Lakers Trade Rumors: Why Ramon Sessions Would Be Better Fit Than Raymond Felton

While the Los Angeles Lakers are a team that is a borderline contender for a championship, there is a clear need at point guard. Two names seem to be rising to the surface of the talks. One rumor involves Raymond Felton. Another rumor involves Ramon Sessions.  

Sessions would be a better fit for the Lakers than Felton, and not just because you wouldn't have to rub him down with lard to squeeze him into the Staples Center. He's also a better player for the style of play than Felton. 

Sessions has a game that fits better for the Lakers than Felton's. When you take into consideration what the Lakers need, he makes far more sense. What the Lakers need is a player that can run the pick and roll effectively, hit the deep ball and play at least marginal defense. 

This is more of a case of needing a catalyst than a star. A catalyst, in chemistry terms, is an agent that, when added, activates the other agents, increasing the activity of the other agents without itself being consumed. 

Now, I don't want to murder the metaphor by overanalyzing it, which I'm sure could be done, but on the surface this is what makes sense for the Lakers. They have "agents" in Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol that are rendered "inert" because they have no "catalyst." 

Adding Sessions doesn't add a star, but he enables two stars, Bynum and Gasol, to better utilize their potential because he is a better pick-and-roll point guard than either Felton or Derek Fisher, and because he can hit the deep ball.

The reason both of those things would be so effective is that by being effective in both of those areas Sessions provides spacing. By being able to run the pick and roll, and either pass the ball in or keep it and hit the three, he makes sure defenders can't go under on the pick and roll. 

They have to honor him as a threat to score, which means the likes of Bynum and/or Gasol are going to get better looks underneath the basket. 

The farther out he can hit from, the farther out defenders have to come, and the more space that provides. That means Gasol will be able to be utilized from the mid-range on pick and pops and Bynum will utilized on pick and rolls. 

Sessions averages .79 points per play on the pick and roll compared to Felton's .58. Sessions shoots .429 from deep, Felton is hitting .244. 

I'm not going to argue that Sessions is going to be Deron Williams or Chris Paul, but he's a huge upgrade over Fisher. He is a player that has to be accounted for, and because of that he brings a better version of Gasol and Bynum with him. 

There is a caveat here. He is a free agent next year if he doesn't pick up the option on his contract. The Lakers would have a leg up on keeping him, though, and he'd be worth it. It's not like he's going to be taking up max-contract money in free agency. The Lakers could keep him with an offer of $5-7 million, which he is worth. 

Sometimes teams can press too hard to find the huge deal and they miss out on the good deal. They are trying to hit a home run when they need a single. They're going for a birdie when they need a par. This is a solid deal, and the Lakers need to make it before the window closes on Kobe's career.