation, he clearly was affected by the experience.

“When you’re on a bad team, sometimes you feel like you have to score, and you try to do too much,” Foye observed.  “Even when I played point guard, and I knew I was supposed to pass, I felt pressure to score too, especially when Big Al [Jefferson] was out.  I probably shot the ball too much.  It was just hard to get comfortable.”

Foye also mentioned that he was the type of player who would have no problem at all sacrificing his game for the larger team goal, and that was something he was looking forward to doing with the Wizards.

“That’s the type of player I am– I’m willing to sacrifice my game for the team,” Foye said with a great deal of sincerity. “I sacrificed my game for a losing team before, but when you sacrifice for a winning team, it brings much more joy.”

Although it’s tough to draw conclusions after just three games, there definitely seems to be a trend in Foye’s games with the Wizards.  He seems to have not only found that previously elusive balance between scoring and passing, but he’s reaped joyful benefits of playing for a winning team.

So far this season, Foye is averaging 15 points, five assists, and just one turnover in 32 minutes a game.  In his first start as a Washington Wizard against the New Jersey Nets last Saturday, he scored 17 points and dished out eight assists.

His play as well as his mental approach to the game has caught the attention of head coach Flip Saunders.

“Randy’s strong, he’s extremely strong as far as his ability to go to the hoop, but he can get shoot those perimeter shots,” Flip observed.  “He’s picked things up really well.  One thing about Randy, he wants to be good.  When he makes mistakes, he comes over and wants to learn what he did, what he can do better and not too many times does he makes the same mistake twice.”

Even DeShawn Stevenson, whose playing time is diminished because of Foye’s emergence, noticed Foye’s on court exploits, and found time to heap some high praise on the fourth-year guard from Villanova.

“He’s just another player like Gilbert, he’s the same caliber,” Stevenson told Hoops Addict in front of his locker after the Nets’ game.  “When he’s out there, the other team still has to play him like they’d play Gilbert, that’s how good I think he is and can be.  Plus, it’s a wonderful thing for the rest of the guards because we know we’ll get open shots.”

Speaking of Gilbert Arenas, the emergence of Foye (and Miller) in the backcourt has taken tremendous pressure off of Arenas during this young season.  Even though Arenas has declared himself 100%  healthy coming into the season, there is still a concern about pushing his surgically repaired knee too hard, too early in the season.

Having Foye as a viable ball-handling option gives the Wizards another look and Coach Saunders appreciates the “rest” Foye gives Arenas.

“It helps that we have Randy on the floor..he can handle the ball, so it takes the pressure of him[Arenas] and he can almost rest a little bit as far as off the ball.”

Even Foye himself notices the match-up problems caused by he, Arenas and Miller on the floor.

“It’s like pick your poison and most of the time, they’re going to try and stop Arenas, so that leaves me and Mike open,” Foye observed.  “It spreads the floor, and you can’t leave us[open].  All three of us spend hours and hours on our shots. We trust that guy that he’s going to make the shot when we kick it out.”

The other player who seems to have benefited greatly from Foye’s presence is backup center JaVale McGee.  Several times this season, Foye and McGee have made eye contact, and then combined for some eye-popping, crowd pleasing alley-oops.

“Man, JaVale and I are going to start a little connection,” Foye said while breaking into a full smile.  “I’ve seen him jump everyday, I’ve seen him jump in the layup line, and I know if I throw it up high enough where the defense can’t get it, he’s going to get it.”

When Hoops Addict asked starting center Brendan Haywood if he was jealous that only McGee seemed to be on the receiving end of those lobs, he had some “harsh” words for Foye.

“Man, JaVale jumps so high, and I can’t get those passes like he can.  But I CAN catch some entry passes, so when you go talk to Randy, tell him to shoot less,  throw less lobs and more entry passes in the paint,” Haywood joked.

Foye will need the full services of Haywood, McGee and the rest of Wizards teammates for the Tuesday night match-up against their most hated rivals:  LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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