Continuing with our series of player profiles, we present #3, Ramon Sessions. He played great for the Cavaliers last season but many question whether he will remain a Cavalier through the end of this season. Aaron McGuire helps address several questions regarding Razor Ramon.
Ramon Sessions
Conrad: Ramon Sessions posted the second highest PER of any Cavalier in 2010-11 at 19.0; do you think that is a legitimate reflection of his ability to play point guard in the NBA?
Aaron: Half and half. I've always been a fan of Ramon's game -- sure, he's not a shooter, and he penetrates too often. Certainly wouldn't make a good guard on a team with, say, LeBron and Wade. But he's the kind of guard that at his best can make one or two truly crafty passes per game, rebound better than virtually any non-Kidd point in the league, and get you buckets when you're in a crunch. He's fearless, and that's a big plus at the NBA level. It's true that his defense is among the worst of anyone at the guard position in the league, though. And while I think that given a starting role in his prime he could come close to his February numbers (18-4-8 with a 20-22 PER is his season-average ceiling, I think), his defense and lack of a good shot is always going to keep him from reaching that "franchise point guard" tier. Still. I think at his peak Ramon could be a top 15, fringe top 10 point guard in the league. And as he's a willing backup guard, he could potentially be the best backup guard in the league. A good peak value, I'd say.
Conrad: Simple question: will Ramon Sessions be on the Cavaliers' roster by the trade deadline?
Aaron: Simple though it may be, there's no simple answer to that. If we get a good offer for him, we should certainly move him, but Ramon is an extremely versatile player and it'd be a shame to move him unless we're getting back something legitimate in return. Ramon operates very well starting or off the bench, and offers a change of style from Kyrie. Kyrie's a great passer and an overall majorly positive ball-handler, who scores incredibly off the pick and roll and operates well isolating in the high post and beyond the three point line, if his time at Duke is any indication. Ramon's all-penetration all-the-time high contact style is going to be a great deal different than Irving's approach, giving us two solid point guards and two solid options to run our offense with. If we can lock both up for the next 4 or 5 years, our next playoff team is going to have some great balance on offense from the starting unit to the bench. Regardless, they may trade him, because Boobie and Ramon are rather duplicative in purpose and Irving is our obvious star. I just hope Grant doesn't trade him for pennies on the dollar, because a future lineup with Ramon as our first guard off the bench could potentially be great.
Conrad: I nominate Razor Ramon as the most awesome nickname of anyone on this roster. Care to disagree?
Aaron: I can agree that it's the most awesome, but I can't agree that it's my favorite. Among my favorites, sure. But not quite my favorite. Not to say it isn't great, it is. Simple, sweet, and summarizes his cutting-heavy game. Although it sounds sort of morbid given the quality of the Cavs last year. I digress. While it is my favorite, I offer for the consideration of our readers several other good ones: Christian Skyenga, Skyrim Irving, Teenage Mutant Ninja Thompson, Samardo "went to St. Benedicts" Samuels, and finally, the nickname I actually think of as my favorite: Anderson "Flopsy" Varejao. Does he flop anymore? No, not particularly. Does that make "Flopsy" any less hilarious of a nickname? Hell no.
You can read more of Aaron McGuire's work at Gothic Ginobili. You can follow him on Twitter at @docrostov.
Discuss and interact with us on Twitter by following @ConradKaczmarek and @FearTheSword