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Well, I certainly wasn't expecting a month like that.

After a 2-14 December, The Timberwolves started 2009 10-2. It wasn't logical. It didn't make any sense. But it was the funnest, most thrilling month to be a Wolves fan since the spring of 2005. The team improved at every spot on the roster, and the future suddenly looks a lot brighter now than it did on Christmas.

At 16-30, the Wolves aren't going to be in the playoffs this year. But can anyone-- even Wolves haters-- be confident in saying that in two years, they won't have leapfrogged declining teams like Phoenix and Dallas? Over the last month, they looked like a real NBA team. They played defense, rebounded, and generally had a swagger and bravado late in games that's always apparent on good teams.

They're significantly improved up and down the rotation. Al Jefferson is better defensively this year than last (though you still wouldn't call him good), and he's even more dominant in the low post. It was impressive to see him smell blood against injury-depleted front lines of Chicago and New Orleans and just dominate them.

Kevin Love is validating my belief in and defense of him during his rough spots early in the year. He was lights-out all month, continuing to rebound offensively better than anyone I've ever seen, and starting to figure out how to score in the post. It's ridiculous that Eric Gordon beat him out for Rookie of the Month and a spot on the Western Rookie Challenge team. Raise your hand if you're a Wolves fan and aren't excited about the Love-Jefferson front-court of the future. Didn't think so.

Ryan Gomes is knocking down jumpers, Sebastian Telfair is making some creative plays, and Rodney Carney is becoming a combination of Corey Brewer and what we all hoped Rashad McCants would be. But the most significant improvement of '09, and the one really responsible for the turnaround, is that of Randy Foye.

Early in the season, when Wittman was stifling his creativity by micro-managing the offense, Foye struggled and the Wolves sucked. The best thing McHale (who, by the way, I'm going to call Western Conference Coach of the Month in January-- or WCCMJ-- in blogs from now on. Until he ticks me off again) has done is to get the heck out of Foye's way.

Now, a newly confident Randy knocks down clutch threes, breaks ankles with crossovers, gets to the basket, and makes nifty passes on a regular basis. He looks, to sum it up, every bit as good as Brandon Roy. And with Roy's chronic knee issues, I'm no longer sure of myself when I say the Wolves got hosed on that one. I attended the games against New Orleans and Miami, and Foye went toe-to-toe with both Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul. It was stunning.

Which all leads me to a surprising conclusion: If this nucleus of Timberwolves is ever going to break into the West's upper crust, Big Al Jefferson isn't going to be their franchise player. Foye is. When Foye was a mediocre point guard, the Wolves were a bad team, even though Jefferson was putting up impressive stats. But if the new explosive, confident, not-backing-down-from-anybody combo guard Foye is here to stay, then he elevates the team's ceiling so much.

Maybe I'm being over-optimistic, but I can't help it. Randy Foye and Al Jefferson look like KG-Marbury 2.0 to me. Maybe WCCMJ knew what he was doing all along...

Nah, probably not.