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On the Ball
The Three-Pointer: No Jeff No Fun
Photo copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by Layne Murdoch/NBAE via Getty Images)
Game #51, Home Game #25: Minnesota 102, Toronto 110
Season Record: 17-34
1. Too Many Minutes, Not Enough Bodies
Kevin McHale had to try it. The Timberwolves coach has made his disdain for the team's trio of centers well known by leaving them planted to the pine during the first 31 games of his reign. When pint-sized power forward Craig Smith hurt some ribs. the coach plugged the void with other forwards, determined not to let the likes of Collins, Madsen and Booth appear as anything more than a rejected name for a law firm in a John Grisham novel. When the man McHale has always regarded as his current best option at center, Al Jefferson, tore up his knee in the final minute of the last game and is now lost for the season, the logical assumption was that McHale had no choice: The tall scrubs would roam the court like dinosaurs thawed from the deep freeze.
Actually, that's about as fast as an out-of-shape Jason Collins moved during his 9 minutes and 6 seconds of "burn" tonight. But Collins wasn't the problem, and in fact should have been more of the proposed solution--or maybe one of the other guys in the law firm. Instead, McHale hung tough with smallball, starting a front line of 6-8 Kevin Love, 6-7 Ryan Gomes and 6-8 Mike Miller against a Toronto Raptors team that likewise was missing its best player, Chris Bosh. And it worked for awhile, thanks to a 17-0 run to close the first half, fueled by 15 second-quarter points from Randy Foye, that put the Wolves up 48-41 at the break. It was bumped to 13 in the third period
But it wasn't going to last. Frankly, Madsen and/or Booth probably couldn't have made the lead stand up either. In their first game without Jefferson, and with Shaddy McCants sick enough to be sent to the hospital today, the Wolves were ripe for the plucking, even by a Toronto squad that had lost six in a row and played horrid ball without their star, Bosh.
Some good came out of this. If extreme smallball could have worked against anyone, it was against a Raps frontcourts sans Bosh and featuring an over-the-hill Jermaine O'Neal, a 7-foot disappointment who plays like he's 6-5 in Andrea Bargnani, and the nondescript but hardworking Joey Graham. Instead, this depleted, undersized trio racked up 64 points and 20 rebounds, and really went to town in the second half, when Toronto scored 69 points. The moral of the story seemed to be that occasionally need someone over 6-8 in the pivot if you want to win--in the Big 10, never mind the NBA.
To his credit, McHale fessed up in his postgame press conference. "We've got to play more than 8 guys and that was my fault," he said. When I asked if we'd see more of the Collins-Madsen-Booth triumverate once he'd had some time to figure things out over the All Star break, he replied, "We probably should have played them more tonight," adding that the team was going well and he thought he'd ride them but "it didn't work. We got tired at both the offensive end and the defensive end." Referring to the yielding of 69 points in a half as "ridiculous," he acknowledged that smallball, along with fatigue, were the primary culprits. "We miscommunicated" on defense, he said, because "when we went small, we tried to swtich everything. We haven't done it that way all year long." Three or four guys were on the same page but inevitably one or two weren't, creating the classic double-team on one guy while the other player goes scot-free to the hoop. "So then we said no more switches and then they went down to Jermaine," McHale continued, laughing a little at the "arm bar" defense of Love's that the coach has been "trying to tell him won't work in this league." But McHale blamed that on fatigue too, saying to lapse into old habits when you are tired. "Three or four times in the 4th quarter we lost sight of the ball--we had our heads turned," he said, again stressing that "when you have fatigue, you drop your head. They had two or three back-doors [cuts to the hoop] and we [allow] that a lot more when we are tired too.
"We'll get better and we'll play differently," McHale vowed, noting that the team is going to have to pick up the pace even more than it did when it made the switch from Wittman to McHale, and that "there are going to be nights when we have to make a jump shot," because "at the end of games, we can't just punch it in to Al." Nope. Not for the next 31 games at least.
2. Role Sorting
By now no one should be surprised that despite leading the team in minutes-played, Mike Miller shot less frequently than anyone but Collins, was the only player besides Foye to hit at least half his shots and led the team with five assists. His shot selection likewise continues to bewilder. He passed up at least 8 solid, open looks, but then inexplicably launched a trey without his body and feet set and with plenty of time on the clock--it clanked. Obviously he doesn't feel the need to compensate for the absence of Jefferson's 19.5 field goal attempts (and 9.7 makes) per game by doing anything differently. On the other hand, Foye had a career high 33 points on 11-22 FG, 3-6 3ptFG and 8-8FT in 39:44 and understood the need to reinvest in going aggressively to the hoop in Jefferson's absence. Ryan Gomes also looked for his own more often, getting 17 FGA in 34:45.
Kevin Love had an adventurous night as the main man in the pivot, scoring 15 on 6-14 FG. But other aspects of his game suffered. Not only wasn't he doing the "little things," both disruptive on defense and on the boards (where he had 11 rebounds in 38:00, below his current ratio), but he had zero assists, and was hard-pressed to perform his typically stolid team defense, in part because much of the second-half breakdown stemmed from O'Neal successfully going right at him. Let's just say it: The dude is too short to play NBA center, especially if his frontcourt wingmates are Gomes and Miller.
You won't see it on the stat sheet much, but Brian Cardinal had another solid game, and has the advantage of being able to play bigger than both Gomes and Miller up front. You might also expect Cardinal to land in foul trouble frequently unless there is a bigger presence in the lane he knows he can release his man to when beaten off the dribble.
Put succinctly, losing Jefferson scrambles everything. Love has the heart of a lion on the boards, but matching up with centers is going to fry his effectiveness down to about 25 minutes and even then he's going to have a hard time mentally getting schooled in the lane over and over again. It was shocking seeing how much O'Neal has lost from his peak days in Indiana, but by the 4th quarter, knowing that the Wolves weren't coming with the double-team, the Raps featured him in the paint the way the Wolves featured Jefferson, and he responded with 10 points in the period.
Meanwhile, Miller had all kinds of trouble guarding either Bargnani or Kapono, and yet in the smallball configuration those are his best matchups. Yet if the Wolves go bigger, Miller absolutely has to look for his shot more often. Otherwise we puts too much of the scoring onus on Foye, who gets fried from all the minutes he's logging, on Gomes, who is an inconsistent shooter, and Telfair, who is a fairly poor shooter. Mike Miller, of course, is a good shooter. He is a far sight better than McCants at the glue guy stuff, but plays need to be run for his shot out of most timeouts and quarters.
3. Fueling Idle Gossip
Regular readers know I don't indulge is a lot of "what if" trades and draft scenarios, if for no other reason than the odds of predicting the future are very very slim and the rest just boils down to wishful thinking. But tonight is an exception because the Wolves just played a transitional, hopefully aberrational game that puts most analysis of it in a vacuum, and because there is plenty of talk--around the league and in idle chatter in the media room during the pregame meal--about New Orleans feeling the financial pinch and needing to cut payroll. The city has lost half its residents since Katrina and couldn't support an NBA team last time (it was the Jazz, remember?); plus notable tightwad George Shinn owns the Hornets and the economy is in the tank. Fortunately, people are always getting married whatever the economic picture, and the Wolves' owner prints wedding invitations. (Yeah I know he's probably lost a bundle in investments like everyone else, but humor me.)
Which is all to say....they aren't going to deal Chris Paul but will see his salary jump $10 million annually beginning next year. They have tied up $25 million in James Posey through 2012 and David West is relatively cheap at $9 per year through 2011 or '12, depending on option extensions. The most likely way to dramatically cut payroll is to trade Tyson Chandler, who is having a slight drop-off from last year's career peak for him, but who is still young and very very good in the middle. Chandler will make $25 million over the two years after this one. The Wolves could trade them Collins ($6 m, expiring this year), McCants ($2.6 m, expiring this year with an restricted FA match for next year) and Corey Brewer or Carney plus the second-round in Europe, Pekovic--hell, throw in Craig Smith and a couple of those first round draft picks The Hornets could save $10 m annually by losing Chandler and plugging in Hilton Armstrong at center. If they are financially strapped, perhaps they'd consider it, provided we toss enough expiring deals and draft picks at them. A three man frontcourt rotation of Chandler, Love and Jefferson pretty much covers all contingencies in terms of style and size matchups. And what now looks like a lost season would be at least partially regained.
Do I think this will happen? No. But it beats smallball, or the law firm.
24 Reader Comments
Is it just me or did Hanny and Pete seem reluctant to offer praise last night? Randy Foye's scoring in particular would have drawn at least a couple of "in the midst of something specials" from Hanny if he were Jefferson putting up similar numbers.
The entire tone of the broadcast seemed dismissive, and the crew went out of their way to remind everyone that the season was a wash now that Jefferson is out.
Call me crazy, but I think a few more minutes from Collins in the fourth. A lot less minutes from the defensively inept Miller. A healthy McCants and Smith chipping in a few timely buckets...and the Wolves win this game fairly easily.
I agree that Tyson Chandler would look good on this team. If they are looking to save money, send them all of our contracts that expire after this year : Collins, McCants, Ollie, Booth add up to 11.2 million, whereas Chandler makes 10.95 million this year. Throw in one of the first round picks (Boston's or Miami's). Chandler is 7'1". He can block shots, rebound, make some easy put-back shots on offensive rebounds, he's only 26 years old. This trade would make too much sense for this team to come through with it. Taylor has been cheap lately and he probably wants to keep the expiring contracts coming off his books. If the rumors were true, we could have had Chandler a few years ago, when Chicago was putting together a trade package for KG.
The wolves are lucky Bill Musselman is no longer coaching in the NBA - playing the wolves he would have got 50 points from the likes of a washed up O'Neal by simply dumping it into the post over and over again. Of course, he would have done that if Jefferson was playing, with Love in there by himself it really gets ugly.
Bargnani surprised me with the quickness of his decisions once he got the ball in his hand.
As far as J. O'Neal goes, the guy traveled just about every time he touched the ball in the 4th quarter. Yes, Love will struggle to defend, but when you can shuffle your feet at will it makes it a lot easier to get to the hole.
I'm glad to see you write "Some good came out of this."--because that's exactly what I was thinking. As much as I enjoyed Foye's game and the lead we built, it was kind of discomforting watching Toronto pass up such a clear and easy opportunity to blow us out of the water. In the 4th, O'Neal started aggressively backing down Love and that was that. Not a knock on Love--nobody has ever called him a center--but just a clear sign that common sense prevails and you can't play smallball against capable seven-footers and expect to win. It's a lesson that should be carried into off-season (or trade deadline) decision-making.
Bassy's little cross-over dance he does is just plain sweet to watch--except that the way he does it--which totally embarrasses the ball-defender--takes a while to set up and there is almost always a big guy waiting for him, by the time it's completed. My guess is that that move went a long way in making him the NYC scoring king.
Carney = Bruce Bowen. He makes the standing trey in the corner. He misses everything else. It's a useful shot, so this isn't all bad. It's just funny how he barely draws iron whenever he shoots from the top or the wing.
This was a classic example of "The NBA is a 4th Quarter game." I don't buy that you can just tune into the last few minutes and see everything you need to see--but there is some level of truth to the idea that 4th Quarters show a lot more than the first three. Toronto coasted along and then pounded us in "winning time." It's part of the reason that NBA Playoffs are a different game from the regular season--less rest for good players and less screwing around and tinkering in the early part of games.
Britt,
I wasn't mentioned in regards to Tyson Chandler that he has an "opt out" after the 2009-10 season. If he didn't choose early termination of his contract, he'd be the highest player on the team making about 200K more than Jefferson. I am in full agreement that he is exactly the kind of center this team should covet, but this scenario begs the following questions.
1. Trading for Chandler is worth it if he plays out his contract, but if he does "opt out" after 2009-10 (1 season on the Wolves), does this change your opinion on making this trade? Boozer's made no secret of his desire to test the market even though he's due almost $13/mill next year and quality centers are even harder to come by.
1a. If he were to thrive here, increasing his value, would the Wolves pony up the $10-12 million/year to keep him here long term and would 1 year on the squad be enough to convince him to stay? I'm guessing a team like the Wolves would have to overpay him to do so. Given our salary cap situation is free and clear, still worth overpaying for defense/rebounding? Still agreeing it's exactly what we need, but what's the max per year we should pay to fill this void?
2. Would the Wolves stand a better chance at landing him as a FA in 2010 to a lesser, long term deal given the All-Star FA class of 2010?
Britt,
Watched from DVR last night as I had a business conflict - were there even 5000 people at the Target Center? The place looked deserted.
KLove is going to have a horribly rough last 30 games. His lack of size will be exposed if he has to guard 5. He is not prepared to play set offense in the post. He is going to see far fewer offensive rebounds - not just because the other team will be focusing on him but more from the fact that our "new" fast pace is going to result in a lot of 3's & long 2's which will yield long rebounds. The kind that go over the head of a 6'8" player with mediocre vertical jump. I just hope that neither he, nor the fan base, lose hope because he IS a player, with the right partner up front.
The Chandler trade would be wonderful, except NO's roster is full. So the idea of packaging 3 players to match salary for one does not work on the surface. You would need to do something like trade 3 AND give NO the money to pay off the cheapest 2 so NO could waive them allowing NO to stay under the roster limit. But I believe that type of trade comes with luxury tax issues for the Twolves. Plus, if Taylor was predisposed to pay off players for not playing, Booth would have been gone weeks ago to allow us to sign a PG to replace Ollie. So, as much as I rub the crystal ball straining to see it, I just don't see a Chandler trade.
I think the real plan should include a ton of 10 day contracts for every big man in the DNBA. Bring them up and lets see what they can do. SNP at Hoopus has a great listing of prospects. I would be thrilled to see any/all of them in a Twolves uniform over the last 2 months. Our franchise is due for some luck - maybe we can find a diamond in the rough.
I did not watch the game. But, followed a little on ESPN stats/gamecast.
I was not surprised the Wolves lost gas. That was my first thought when I saw McHale was trying to ride the starters. Sure enough in the 3rd and 4th the team lost energy and the game.
I think Cardinal or Collins needs to start the next game. Give Love time at PF. If he shines, it may mean we can look at moving Jefferson.
I also think we will see Love not doing as well in a starting role instead of off the bench. Not because he is tired, but his flaws will be exposed and exploited more.
Robert
Just a quick thing about Foye. I don't think it's that he's in or been in a shooting slump. There were plenty of shots that were there, and would have been made if he wasn't tired. If you think about it, he was played sparingly in his first year, a year that came with a coach change. His 2nd year in the NBA he was injured for nearly 50 games. And now in his 3rd year he has yet another coaching change and has still played more than he ever has at any point of his career. SO I think he's tired. I hope after the All Star break he comes back fresh. But I would think if he stays healthy he could become a force next year, granted there isn't yet another coaching change in MN.
I don't think it would be advantageous to have a new coach next year. I guess it depends on the front office and the decisions they make. However, this years draft and next years are looking more and more important. What used to be an abundance of draft picks and cap room in the next year or so are looking more important because if you think about it now, Foye, McCants, AJ, Brewer have all had serious injuries. ANd although they are young there is no telling how an unproven player comes back from an injury. If Foye and McCants are any indication, it means they progress more slowly. We need to ensure our picks are used wisely and not discarded. No giving away 2nd round picks or the like.
That being said, I thought they played well last night. Though if height wasn't already apparent as a problem, it was certainly magnified last night.
In ending, don't give up on Foye. I beleive he will become consistant in this league and become a valuable player for any team.
Once McCants is healthy, I think the Wolves should go to the gun-and-glass philosophy. Let Foye and McCants (and Miller and Gomes if they want to get in on the act) fire at will, just stay in attack mode. Meanwhile, have some combo of Love/Cardinal/Law firm in the game at all times to beat on the opposing frontline and crash the boards.
With what's on the roster, I think this makes them the most formidable unit. It's not fun for the opposing team to drive into beefy guys with 24 fouls to use and no remorse for using them, which might have a similar effect to having a good shot-blocker as far as slowing the freeway to the rim for opposing penetrators.
Meanwhile, attack mode is the one mode that we know that McCants can have some success with (and it's also the mode that Foye does best). Let them take 35 - 40 shots a game between them, and if the opposing defense focuses on them so much the better because maybe that frees up Love a bit to get his offensive boards.
Not really a winning strategy, but at least it is a strategy that fits the abilities of the personnel and could make the Wolves more annoying to their oponents.
The All-Star break couldn't come quickly enough. It surprises me that these guys are so tired at this point in the season, but at least the rest will help them. I think this game is similar to what happened when McHale took over: it will take some practice time to make adjustments. With that in mind, I still think they win 5-9 games after the break and finish with a better record than last season if they get their shooters to shoot and use the forced deployment of the law firm to improve their defense.
I agree about the trade; apparently Chandler is on the market. However, if the Pistons were interested, they could just swap Rasheed Wallace for him. The Hornets carry 14 players, so they could take one back. Collins/McCants/Booth/Carney plus one or more picks for Chandler/Ely/Marks works as a trade, and they could always substitute Brewer in there. My guess is that such a deal would fall apart because the Hornets would want Love and the Wolves would balk at that.
Another name to think about during the draft would be Greg Monroe of Georgetown, who is similar to Chandler in size and has good ball skills. If the Wolves become a 3/4/5 pick, he'd be available.
I think Chandler would be a good complement with Jefferson and Love, but I can't see Taylor spending money here without shedding some future salary - namely Miller and/or Cardinal. Also, the one thing that's easy to lose sight of is the difference between 2010 FAs and those with player options. Guys like Tyson (and especially Amare) need to fire their agents if they think they're going to match or exceed the money they leave on the table in 2011. Attendance is down, and will continue to be down next year - season tickets for this season were paid for long before our economic crisis, and will be on the chopping block for many next year.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but does it look like the salary cap is actually going to contract next year?
But on the bright side, we've got a superstar with a reasonable contract, and only one player we really need to lock up soon (Foye). I think 2010 will involve some bargain-priced 3rd-tier players that we should be able to obtain.
Anyway, enough of that - last night's game was really a subpar effort. I can't see why anyone would want Collins on the court though - he looked terrible and I don't think McHale wants to play a guy just for the sake of height. There will be times when he's needed, but Toronto doesn't even have a real center (sorry, Jermaine), so he shouldn't have set foot on that court.
What I would like to see is the Wolves push the pace a little bit. It's probably going to lead to more TOs by Bassy, but we have a glut of players who like to drift toward the corners, and I think we need to take advantage of that.
Ummm...harking back to an earlier discussion -- are there any teams left that the Wolves are "supposed" to beat?
And before you answer, consider just how inept McHale appears to be at adjusting to new coaching situations.
How could someone supposedly as experienced as McHale seriously expect 7 grossly undersized guys to play at a faster clip than they have played all year and still be effective in the 4th? And McHale's 8th guy (the only one with size, Collins) gets his nine minutes in early and is done.
Starting Love at center? Even against Jermaine -- the poster boy for why building teams around undersized centers won't get you anywhere in the NBA -- that's a plan worthy of ridicule. Nice fantasy, "Coach".
I repeat -- can the Wolves expect to win another game this year?
Count me in as somebody who wants to see a trade for a center. Chandler or Kaman would be wonderful, but if they're not in the cards, serviceable will do, for now. Maybe a Chris Wilcox or Mikki Moore.
Heck, the center position needs to be addressed sooner rather, anyway, and I'd rather they find somebody proven than bring in a project like Thabeet.
The Wolves did fine without Big Al for three quarters. Ball movement was crisp, spacing was there, Bassy was pushing tempo, getting to the cup and finishing; Foye was knocking down jumpers and actually did okay in his spell on the point; Gomes was Gomes; Carney was Carney and Love was cleaning up garbage. If the Wolves had any low- post option during "winning time" they would have taken the Raptors.
We can't discount the culture of winning on a young team. Guys like Bassy and Gomes have never been on anything other than basketball's worst teams. Losing drains the life out of a young squad. And this team has made important strides. The Wolves can and will still lose a fair share of games and may even preserve the Clipper pick. But not being able to close out a team like Raptors at home, makes me wonder who the Wolves, as they currently are, will be able to beat.
Maintaining lower middle-class status should be worth some cap space, the rights to Pekovic and one of the four first-round picks they currently control. Who do we think we're actually signing in '10 anyway?
I think part of McHale's reasoning for the short rotation was the week-off, following the game. With all the stoppages of play--especially in the 4th Quarter--fatigue is overrated as an excuse.
Jermaine and the Raps took a noticeably different approach, down the stretch, and could've done this earlier in the game if they wanted to--or if they had a little more intensity. His moves vs Love were much-more aggressive and the type that a seven-foot scorer should use on a 6'7.5" forward.
We're a young team that shouldn't have trouble playing at a high pace for extended minutes. It'll do some good for Gomes and Love--a couple guys who might benefit from losing 5-10 lbs.
One thing I didn't really enjoy seeing was Mike Miller doing his injury-drama routine, only to come right back on the floor for crunchtime (still hobbling). If he can't run normally, put in Carney. That at least provides defense.
Yes, of course the Wolves will win some games. You can't extrapolate last night's performance out across the balance of the season.
The team has had ONE game to get used to not having Al Jefferson take 50% of the teams shots. Cut them a little slack. Some of these guys haven't seen that many touches since college.
If the Wolves assume a style of play like drza44 is describing, they'll be competitive against the bottom 2/3s of the league. Which isn't much worse than where we were with Jefferson.
Baited & hooked for the Icefish phone execs if they can handle clicking:
Collins Cardinal Nikola for Chandler
Same deal verified at RealGM
But I agree with Britt. You can criticize the easy deals they miss (Vlad), but playing with trades is like playing with the draft picks. What should and could is just mental stroking. Be happy they'll lose the rest of the season and get better lotto balls.
I'm curious to see how some business side decisions play out.
If you take Tria ads and Wolves promo ads off the tube, there isn't much left. Who in their right mind would advertise with the Wolves right now?
Last night Target Center looked like a mausoleum on TV.
Season ticket holder renewals will be coming out in less than a month. Last season they offered many STHs a decent financial incentive to renew by April 16.
When you look at the team's current status, mix that with the economic environment, I don't see how they come close to holding serve on renewals. Vikes showed softness at the end of the season. Twins have a new park to dangle in front of their base, Wild has a wait-list, Gopher football has a new park, Gopher b-ball has Tubby and hope, Gopher hockey is solid.
The Wolves don't have much to offer - if you squint just right maybe you can see some hope. Target Center doesn't add much to the mix.
The difference a knee makes.
How Mark Madsen doesn't floor last night is ridiculous. He's a pretty decent post defender and rebounder, he plays the pick role well and can actually MOVE. Collins is a dinosaur, Booth is a poker chip, the Dog is closest thing we have to fan favorite and fits best into McHale's "push the pace" ideas. The kid has got to get some help down low.
Looking ahead...
There are 12 teams that populate the bottom of the NBA's league standings along with the Wolves with 24 wins or less so far. Realistically, these would be the teams that the bereaved, Jefferson-less squad has a prayer at beating. Golly! Great news! The Wolves play the Wizards and Kings (11 wins each) twice and avoid Chicago (23 wins) entirely. Even better, of the 14 games against the bottom of the table, nine of them are in the Target Center.
Hey, despite my earlier gloom, the Wolves actually *do* have a chance to win another game this season! Woo hoo! In addition to WAS and SAC, there are home games against OKC (13), MEM (15), GSW (18), IND (21), CHA (21), NYK (21), and NJN (24).
Oh, wait. `Scuse me. The real race is now for lottery position. And for the Wolves' future, perhaps only the #1 overall can truly be relevant. Can the Wolves overcome the youthful exuberance and foolishness in January that let WAS and SAC establish a six game advantage?
April 15th may loom large. That's the season finale in the Target Center versus Sacramento.
I'd like to see a Tyson Chandler trade and I'll throw another one out with the caveat that when we make this deal - we clear enough cap space to sign 23-year old point guard -
Ramon Sessions
Wolves trade Mike Miller to Cleveland for Wally Sczerbiak
Sczerbiak is off the books and T-Wolves get 10-mil more (Collins 6-mil, McCants, Carney, and Booth also off the books) off the cap.
With that money, in the 2009 free agent pool, you sign 23-year old point guard - Ramon Sessions. This kid is for real. Look him up. He has unbelievable assist and free throw attempt numbers since he was given the starting 2-3 weeks ago. He went on a similar stretch at the end of last year. The kid already has a 40-point NBA game and 20-assist NBA game.
He would fill 1 of 3 glaring holes on this team (defensive big man with size and a multi-talented wing player).
I apologize for my rubeness (since I can tell the basketball knowledge on this board is very high), but I really think this guy would be incredible on this team - playing alongside Al, Love, and Foye.
I remember Sessions breaking out towards the end of last year and being completely flummoxed as to why he wasn't getting more buzz then. And I can't understand why he wasn't starting from day 1 this season, after Mo Williams was traded.
I know baseline stats don't tell the whole story, but when you can come from nowhere and pile up points and assist numbers like he's been doing, people should take note. I think they finally are.
I agree on taking a long look at Sessions. Height, speed and an ability to get to the free throw line, when have we had those things from a point?
I don't get too exited about his 44 point effort though, he was being defended by Allen Iverson.
The thing is that this draft has a lot of point guard strength in the lottery. Talented players who will cost next ot nothing for half a decade. I guess it all comes down to money. If we're talking five to seven million a year for Ramon, sure- if it's more like ten, then we go Jrue or somebody of his Rook ilk.
The problem is on draft day we won't know where we stand with him.
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