Kings sign Ramon Sessions

[bajaden]

I won't lie, I've always like Sessions. I liked him at UNR, and he was one of the players I wanted the Kings to acquire 3 or 4 years ago. Someone compared him to IT, and the only thing similar is their assist to turnover ratio. In his seven years in the league Sessions averages are 4.7 assists per game and 1.9 turnovers per game compared to IT's 4.8 assists per game and 2.1 turnovers per game. But that's about where it ends. IT took a lot of shots from beyond the arc, averaging 4.2 attempts per game, while Sessions averaged less than one attempt a game. To put in perspective, IT takes almost as many three point attempts in one year, as Sessions has taken in his entire 7 year career. So to point out that Sessions hasn't been a very consistent three point shooter throughout his career would be correct, but, then as I point out, he doesn't take many shots from there.

My point isn't to pit IT against Sessions, but to show that they're entirely different players. Sessions has reached double digit FGA's for the year only once in his seven years, while IT has averaged double digit attempts, although to be fair, he's only played for three years. While their assist to turnover rate is very similar, Sessions has been a little more efficient at it, needing fewer minutes to average the same amount of assists. In short, Sessions is more of a facilitator and IT is more of a scorer. And, while Sessions may not be looked at as a lock down defender, he's a decent to good defender, and at 6'3", he doesn't struggle against the taller PG's in the league.

From that perspective, I think its a good signing. It's never a bad idea to have a talented player like Sessions as insurance, if its for the right price.

 

[bajaden]

Extremely well stated. I've been ok with most of the moves we've made this off-season but we still aren't making the playoffs with this roster and I haven't seen anything from PDA that suggests he knows how to take us to the next level. He's aggressive and knows how to find bargains which is great when filling in a playoff roster but not so great when those bargains make up much of your team.

Barring a big trade before training camp, I agree with you on the playoffs. Not sure I agree with you on PDA. You could be right, but without knowing all the gory details of what he tried to get done, and what deals fell through because of other circumstances, its hard for me to judge. An example might be the Josh Smith rumor. It sounded good until Monroe decided to sign the qualifying offer and possibly become an unrestricted free agent next off season. I'd love to know the percentage of deals that actually get done out of all those that are proposed. I'd bet that for every deal that gets done, there are a hundred that end up in the waste basket. As they say, it takes two to tango

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Barring a big trade before training camp, I agree with you on the playoffs. Not sure I agree with you on PDA. You could be right, but without knowing all the gory details of what he tried to get done, and what deals fell through because of other circumstances, its hard for me to judge. An example might be the Josh Smith rumor. It sounded good until Monroe decided to sign the qualifying offer and possibly become an unrestricted free agent next off season. I'd love to know the percentage of deals that actually get done out of all those that are proposed. I'd bet that for every deal that gets done, there are a hundred that end up in the waste basket. As they say, it takes two to tango

The thing is, bajaden, I feel like, sometimes, no move can be the best move. Saying that it takes two general managers to make a deal is true, as far as it goes, but I don't feel like we're in the position where we need to accept consolation prizes, as it were. I would personally have more respect for D'Alessandro if he came out and said, "Look, we were aggressive in trying to get guys, but we didn't get the guys we wanted, and we're not going to sign a bunch of mid-level guys, just to say that we did something." Like I said before, there's nothing wrong with the guys that he's signed, in a vacuum. But the problem is that they're complimentary pieces to a core that he hasn't finished putting together yet. They're guys that you add to your team at the end of the process, not in the middle. That's my beef with D'Alessandro: it looks like he's trying to skip steps.

The truth of the matter is that our core is far from assembled. The only guy we can really count on is Cousins. Gay can be a good Batman to Cousins' Superman, but he's going to be a UFA; he might stay, he might not. McLemore and McCallum are coming off of shaky rookie seasons; they might pan out, they might not. Stauskas looked like he could be a good glue guy in Summer League, but who knows how that will translate in a real game. And that's the whole of our supposed "core," and it's not enough. There's not one guy out of those five, besides Cousins, about whom you can confidently say, "He should and most definitely will be here on Opening Night in 2015." We need more guys that are going to make Cousins' life easier.

As the saying goes, some guys play the piano, and some guys carry the piano. We've got a guy to play the piano, and that's great, and a bunch of guys to carry the piano, and that's cool, too. But, who's playing the drums?

 

[Guy Larboni]

I don't know... I really don't get the reason: sure, the price is right and he's a pretty good player *off the bench* , but last season RMC had something going near the end of the season, he was great! so why cutting him off like that?

The other option is a big trade coming on sooner rather than later, not sure if Rondo will show up because I can't see DC as a 2nd PG once again after the season he had last year. guess we'll just have to have some faith in Pete and Malone.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I don't know... I really don't get the reason: sure, the price is right and he's a pretty good player *off the bench* , but last season RMC had something going near the end of the season, he was great! so why cutting him off like that?

The other option is a big trade coming on sooner rather than later, not sure if Rondo will show up because I can't see DC as a 2nd PG once again after the season he had last year. guess we'll just have to have some faith in Pete and Malone.

agree on Ray. We aren't contending for a championship right now, let alone a playoff spot most likely. I don't really see the reason in spending 4mil on a backup PG that isnt going to make much of a difference on wins/losses and is only going to take away minutes and development from Ray. Who has shown some stuff at the end of the season and then in Summer League.

 

[SacKings384]

Why? I just can't wrap my head around the vision for this team. It makes no sense. We have the oddest collection of talent in the NBA. None of these pieces fit together.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

To be fair the pieces are starting to fit better than they have in the recent years. But some of the signings have just been strange. At least they have been cheap for the most part and it's not like we have thrown some giant contract at a mediocre player

and we still have a major logjam at the Power Forward with none of them being what we need

 

[Hallama]

Good signing. I was worried they'd go into the season with Ray as the backup PG, which he's just not ready to do imo.

Takes pressure off Ben or Nik too coming in with the second unit, which Sessions can do well in leading.

 

[kingsboi]

Is this the writing on the wall for Ray? Will he be included now in a package for J Smoove?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

To be fair the pieces are starting to fit better than they have in the recent years. But some of the signings have just been strange. At least they have been cheap for the most part and it's not like we have thrown some giant contract at a mediocre player.

I don't know about that; I mean, I definitely give D'Alessandro credit for getting rid of the back "locker room" guys and GMSI guys, but I don't know if I agree if the guys he replaced them with are, overall, better fits. I'd like it a lot better if Landry were in a different uniform.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Good signing. I was worried they'd go into the season with Ray as the backup PG, which he's just not ready to do imo.

Well, he's not ready, if we're trying to win now. But this team isn't built to win now, with or without Sessions.

Obviously, if the goal of the team is 'playoffs or bust,' then you want a better backup than McCallum. But, if the goal of this team is 'playoffs or bust,' we're doomed.

 

[Jkbiker]

Well I feel we have to have 3 point guards in case of an injury situation
Without Sessions , If we took on lets say Deonte Burton as the 3rd PG
If Collison went down, I think Ray is not ready for 1st string and Deonte not really ready for 2nd string
That would be a disaster in my book

But Now I am ok with:
Collison, Sessions
Sessions, Ray
Collison, Ray

So if any of the three goes down, I am ok with the depth chart

And since Sessions is viewed as a Combo Guard, he can also help if Ben or Nick goes down

I really love this signing, and for 2 mil a yr , heck yeah

 

[HereWeBoogie]

^Makes a lot of sense and i totally agree there. Let's say we never picked up Sessions, It's very unlikely that Ray and DC both play all 82 games, and those games where one of them is not playing, would be ugly

 

[bajaden]

The thing is, bajaden, I feel like, sometimes, no move can be the best move. Saying that it takes two general managers to make a deal is true, as far as it goes, but I don't feel like we're in the position where we need to accept consolation prizes, as it were. I would personally have more respect for D'Alessandro if he came out and said, "Look, we were aggressive in trying to get guys, but we didn't get the guys we wanted, and we're not going to sign a bunch of mid-level guys, just to say that we did something." Like I said before, there's nothing wrong with the guys that he's signed, in a vacuum. But the problem is that they're complimentary pieces to a core that he hasn't finished putting together yet. They're guys that you add to your team at the end of the process, not in the middle. That's my beef with D'Alessandro: it looks like he's trying to skip steps.

The truth of the matter is that our core is far from assembled. The only guy we can really count on is Cousins. Gay can be a good Batman to Cousins' Superman, but he's going to be a UFA; he might stay, he might not. McLemore and McCallum are coming off of shaky rookie seasons; they might pan out, they might not. Stauskas looked like he could be a good glue guy in Summer League, but who knows how that will translate in a real game. And that's the whole of our supposed "core," and it's not enough. There's not one guy out of those five, besides Cousins, about whom you can confidently say, "He should and most definitely will be here on Opening Night in 2015." We need more guys that are going to make Cousins' life easier.

As the saying goes, some guys play the piano, and some guys carry the piano. We've got a guy to play the piano, and that's great, and a bunch of guys to carry the piano, and that's cool, too. But, who's playing the drums?

Don't disagree with anything you said. All true, and good reason to be sceptical about the outcome, and question the abilities of our illustrious GM. At this point its all subjective, and just about anyone's opinion is valid. Unfortunately, only time will tell, and waiting is the one thing that many don't have much patience for. In particular, I worry about Gay. Maybe I place more value on him than others do, but as you put it, he's the Batman to our Superman, and those Batman's don't grow in trees. So at the moment, our future is in the hands of Cousins, Gay, and a few young, and hopefully talented players. If we can add one more upper level player, then the Casspi's and Sessions of the world start to look more meaningful.

I'm hopeful that there's a plan, and that these moves aren't just "Lets do something, anything" moves. However, I do understand your comment about, sometimes no move is the best move. Hey, at least we have something to speculate about.....

 

[King Baller]

IMO the best thing about having Collison and Sessions at PG is that it will allow our SG's a chance to shoot. Especially when Stauskas is on the floor I think he will need shots to be effective.

I'm glad the Kings are well stocked with guards. It means no more 4 small forward and one center line ups.

 

[Jkbiker]

So looking at all the offseason moves, I feel pretty good!! :

C Gray- Out, Hollins In (a Push)
PF Acy - Out , Moreland In (as 4th on depth chart - better future potential/fit)
G Cunningham, Terry -out Stauskis - In (much better)
SF Travis - Out , Caspi In (Better)
PG IT - Out , Collison, Sessions in (better fit, two good players vs one)

Yes no Blockbuster moves, but I still see overall improvement

 

[SacTownKid]

Without another move this roster looks like something not even Geoff Petrie in his later days could have put together. Stuffed to the gills needing to cut weight and they add more weight.

 

[sdballer]

Without another move this roster looks like something not even Geoff Petrie in his later days could have put together. Stuffed to the gills needing to cut weight and they add more weight.

Again, it all depends on what PDA does with all of the excess. If he can combine some of it into another major piece, great. If we just go bloated and still weak in key spots, ouch.

 

[Bricklayer]

The alternate to the "must be a big move coming" theory would be a far more complex and subtle theory that frankly does not seem to jive with a young a management team impatient to win. Nonetheless, you could argue the theory that instead of one big splash move, we are relentlessly pushing forward with incremental advancement on numerous fronts all hopefully adding up to a push for .500. That theory would look something like this:

Get Rudy for whole season, not just 50 games, +5wins
Continued Cousins improvement/confidence +3wins
Proven veteran backup PG to replace shaky unproven kids: +3wins
Landry back to give us proven bench scorer instead of Acy: +3 wins
Stauskas more sophisticated and ready than was McLemore: +4wins
Let IT's ball dominance go, replaced him and backcourt with multiple ballhandlers (Stauskas, Collison, Sessions) + 4wins
Added superior lead assistant +2wins

etc.

You could argue that maybe we are trying to win a war of pinpricks. Add up all those "+'s" and we are a 52 win team. Not, obviously, that I am saying it will all work as planned. Just saying that an alternate to the "well we must be doing something big" theory is the "we're just cleaning out our scrubs, replacing inexperienced kids with tough vets, and trying to add 2 or 3 more solid vet presences on the roster than we had last year" theory.

 

[Dime Dropper]

The alternate to the "must be a big move coming" theory would be a far more complex and subtle theory that frankly does not seem to jive with a young a management team impatient to win. Nonetheless, you could argue the theory that instead of one big splash move, we are relentlessly pushing forward with incremental advancement on numerous fronts all hopefully adding up to a push for .500. That theory would look something like this:

Get Rudy for whole season, not just 50 games, +5wins
Continued Cousins improvement/confidence +3wins
Proven veteran backup PG to replace shaky unproven kids: +3wins
Landry back to give us proven bench scorer instead of Acy: +3 wins
Stauskas more sophisticated and ready than was McLemore: +4wins
Let IT's ball dominance go, replaced him and backcourt with multiple ballhandlers (Stauskas, Collison, Sessions) + 4wins
Added superior lead assistant +2wins

etc.

You could argue that maybe we are trying to win a war of pinpricks. Add up all those "+'s" and we are a 52 win team. Not, obviously, that I am saying it will all work as planned. Just saying that an alternate to the "well we must be doing something big" theory is the "we're just cleaning out our scrubs, replacing inexperienced kids with tough vets, and trying to add 2 or 3 more solid vet presences on the roster than we had last year" theory.

I think you're being generous with many of the +figures after Cuz + Rudy (which I'd imagine is very reasonable, particulary given the USA experience), but I absolutely agree with the general premise of your post. I think the FO is trying to get our end of benchers as experienced vets who have won and who have been productive, and I think it's asinine to criticise them for this given that they're signing them for so little. It's absolutely an improvement. I would have a legitimate hope of reaching 44 wins next year, and I'm trying not to be a homer. Things seem to be falling together, this year is when the penny will drop for Cuz in terms of absolute undeniable superstardom.

Actually people probably don't realise how lucky we are to have Boogie as our cornerstone - not only is he one of the most talented bigs in modern history, he's also extremely loyal and loves Sactown. I'm not even from the same continent and it gives me goosebumps when I think of where he can (realistically) lead this team - which, in a few years, is to title contention.

 

[Gilles]

Monroe looks to be on his way out of Detroit, so they are holding onto Smith for now, Bucks want to give Sanders another chance, Bledsoe wants a max (all questionable moves for Kings anyway), and Rondo doesn't want to be in Sacramento...There's just no big moves available, when you can't trade your picks, don't have any bargain contracts and there's no elite guys available for peanuts. So all you can do are small moves. Sessions is below average starter with quite high opinion of himself. That's why he was low-balled this summer, but for little over $2 million he's good contract, and if he's willing to dominate the ball and create for bench unit (maybe he got the message), he becomes a bargain one. I share the sentiment, that they are stacking the bench with solid bench players, because that's all that is possible at this moment. And financial constraints were loosened, so that they don't have to pay LT for non-PO team, but can afford the move that might push the team into PO contention.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

The alternate to the "must be a big move coming" theory would be a far more complex and subtle theory that frankly does not seem to jive with a young a management team impatient to win. Nonetheless, you could argue the theory that instead of one big splash move, we are relentlessly pushing forward with incremental advancement on numerous fronts all hopefully adding up to a push for .500. That theory would look something like this:

Get Rudy for whole season, not just 50 games, +5wins
Continued Cousins improvement/confidence +3wins
Proven veteran backup PG to replace shaky unproven kids: +3wins
Landry back to give us proven bench scorer instead of Acy: +3 wins
Stauskas more sophisticated and ready than was McLemore: +4wins
Let IT's ball dominance go, replaced him and backcourt with multiple ballhandlers (Stauskas, Collison, Sessions) + 4wins
Added superior lead assistant +2wins

etc.

You could argue that maybe we are trying to win a war of pinpricks. Add up all those "+'s" and we are a 52 win team. Not, obviously, that I am saying it will all work as planned. Just saying that an alternate to the "well we must be doing something big" theory is the "we're just cleaning out our scrubs, replacing inexperienced kids with tough vets, and trying to add 2 or 3 more solid vet presences on the roster than we had last year" theory.

I was going to write something like this and now I don't have too.

I think the Kings still have some weird fit issues in their starting lineup, and they need new solutions for PG and PF at some point, but the supporting players this season fit Rudy and DeMarcus a lot better than they did last season. It looks like some thought was put into roster construction this season. Projections?

Collison / Sessions / McCallum
Stauskas / McLemore
Gay / Williams / Casspi
Evans / Landry / Moreland
Cousins / Thompson / Hollins

A few interchangeable pieces there. Thompson might start, either way I expect him to play more than Evans. Well, I expect all of Cousins, Landry, and Thompson to play more than Evans if he starts again. I think Stauskas will beat Ben out in camp, and I think Casspi could leapfrog Williams, especially if the Kings dump Williams' contract before the season. Casspi can essentially get you the same level of effectiveness for 6 million dollars less, and considering neither player will have a major role I might opt for Casspi's shooting ability over whatever the hell Williams does.

Sessions does a lot for that bench unit because, especially if McLemore is on there, they need a guy who can create his own shot offensively. McCallum had moments last season, but there were times where he just wasn't a scoring threat and the bench offense struggled because of it.

A bench of Sessions (scorer, passer), McLemore (shooter), Casspi (shooter), Landry (scorer), Thompson (do it all) is solid.

 

[CruzDude]

A trade has to be going down Very soon. Our roster is looking crazy.

Truest quote of the day. Somehow PDA has a scheme here but we can't see it yet. Bhular isn't going anywhere other than Reno for awhile to get his weight down and conditioning up. Wear is strictly Reno bound as is Burton, a local Nevada/Reno player for D-League marketing, Gee/Hopson from Houston should be waived any minute now.

I like Sessions game but I like McCallum's progress as well and then there is Collison. Nothing wrong with 3 PG's. And 2 SG's (Nik and Ben) That leaves 8-9 slots for SF (Gay, Casspi), PF (JT, Evans, Landry, DWill, Moreland) and Cuz/Hollins. Then whatever PDA pulls off, maybe this week.

 

[The_Jamal]

Great signing. The biggest concern I had going into this season was 3/4 of our backcourt rotation was made up of unproven players. Now, we got 2 solid veterans who can carry the load if the young guys struggle. Both Sessions and Collison are capable of playing some 2 guard and I could very easily see us using those 2 at the end of games if the rooks struggle.

Big props to the FO this off-season for finding some serious bargains. I don't really care about the lack of a big move... We didn't have any room to operate anyway once Rudy opted in. Sessions, Casspi, Hollins and Collison are all solid veterans and finding 2 2nd round picks in Moreland and Bhullar to develop is something we aren't used to either.

Basically, we split IT into Collison and Sessions,which makes a lot of sense because both guys are lesser versions of him, but do give us better depth. Healthy Landry back gives us a trio of PF's who should be able to get us decent 48 minutes at the position. We have great depth behind Gay with Williams and Casspi.

So while the players aren't 100% perfect, the only position I'm really worried about now is SG.

 

[dude12]

Sac was looking for a combo guard and they got a solid signing at a nice contract. I look at it as hedging against both Stauskas AND Ben performing at a shaky level. I'm not ready to bank on Stauskas being NBA ready yet and Ben has much room for improvement. I think we will see our fair share of Ray and Sessions together.

 

[jcwkings]

We keep loading up on 8th-12th men. No one besides Cousins and Gay are proven starters in the league. After that only Collison is a proven 6th-7th man type. Assuming Landry regains his form he also falls into the 6th-7th man type. Everyone else is 8th to 12th man material, and the majority fall much closer to the latter. I just don't see how some are optimistic about this team. This looks like another 28 win team unless Cousins reaches superstar status(top 10 player in the world, meaning he becomes a good 2 way player) and young guys like Stauskas, McLemore or McCallum make huge impacts. Aside from those 3 we know what everyone else on the roster is capable of doing in this league and can't expect much of a deviance in either direction.

 

[KingMilz]

Love the signing makes we wish we didn't sign Collison but, Sessions imo will be the starting PG before the season is over love his game. He's got poise slashes to the lane at will and has a sweet middy. Maybe this means we are packing Ray in a deal or something along those lines to get a quality PF.

This is sort of the problem with our moves we make the right move after we have made the wrong one everytime.

 

[randymoss1881]

Our second unite is pretty good if Landry gets back to form.
Sessions, Nik, Landry, JT that is a good unite with good scoring.

 

[KingMilz]

We keep loading up on 8th-12th men. No one besides Cousins and Gay are proven starters in the league. After that only Collison is a proven 6th-7th man type. Assuming Landry regains his form he also falls into the 6th-7th man type. Everyone else is 8th to 12th man material, and the majority fall much closer to the latter. I just don't see how some are optimistic about this team. This looks like another 28 win team unless Cousins reaches superstar status(top 10 player in the world, meaning he becomes a good 2 way player) and young guys like Stauskas, McLemore or McCallum make huge impacts. Aside from those 3 we know what everyone else on the roster is capable of doing in this league and can't expect much of a deviance in either direction.

Sessions is better than Collison, Sessions is a borderline starter and has been and done well, I even said in previous posts I would take Sessions over Thomas numerous times.

 

[gunks]

Why? I just can't wrap my head around the vision for this team. It makes no sense. We have the oddest collection of talent in the NBA. None of these pieces fit together.

Because PDA is new at the whole GM thing, and possibly over his head?

I think all these guys we are signing are also kind of "combo-y" ..... Most of the guards on our roster will probably see time at the 1 and the 2. I mean, that's been the FOs party line for the entire season..."Position-less" basketball .... Which I interpret as "Crappy, small ball, terrible defense, Malone pulling his hair out at PDA's roster moves" basketball. OTOH...We might be putting up some points next season.

To be fair...PDA is signing and trying out old, washed up, and never were defensive players...So...We'll see how it all works out.


By itself, the Sessions signing isnt a bad one... I shouldnt be so cynical. I'll leave that to Bricklayer.