Sessions to Wolves?

[mountainballer]

http://my.journaltimes.com/post/woelfel-world-of-sports/bucks_sessions_on_brink_of_offer_sheet.html

Bucks Sessions on brink of offer sheet?

BY GERY WOELFEL

Ramon Sessions could be approaching the end of his long and unpredictable free agency odyssey.

Sessions, a restricted free agent who wound being the Bucks' starting point guard last season after just two years in the NBA, could be on the verge of receiving an offer sheet.

Surprisingly, it might not come from the New York Knicks or the Los Angeles Clippers -- two teams that have heavily courted Sessions since the commencement of free agency on July 1.

According to some NBA officials, Sessions may wind up signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves are in the market for a guard after their top choice in the 2009 draft -- Ricky Rubio -- recently decided to play for Regal FC Barcelona.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

huh?
ok, Sessions is a nice talent and might become a good starter for a NBA team one day, especially for a running team.
but the Wolves??
they drafted Flynn, they drafted Rubio and now they seem to sign the 22 years old Sessions to a multi year contract. great strategy Kahn! develop a plan and keep your players happy. and some thought after years of total incompetence under McHale the Wolves get a chance to restart. wrong, tradition is quite a power and Kahn quickly claims a top spot on the worst GM list. that's good news. let's call him about a Gomes trade!

[Chieflion]

I do not see what is wrong about a bad team stockpiling talent for future trading purposes. Flynn has been a class act about the Rubio situation and mentioned it was a pity not to be able to play with him. Kahn was not an idiot. Who else is a free agent? If only they could have taken Tyreke Evans. Too many PGs in the 2009 draft.

[23LeBronJames23]

wait didnt they got a PG from their 6th pick?

or is he a SG?

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

If they get him on the cheap he could be a nice asset, for trading purposes at least. They obviously don't expect Rubio to come to the NBA in the near future

[duncan228]

Now Is the Time to Free Ramon Sessions (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=tsn-nowisthetimetofreera&prov=tsn&type=lgns)
SportingNews

I'm slowly making my way up the coast of Maine to get myself married, but had to weigh in on a few pieces of news. Too many times before have I expressed my undying support for Ramon Session, my belief that he needs a chance starting, and my wariness of a dysfunctional team bringing him in as a walking, living, breathing challenge—with no promise of a bright future.

Hence, the man needs to go to New York for cheap and then re-up once his worth is proven. Not get in bed with the Clippers, stick around Milwaukee, or now … sign with the T-Wolves?! From the Racine Journal Times (http://my.journaltimes.com/post/woelfel-world-of-sports/bucks_sessions_on_brink_of_offer_sheet.html):

According to some NBA officials, Sessions may wind up signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves are in the market for a guard after their top choice in the 2009 draft—Ricky Rubio—recently decided to play for Regal FC Barcelona.

Neither Sessions nor Chubby Wells, Sessions' agent, could be reached for comment Thursday night. Ditto for Timberwolves president David Kahn. If Sessions does sign an offer sheet with the Timberwolves, the Bucks would have seven days in which to match it. That is highly unlikely, though.

Forget for a second that this would once again (as in, the "once" we spent so much time fretting over) give the T-Wolves two very promising point guards and not enough mics. PGs like Luke Ridnour grow through positional battles. You know, the kind who respond well to the conventions of football. Guys like Flynn or Sessions (or Jennings on the Bucks) are going to want the show in their hands so they know the team's invested in them as the future—not just a boom/bust talent who could end up begging for scraps off the bench. Lord knows Sessions has seen that already with Skiles in Milwaukee.

Naturally, if any of the three guards I've discussed can't cut it, they should be replaced. But to return to football: If you pick up a promising young stud at QB, is it worth mounting a QB competition before they've had time to definitively fail? Meanwhile, does the other guy just cool his heels and pretend he's there for the food? This is how psyches are wrecked. Flynn/Sessions may not quite be the international situation that Rubio/Flynn would've been, but it still sews the seeds of disharmony and disillusionment.

Say what you want about good soldiers and falling into place to help the team. When there's wind blowing through major holes in the roster and the team is, at best, just barely landing in the lottery again, you need to respect the point guard. In the cosmic, Platonic form kind of way. Unless you want to buy into some platoon crap, which makes no one happy even as it poses as a solution.

I just don't see what New York's problem is. Oh wait, my bad:
Knicks president Donnie Walsh has had repeated conversations with Wells and with Bucks general manager John Hammond about some sign-and-trade scenarios, although the parties couldn't come to any agreement. The Knicks have their sights set on signing Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James next summer and don't want to disrupt their salary-cap situation.

But Sessions is mere slivers here, while the other two guys clogging up the Knicks' offseason are, even for a single year, bigger investments.

No offense to Nate Robinson or David Lee, but wouldn't Sessions on the cheap offer a better building block than either of these two high-profile, um, notables? I know, Nate is energy and can control the ball a little! Lee averaged a double-double! Is either a true point guard in D'Antoni's system, a deadly-accurate marksmen, or a rangy finisher? No.

So please, for the love of logic, free Ramon Sessions, before I have to ski-mask up and do this myself on the week of my destination wedding.

[duncan228]

Just came up.

Source: Timberwolves sign Ramon Sessions (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txtimberwolvessessions&prov=st&type=lgns)

The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed restricted free agent point guard Ramon Sessions to an offer sheet, a person close to the deal says.

The person told The Associated Press about the signing on condition of anonymity because it has not been officially announced.

The Milwaukee Bucks will have seven days to match the offer. The move comes two days after Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio backed out on a deal to join the Timberwolves this season.

Rubio’s decision to stay in Spain for at least the next two seasons created a hole at point guard for Minnesota behind rookie Jonny Flynn from Syracuse.

[Leetonidas]

I'm guessing Minnesota is planning on trading Rubio then. I don't get it though, they just drafted Johnny Flynn and they go out and sign a starting PG. They should be trying to develop their rookies.

[JamStone]

Bucks must have a helluva lot of confidence in Brandon Jennings being able to step in right away if they let Sessions walk.

[Bruno]

I don't get it though, they just drafted Johnny Flynn and they go out and sign a starting PG.

Sessions will only get $4M per year. It is a decent salary even for a backup PG.
So if Flynn plays great, Sessions will end up as the backup PG.

[DPG21920]

I don't think Sessions will be happy as a backup. He would be an excellent trade piece at that price and I am surprised no one else signed him to an offer sheet at that price. Bucks, WTF are you doing?

[Mel_13]

I don't think Sessions will be happy as a backup. He would be an excellent trade piece at that price and I am surprised no one else signed him to an offer sheet at that price. Bucks, WTF are you doing?

Same thing they did with RJ and CV, avoiding the tax.

[DPG21920]

Ok, at some point you have to keep cheap players that are young. I get they are trying to avoid the tax, but damn. Why not do some salary dumps like other teams in order to keep Sessions?

[23LeBronJames23]

why would u get 2 starting PGs?

[Mel_13]

Ok, at some point you have to keep cheap players that are young. I get they are trying to avoid the tax, but damn. Why not do some salary dumps like other teams in order to keep Sessions?

Well, they could have just cut Oberto and then kept Sessions, but they traded Fab for Amir Johnson who was then traded for Delfino and Ukic. Does that make sense? I don't know, but paying 40M to Redd, Bogut, Gadzuric, and Ridnour puts them in a bad situation. Good luck finding someone to eat those contracts.

[Bruno]

If Milwaukee want to keep Sessions, a trade like Kurt Thomas for Greg Buckner contract could allow them to keep him without going over the tax. I can see Dallas being interest in KT.

Milwaukee has still Jennings, Ukic and Ridnour at PG. It's possible that they aren't even interested to keep Sessions at that cheap price.

[tomtom]

I have no idea what Bucks are thinking now. I can understand wanting to move Jefferson and to a lesser extent Charlie V but now they are throwing away an up and coming pg thats young with lots o f potential? Ridnour isn't the youngest of guys anymore and Ukic is well only good for exploding against the spurs :lol but this is the Bucks blowing up the team and leaving Redd and Jennings left. Do they even have significant cap space next year?

[Muser]

why would u get 2 starting PGs?

Why would you get a PG that can't backup his shitty mouth?

[Leetonidas]

Sessions will only get $4M per year. It is a decent salary even for a backup PG.
So if Flynn plays great, Sessions will end up as the backup PG.

True. But Sessions is a starting PG in this league and a damn good one. He may not be on the level of Paul/Parker/Williams but I'd say he's closer to Nash/Kidd now.

[23LeBronJames23]

If Milwaukee want to keep Sessions, a trade like Kurt Thomas for Greg Buckner contract could allow them to keep him without going over the tax. I can see Dallas being interest in KT.

Milwaukee has still Jennings, Ukic and Ridnour at PG. It's possible that they aren't even interested to keep Sessions at that cheap price.

who is dallas not interested in?

[Chieflion]

who is dallas not interested in?
Smart players. Look at the their new additions and tell me how smart they actually are.

[mogrovejo]

If Milwaukee want to keep Sessions, a trade like Kurt Thomas for Greg Buckner contract could allow them to keep him without going over the tax. I can see Dallas being interest in KT.

Milwaukee has still Jennings, Ukic and Ridnour at PG. It's possible that they aren't even interested to keep Sessions at that cheap price.

No need to trade Thomas. They can simply trade Elson + cash or 2nd rounder and send to any team in the league willing to get some cash to receive him (he makes the min. salary, so he's easily traded for a MSE). Luxury tax concerns aren't the reason why they may not match the offer for Sessions.


Skiles doesn't like Sessions. Me neither, btw. Too ball-dominant, no defense and can't shoot. But still a nice player, very young and with basically a single NBA season under his belt. More importantly, they're sold on Jennings as their PG of the future. And I think they prefer to have Jennings/Ridnour/Ukic than adding Sessions at this price. I think they want to make Jennings their man ASAP and that would be difficult with Sessions on the roster - unless they sign Sessions to not play him and in this case they'd be overpaying and puttting themselves under a situation that would make Sessions contract bad value.

I agree with the Wolves decision of getting Sessions - they have enough playing time available to pump up his value and trade him or Flynn in 2 years; and I think the Bucks have a good case to not match the offer.

[Bruno]

True. But Sessions is a starting PG in this league and a damn good one. He may not be on the level of Paul/Parker/Williams but I'd say he's closer to Nash/Kidd now.

Well that's your opinion. I don't share it and obviously NBA GMs also don't share it given the result of his RFA.

[Bruno]

No need to trade Thomas. They can simply trade Elson + cash or 2nd rounder and send to any team in the league willing to get some cash to receive him (he makes the min. salary, so he's easily traded for a MSE).

Elson doesn't make the min salary. His salary is $1.7M.
He isn't also enough to put Bucks low enough below the tax to keep Sessions. Bucks are $1.6M below the tax and Sessions salary for 09-10 will be $3.7M.

[mogrovejo]

Elson doesn't make the min salary. His salary is $1.7M.
He isn't also enough to put Bucks low enough below the tax to keep Sessions. Bucks are $1.6M below the tax and Sessions salary for 09-10 will be $3.7M.

Huh, I forgot a word when writing that ( I had a phone call while writing it). It should read like this:

They can simply trade Elson + cash for 2nd rounder and send Sharpe to any team in the league willing to get some cash to receive him (he makes the min. salary, so he's easily traded for a MSE).

[Bruno]

^ ok.

Elson + Sharpe is also another possibility if they want to keep Sessions. I'm not sure it would be easier and/or more interesting for Bucks than dumping Thomas.

[mogrovejo]

It is, for two reasons:

- I think Kurt Thomas value will increase as the season progresses.

- Dumping Thomas for Sessions would still left them with 16 players in the roster, so they'd need to dump another player anyway.