Hollinger Praises Sessions

[aboveAverage]

Sessions is a shoot first guard, but he takes good shots. I'm fine with him shooting, because most of his shots are layups. This means he is getting high percentage shots and penetrating the defense.

I don't know why a lot of people are obsessed with having a point guard who never shoots the ball. The only point guard I can think of who did that was Eric Snow. Point guards have to score in this league. As long as Sessions is keeping his assist numbers up, he can shoot as much as he wants. It's stupid to tell him that he can't use his skill at penetrating to score the ball.

Pass first point guard, shoot first point guard, it doesn't matter. All that matters is: can he play?

[Fight the Tank]

I love the Ramon Sessions is Tony Parker except he dribbles the entire 24 second shot clock away comparison.

[europa]

I don't know why a lot of people are obsessed with having a point guard who never shoots the ball.

I'm not sure anybody wants that. For me, the issue is finding the proper balance. Given Sessions' standout assists numbers when he's started at PG, I think it's very clear he understands how to get his teammates involved. I think he gets the PG position and understands how to play it. But like most young players, he is still learning the game. Combine that with a new head coach and being asked to play out of position for several games and it's not surprising he's struggled at times this season.

[Fight the Tank]

I think Sessions is a PG that can do both. I think he's better at the PG position, because he isn't at a size disadvantage defensively, and he can still use his quickness to get to the rim even against PG defenders. The numbers bear that out too.

I think the quickness of his decision-making needs to improve (mainly holding the ball to long waiting for something to happen instead of just making something happen in terms of creating) and his overall D needs to improve, but with another offseason of work I see Ramon, if he gets starter minutes, around a 18 ppg/9 apg/1.5 spg on 46% player per 36 minutes.

You hypocritical. You criticized Mo Williams and TJ Ford for the same damn thing that Sessions does.

He is no better then Mo Williams or TJ Ford! He can't defend and he can't shoot. Certain players it takes awhile for them to develop and others it takes ahwile for the oponents to take them serious and take things away from their limited games...

Teams have no seen Sessions enough yet. He is only played 25 games in his entire career. What you see is fools gold. Numbers on a bad team where he gets to handle the ball and by default is the man now...

You made the same mistakes before...hailing good players are great who are not. There are few in here I trust with judging NBA talent. You look at the wrong things...

Coming from the guy who wants Steve Franchise signed.

[BDUB_30]

comparing parker and sessions is completly inacurate ..parker gets to the rim at will ..


sessions conistantly has to dribble the 24 second clock down while he makes numerous attempts to penetrate the defense ..


if you watch the two carefully, without bias .. you can see that parker can get into the paint at will and very rarely gets sealed out ...where as sessions , he has to really eat up all of our clock to do it , if he can do it at all ...


its a huge diffrence and it makes the comparison comletly invalid in my opionon.

I wonder why? The other teams have to worry about Duncan and Manu. Easier to clog the lane vs the Bucks. CVs hot shoot has helped that.

i disagree .

parker is around the man whos guarding him conistantly in one step ...


sessions however , has to spend alot of time finessing , dribbling in circles . Reason for that is parker has an outside shot and you have to respect him and play him anywhere on the floor ..


Ramon does not , so defenses can sag off . the 2 feet of seperation that defenses give ramon make it signfigantly more challenging for him to get around them ..he does a decent job of pushing thru some contact though .

[aboveAverage]

comparing parker and sessions is completly inacurate ..parker gets to the rim at will ..


sessions conistantly has to dribble the 24 second clock down while he makes numerous attempts to penetrate the defense ..


if you watch the two carefully, without bias .. you can see that parker can get into the paint at will and very rarely gets sealed out ...where as sessions , he has to really eat up all of our clock to do it , if he can do it at all ...


its a huge diffrence and it makes the comparison comletly invalid in my opionon.

I wonder why? The other teams have to worry about Duncan and Manu. Easier to clog the lane vs the Bucks. CVs hot shoot has helped that.

i disagree .

parker is around the man whos guarding him conistantly in one step ...


sessions however , has to spend alot of time finessing , dribbling in circles . Reason for that is parker has an outside shot and you have to respect him and play him anywhere on the floor ..


Ramon does not , so defenses can sag off . the 2 feet of seperation that defenses give ramon make it signfigantly more challenging for him to get around them ..he does a decent job of pushing thru some contact though .

Well obviously Ramon is not as good as Tony Parker now, but we're comparing Ramon to a young Tony Parker. Back when Parker couldn't shoot or play defense, two things you are harping on. The point is, Ramon's defense and shooting will most likely improve over the years. Not saying he will be as good as Parker, but he definitely will improve. That's why we want to resign him. We like his potential.

And also, Ramon is one of the best penetrators I have ever seen. He can get by almost anyone with two steps. I don't know why you keep saying that he has to dribble in circles to get around his guy, this clearly isn't the case...

[smooth 'lil balla]

I don't know why a lot of people are obsessed with having a point guard who never shoots the ball.

I'm not sure anybody wants that. For me, the issue is finding the proper balance. Given Sessions' standout assists numbers when he's started at PG, I think it's very clear he understands how to get his teammates involved. I think he gets the PG position and understands how to play it. But like most young players, he is still learning the game. Combine that with a new head coach and being asked to play out of position for several games and it's not surprising he's struggled at times this season.

Totally agree with this. All the best PG's in the league are also scorers. You need to be able to score well to be a very good PG. The problem I had with Mo is that you could tell that if Mo hadn't shot in a while, the ball was going up, and usually from 22 feet, whether he was guarded or not. He is a very good player, but he was very selfish in Milwaukee and statiscially focused. He can't do that in Cleveland which is why he was the perfect fit. The fact that he then goes on the talk show circuit talking about how he got snubbed drives home the selfish point even more. He wants "his."

Back to Ramon, until I see ill advised and predictably ill advised shots coming from him, I'm fine with him scoring. If he wants to run a layup drill all night I'm fine with that.

[unklchuk]

Without getting into the type of PG we need discussion (where I have nothing fresh to offer) I think there's another dynamic worth consideration.

That's what kind of a PG/CG will Sessions want to be when he has a long-term contract and a developing reputation.

It's possible he views distributing the ball as an initiation fee he has to pay before making it. He's said to be close to Mo - maybe he'd be happy to shoot more and pass less - once he's established. It's worked rather well for Williams. But IMO wouldn't work well for the Bucks.

I don't know that, but it seems possible and I doubt that Bucks management would welcome that. Hammond will likely decide what kind of future he sees for Sessions - and act accordingly.

[europa]

The good news about that, Chuck, is that if he stays with the Bucks he'll need to play the way Skiles wants or he'll sit. Skiles has shown quite clearly that there's only one way you're going to play on his team and if you don't abide by what he wants you'll be sitting on the bench.

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

There is absolutely no correlation between different styles of point guard play (pass first/shoot first) and winning in the NBA. One shouldn't allow cliches that their high school basketball coach told them to overshadow real world data and observations.

[lawrybeard]

In other news: Session Fans Praise Hollinger

[aboveAverage]

There is absolutely no correlation between different styles of point guard play (pass first/shoot first) and winning in the NBA. One shouldn't allow cliches that their high school basketball coach told them to overshadow real world data and observations.

Best post I've read in a while.

[apdamico]

The good news about that, Chuck, is that if he stays with the Bucks he'll need to play the way Skiles wants or he'll sit. Skiles has shown quite clearly that there's only one way you're going to play on his team and if you don't abide by what he wants you'll be sitting on the bench.

Absolutely, and it's not like the kid was jacking up ridiculous shots. He was driving to the basket and either getting layups or fouled. If nobody noticed, he made 18-21 FT's and that used to be one of the major concerns about Sessions, which he needed to improve. I'd have to say that he's improved his free throw shooting since the beginning of the season.

Apparently, Skiles must like the kid's play or he would not have played that many minutes against the Pistons. I not going to buy the "he was the only option theory" because Skiles would have sat him and got out of the floor himself if Sessions was not playing Skiles type of ball.

BTW, did everyone see how Bogut and Redd were jumping around when Sessions kept driving the lane and getting to the line? I didn't quite see the same enthusiasm coming from Ridhour. Come on folks, Ridnour was going to be the starter no matter what. How can you justify Hammonds trading of Mo and DMase for a backup PG, bench coach and a player they didn't want to report? We all knew Ridhour was going to be the starter.

Anyone who keeps saying that Skiles' doesn't believe Sessions is the PG of this team's future didn't listen to the interview Marv Albert had with him concerning Sessions, when we played New Jersey. Skiles pointed out that Sessions for all intensive purposes is really still a rookie, but that he has come a long way and improved his game in so many areas and he's a willing defender who has improved in that area as the season has progressed. The only thing Skiles mentioned that Sessions needed improvement on was his jump shot. Skiles stated that Sessions needed to work on his jump shot over the summer and if he did, he is going to be a very special player in this league.

Remember, it's not easy to please Skiles and Ridnour was not injured at the time of this interview, so those who say that Skiles doesn't believe in Sessions are incorrect. I just don't see Scott going into such detail about a player that has no future. Also, I really doubt he was just attempting to drum up trade interest with that interview.

Ramon has learned from Skiles and that is very apparent lately in the way the Ramon is able to pick up fouls. This is especially true when Ramon is picking up moving pick type fouls and blocking fouls while driving around opponents hips.

Everyone's entitled to their opinions and mine is that we need to re-sign Sessions!

[aboveAverage]

I have a feeling Skiles really likes Sessions, but he doesn't show it all the time. It's sort of a tough love thing with Skiles. He really gets on Sessions when he makes mistakes, but he gives him playing time because he is trying hard to develop Sessions into a star. It's exactly what Sessions needs. Much better than a coach who lets him do whatever he wants. I equate it to how Avery Johnson handled Devin Harris, when Devin was in his first and second year.

[apdamico]

I have a feeling Skiles really likes Sessions, but he doesn't show it all the time. It's sort of a tough love thing with Skiles. He really gets on Sessions when he makes mistakes, but he gives him playing time because he is trying hard to develop Sessions into a star. It's exactly what Sessions needs. Much better than a coach who lets him do whatever he wants. I equate it to how Avery Johnson handled Devin Harris, when Devin was in his first and second year.

Absolutely agree, the only thing we must avoid however is the temptation to trade away a young promising, future all-star PG, like Dallas did with Harris!

[europa]

Given the reports we heard about how badly Avery wanted to get rid of Harris, maybe we should find another analogy.

[unklchuk]

"There is absolutely no correlation between different styles of point guard play (pass first/shoot first) and winning in the NBA. One shouldn't allow cliches that their high school basketball coach told them to overshadow real world data and observations."

Doesn't make my list for best posts. But that's what this place is for: differences.

Promoting team play is the main thing for me. I don't know what this Forum will decide on this (to the point that decisions are ever made). But my heart is clear on this, and I will follow it. NBA basketball when individuals are scoring on their own efforts, while teammates watch, is BORING. (Except for those rare superstar moments.)

A leadership point guard, IN MY EYES if not in others, transforms his team. Is exciting and fun to watch. Satisfying and subtle. There are hundreds of highly skilled hoops athletes. There aren't many who can play together at a high level.


If someone should want to drive me from this forum all they would have to do is prove conclusively that my thoughts on this are the foolish conditioning of a high school coach. Win that argument, and you make the game of basketball (for me at least) very, very small and meaningless.

[beyond_the_arc]

comparing parker and sessions is completly inacurate ..parker gets to the rim at will ..


sessions conistantly has to dribble the 24 second clock down while he makes numerous attempts to penetrate the defense ..


if you watch the two carefully, without bias .. you can see that parker can get into the paint at will and very rarely gets sealed out ...where as sessions , he has to really eat up all of our clock to do it , if he can do it at all ...


its a huge diffrence and it makes the comparison comletly invalid in my opionon.

Ability to get to the rim: FTM-FTA
Mr. Longoria 135-171 78.9%
Ramon Sessions 173-215 80.5%

It's like you wish to be proven incompetent when it comes to judging Ramon's ability simply because you don't believe in him.

[Ill-yasova]

comparing parker and sessions is completly inacurate ..parker gets to the rim at will ..


sessions conistantly has to dribble the 24 second clock down while he makes numerous attempts to penetrate the defense ..


if you watch the two carefully, without bias .. you can see that parker can get into the paint at will and very rarely gets sealed out ...where as sessions , he has to really eat up all of our clock to do it , if he can do it at all ...


its a huge diffrence and it makes the comparison comletly invalid in my opionon.

Ability to get to the rim: FTM-FTA
Mr. Longoria 135-171 78.9%
Ramon Sessions 173-215 80.5%

It's like you wish to be proven incompetent when it comes to judging Ramon's ability simply because you don't believe in him.

BDUB doesn't let meaningless things like stats get in the way of his ignorance.

[BDUB_30]

comparing parker and sessions is completly inacurate ..parker gets to the rim at will ..


sessions conistantly has to dribble the 24 second clock down while he makes numerous attempts to penetrate the defense ..


if you watch the two carefully, without bias .. you can see that parker can get into the paint at will and very rarely gets sealed out ...where as sessions , he has to really eat up all of our clock to do it , if he can do it at all ...


its a huge diffrence and it makes the comparison comletly invalid in my opionon.

Ability to get to the rim: FTM-FTA
Mr. Longoria 135-171 78.9%
Ramon Sessions 173-215 80.5%

It's like you wish to be proven incompetent when it comes to judging Ramon's ability simply because you don't believe in him.

BDUB doesn't let meaningless things like stats get in the way of his ignorance.

yeah youre right i dont ..

because those stats are taken against completly diffrent levels of nba compeition ... meaning , sessions has played alot of his minutes off the bench , against lesser quality players ..


parker plays against the best night in and night out . Can you see the distinction or are you just to ignorant ?


futhermore , to add another variable .. parker missed the first month of this season ... with a fairly serious injury . the dumb free throw comparision is invalid its taken with diffrent varaibles , against diffrent opponets , at two diffrent positions ..


you guys are really terrible at this ...