Lakers Rumors: Kobe Bryant-Ramon Sessions Backcourt Would Be One of Best in NBA

The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to acquire Ramon Sessions, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, and if they do, they will have one of the best backcourts in the NBA. That's not as bold a statement as it sounds like it is. The Lakers need to only add an average point guard to Kobe Bryant to make that claim. 

Sessions, though, would add a considerable contribution to the Lakers backcourt. The reason being is that what he brings to the table complements Kobe Bryant's game so well.

The real advantage that Sessions brings to the team is that he is a good pick and roll player. According to John Hollinger's profile, Sessions is "A nifty pick-and-roll creator with Sam Cassell-like cleverness and good size, he averaged a point every two minutes while leading all point guards in free-throw rate."

This is important because even though the Lakers have the best offensive frontcourt in the NBA, they are a below-average pick and roll team. They only go to the roll man 3.2 percent of the time and when they do, they only average .82 points per play, which is 26th in the NBA. 

The Lakers are the best in the NBA at running post up plays, but it should be mentioned that one-third of the time they go to the post, they are going to Kobe Bryant in the post. 

There have been some criticisms that the Lakers aren't going to their bigs enough inside. The reason they aren't going to them inside though is that they don't have a point guard who can effectively feed the ball inside. 

Adding Sessions essentially adds an entirely new element to the offense of the Lakers and enables the Lakers to employ the pick and roll better and to play inside-out as well as outside-in. That balances out the offense and in turn, makes Kobe even more dangerous. 

The Lakers backcourt would be a complete backcourt and for arguably the first time in his career, gives Kobe Bryant a real compliment in the backcourt who can score and facilitate.

A Sessions-Bryant backcourt would be one of the best in the league because Sessions is such an upgrade over Fisher first, but also because it makes Bryant even better than he already is, which is borderline cheating.  That's why the Lakers need to go after Sessions.