Report: Houston Rockets Interested in Sign-And-Trade For Ramon Sessions
By jasaad
The Houston Rockets are reportedly interested in acquiring Ramon Sessions in a sign-and-trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. This news comes to little surprise, as the Rockets forfeited their depth in their endeavor to create a super team, and are in dire need for a quality backup point guard.
According to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders, Ramon Sessions and the Rockets have mutual interest:
The Houston Rockets are trying to acquire free agent Ramon Sessions in a sign-and-trade with the Milwaukee Bucks, per league sources.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) August 25, 2014
Sources say there is mutual interest between Ramon Sessions and the Rockets. There have been sign-and-trade talks, but nothing is imminent.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) August 25, 2014
This move would give the Rockets an experienced backup point guard to starter Patrick Beverley, who is essentially the inverse of Sessions. As a pick and roll master, Sessions would ignite the Rockets’ feeble second unit with instant offense; his incredibly quick first-step enables him to either bolt to the hoop for a layup, dump the ball off to one of the bigs underneath the basket, or kick the ball out to an open shooter.
Sessions is one of the best remaining unrestricted free agents on the market — he garnered season averages of 12.3 points and 4.1 assists in 26.7 minutes of playing time last year — but his defense leaves fans desiring more from his game. Fortunately for the Rockets, Beverley is solid on the defensive side of the ball.
He’s not an offensive maestro by any means, but it’s his peskiness on defense that warrants his starting role. With Ramon Sessions’ facility for scoring, the two could potentially pose a solid point guard duo for the Rockets.
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The caveat here is that signing Sessions outright for a minimum contract is lower than what Sessions would be willing to take. Although the Rockets could utilize their bi-annual exception to sign Sessions, they will presumably look to preserve it for next offseason.
Thus, acquiring Sessions through a sign-and-trade makes sense, though this method presents its own set of complications. The Bucks will act with forethought before taking back an extra player in a trade, seeing as they have 15 guaranteed contracts in addition to the non-guaranteed contracts of Kendall Marshall and Chris Wright.
The Rockets currently only have unproven and inexperienced point guards to back up Beverley in Isaiah Canaan and Ishmael Smith. Acquiring Ramon Sessions would add much needed depth to the Rockets’ formidable starting five.
Moreover, the Bucks’ addition of Kendall Marshall to backup starting point guard Brandon Knight renders Sessions as an expendable player. The Bucks will likely give ear to sign-and-trade possibilities to receive compensation for Sessions’ departure, which increases the probability of this deal taking place.
While the Bucks have little use for Ramon Sessions, and while Sessions could fill a gaping hole on the Rockets’ bench, an eventual agreement between the two teams is certainly within the realm of possibility.