Official Ramon Sessions Appreciation Thread

[nate33]

I couldn't find a single thread about Ramon Sessions so I had to make one.

This guy really deserves a lot more credit that he gets. Here are his per36 numbers on the season:

17.4 points
5.4 assists
4.4 rebounds
1.0 steals
3.3 turnovers
.563 TS%
109 ORtg
.109 WS/48

He has the highest ORtg on the team among guys with a USG% above 20% (excluding 112 garbage time minutes of Hickson)

Compare his per 36 numbers to John Wall:
19.8 points
10.2 assists
4.9 rebounds
1.9 steals
4.1 turnovers
.510 TS%
102 ORtg
.098 WS/48

And Sessions has gone on a tear since becoming a starter. In 4 games (127 minutes) as a starter, here are his per 36 numbers:
18.7 points
11.9 assists
3.4 rebounds
1.1 steals
1.7 turnovers
.641 TS%
131 ORtg

I'll also point out that Sessions hasn't missed a single game since becoming a Wizard.

[fishercob]

He's a good player. We should have traded him at the deadline to someone who could have used him in the playoffs.

[nate33]

He's a good player. We should have traded him at the deadline to someone who could have used him in the playoffs.

Yup. Sessions and Dudley should have been traded for value. Nene too if anybody wanted him at that price.

[dckingsfan]

He's a good player. We should have traded him at the deadline to someone who could have used him in the playoffs.

Yup. Sessions and Dudley should have been traded for value. Nene too if anybody wanted him at that price.

Instead we go all in and wiff

[TheSecretWeapon]

I think the decision not to sell is basically the result of their poor ability to evaluate players and make predictions about the future. They believed the narrative of the season -- they must have because of their actions and decisions. They thought they were a team on the rise. They thought they'd patched together "enough" (a frequently used word in that front office) "talent" to "contend for the playoffs." I think they thought they'd be a top 4 seed in the East this year. And, I think they really believed injuries were hindering them, and that if they could just get healthy they'd go on a run and make the playoffs.

I did a piece back in January looking at the history of teams that started like the Wizards. Teams like them made the playoffs about a quarter of the time, even though those teams typically improved a bit as the season went on. This year's Wizards did improve from that point. Just (predictably) not enough. It's funny how quickly a team needs to play with some urgency in an 82-game schedule.

To the topic at hand: Yeah, Sessions is a solid backup PG. I was hesitant about the trade because his performance was down due to injury, but he's been good.

[DCZards]

He's a good player. We should have traded him at the deadline to someone who could have used him in the playoffs.

The Zards weren't going to trade Sessions and have Temple as their best backup PG when they still had a shot at making the playoffs.

[closg00]

I think the decision not to sell is basically the result of their poor ability to evaluate players and make predictions about the future. They believed the narrative of the season -- they must have because of their actions and decisions. They thought they were a team on the rise. They thought they'd patched together "enough" (a frequently used word in that front office) "talent" to "contend for the playoffs." I think they thought they'd be a top 4 seed in the East this year. And, I think they really believed injuries were hindering them, and that if they could just get healthy they'd go on a run and make the playoffs.

I did a piece back in January looking at the history of teams that started like the Wizards. Teams like them made the playoffs about a quarter of the time, even though those teams typically improved a bit as the season went on. This year's Wizards did improve from that point. Just (predictably) not enough. It's funny how quickly a team needs to play with some urgency in an 82-game schedule.

To the topic at hand: Yeah, Sessions is a solid backup PG. I was hesitant about the trade because his performance was down due to injury, but he's been good.

Big-time, it is Grunfelds way and the reason players like Sean Livingston and Mack are no-longer on the team. To Ernie, there's always somebody else "around"

[jivelikenice]

Guys like Sessions are what get the Wizards stuck. They look good for spurts. Sessions actually was playing pretty well but really struggled in the month of March. Now he's balling in April in meaningless play-it-out games (which means little) and gets too much praise. He's a solid backup point guard. That being said, I don't want him on the team next year.

[fishercob]

He's a good player. We should have traded him at the deadline to someone who could have used him in the playoffs.

The Zards weren't going to trade Sessions and have Temple as their best backup PG when they still had a shot at making the playoffs.

The shot at the playoffs was (a) most a mirage and (b) pointless -- even if they had made the playoffs, they would have been destroyed bya good team. If they had taken a long term view, trading sessions and dudley made obvious sense.

[nate33]

Guys like Sessions are what get the Wizards stuck. They look good for spurts. Sessions actually was playing pretty well but really struggled in the month of March. Now he's balling in April in meaningless play-it-out games (which means little) and gets too much praise. He's a solid backup point guard. That being said, I don't want him on the team next year.

Sessions has been rock solid for a year-and-half now. He may have had a bit of a slump in March, but everybody has slumps. Overall, he's about as consistent as one can hope for a guard.

I agree that his awesome play in the last 4 games is fairly meaningless.

[DCZards]

He's a good player. We should have traded him at the deadline to someone who could have used him in the playoffs.

The Zards weren't going to trade Sessions and have Temple as their best backup PG when they still had a shot at making the playoffs.

The shot at the playoffs was (a) most a mirage and (b) pointless -- even if they had made the playoffs, they would have been destroyed bya good team. If they had taken a long term view, trading sessions and dudley made obvious sense.

Making the playoffs may have been a "mirage" or "pointless" for us fans but I'm sure it wasn't for Wall, Gortat and the other guys actually doing the competing. So do you send the signal to your players that you're giving up on the season by trading a solid backup PG for what would most likely have been a late second round pick? I don't think you do.

OTOH, I would have traded Dudley for something of value, which the Zards may have tried to do.

[fishercob]

The Zards weren't going to trade Sessions and have Temple as their best backup PG when they still had a shot at making the playoffs.

The shot at the playoffs was (a) most a mirage and (b) pointless -- even if they had made the playoffs, they would have been destroyed bya good team. If they had taken a long term view, trading sessions and dudley made obvious sense.

Making the playoffs may have been a "mirage" or "pointless" for us fans but I'm sure it wasn't for Wall, Gortat and the other guys actually doing the competing. So do you send the signal to your players that you're giving up on the season by trading a solid backup PG for what would most likely have been a late second round pick? I don't think you do.

OTOH, I would have traded Dudley for something of value, which the Zards may have tried to do.

Wait, why would you have traded Dudley, but not traded Sessions for fear of sending the wrong message? DOn't they send the same message?

The current players may have been grumpy, but you manage through that. You help them understand that this is about long term and larger goals. And if they pout, they pout. They're under contract.

[Wizardspride]

Guys like Sessions are what get the Wizards stuck. They look good for spurts. Sessions actually was playing pretty well but really struggled in the month of March. Now he's balling in April in meaningless play-it-out games (which means little) and gets too much praise. He's a solid backup point guard. That being said, I don't want him on the team next year.

That doesn't make much sense to me.

[DCZards]

Wait, why would you have traded Dudley, but not traded Sessions for fear of sending the wrong message? DOn't they send the same message?

The current players may have been grumpy, but you manage through that. You help them understand that this is about long term and larger goals. And if they pout, they pout. They're under contract.

I consider Dudley more expendable.

[Kanyewest]

Wait, why would you have traded Dudley, but not traded Sessions for fear of sending the wrong message? DOn't they send the same message?

The current players may have been grumpy, but you manage through that. You help them understand that this is about long term and larger goals. And if they pout, they pout. They're under contract.

I consider Dudley more expendable.

And probably more valuable at the time to other teams.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

He's a good player. We should have traded him at the deadline to someone who could have used him in the playoffs.

The Zards weren't going to trade Sessions and have Temple as their best backup PG when they still had a shot at making the playoffs.

The shot at the playoffs was (a) most a mirage and (b) pointless -- even if they had made the playoffs, they would have been destroyed bya good team. If they had taken a long term view, trading sessions and dudley made obvious sense.

Agreed. And I'll play Captain Obvious for a moment.

When you don't draft and develop your own talent, when you recycle broken down vet after broken down vet instead of taking periodic flyers on younger talent with upside, you get yourself in these can't win situations.

Some franchises do "both and" at the deadline and in the offseason. They clear out the oldsters even if they have a modicum of tread left on the tires and make room for younger players and, sometimes even get better in the process while accumulating assets.

Think about the Bulls and Deng, the Pacers and West, the Celts and Jeff Green.

Without Jimmy Butler, or Ian Mahinmi, or Jared Sullinger, those franchises couldn't have done quick, and arguably sustainable resets.

[tontoz]

He has been as good as we could have hoped. Best backup Wall has ever had.

[TheSecretWeapon]

The Zards weren't going to trade Sessions and have Temple as their best backup PG when they still had a shot at making the playoffs.

The shot at the playoffs was (a) most a mirage and (b) pointless -- even if they had made the playoffs, they would have been destroyed bya good team. If they had taken a long term view, trading sessions and dudley made obvious sense.

Making the playoffs may have been a "mirage" or "pointless" for us fans but I'm sure it wasn't for Wall, Gortat and the other guys actually doing the competing. So do you send the signal to your players that you're giving up on the season by trading a solid backup PG for what would most likely have been a late second round pick? I don't think you do.

OTOH, I would have traded Dudley for something of value, which the Zards may have tried to do.

MAKING the playoffs (from the point when I wrote that blog piece) would have been terrific. It would have meant the Wizards legitimately turned the season around by playing better. The point of that piece, and I think fish's point, was that making the playoffs from that point was a long shot.

I expect the players and coaches to focus on the short term: win tomorrow. Then the next game and the next and the next and so on. But, the GM and front office is supposed to take a longer view. They're supposed to be able to recognize that it wasn't injuries sabotaging their season, but that the players they chose weren't good enough. (They're supposed to pick better players in the first place.) They're supposed to assess what's happening and what's likely to happen, and then act accordingly.

Now, it could be they looked things over, decided it was injuries, and decided that if they could just get healthy, they could make a run and make the playoffs. Making those judgements meant being wrong about the cause of the team's problems (it wasn't injuries), relying on hope and good luck (that guys would get and stay healthy -- although, again, injuries wasn't the real problem), and then dismissing or ignoring years of NBA history. Whatever thought process they used to arrive at the decisions to retain everyone (including expiring contract guys with possible trade value), and then trade a first round pick for Markieff Morris, they were wrong. They're out of the playoffs, don't have any picks in this year's draft (well, there's a 97.8% chance they won't have a pick), and they have no additional assets obtained via trade.

Maximum pain.

[DCZards]

TSW, I’m not suggesting that the Zards FO didn’t make a mistake in thinking there was still a chance to make the playoffs. (Of course, it’s always easier to argue in hindsight that it was a mistake.)

But I don’t think it was necessarily a mistake for the Zards to not trade Sessions to a playoff team in some sort of fire sale. It's very likely that the best “value or asset” that the Zards would have received from a playoff-bound team for Sessions would have been a late second round draft pick. A re-signed Sessions is arguably more valuable than that pick.

Plus, for all I/we know, the Zards might have indeed tried to trade both Sessions and Dudley before the deadline.

[TheSecretWeapon]

TSW, I’m not suggesting that the Zards FO didn’t make a mistake in thinking there was still a chance to make the playoffs. (Of course, it’s always easier to argue in hindsight that it was a mistake.)

But I don’t think it was necessarily a mistake for the Zards to not trade Sessions to a playoff team in some sort of fire sale. It's very likely that the best “value or asset” that the Zards would have received from a playoff-bound team for Sessions would have been a late second round draft pick. A re-signed Sessions is arguably worth valuable than that pick.

Plus, for all I/we know, the Zards might have indeed tried to trade both Sessions and Dudley before the deadline.

Gotcha. And fair points. I wasn't advocating a fire sale myself, even though I thought the playoffs were unlikely. And I'd be fine with Sessions and Dudley returning next season, though they would surely be very low priorities. And they'd have to be in roles appropriate to their games/abilities. In other words: not starting Dudley at PF. They're both headed for the wrong side of 30, but they should be contributors for the next season or two.