Los Angeles Lakers: The Risks of Starting Ramon Sessions

It's hard to deny that newly acquired point guard Ramon Sessions should be starting for the Los Angeles Lakers, but there's also reason to believe doing so puts Mike Brown's team in something of a double-bind.

Of course, without Sessions starting, Los Angeles is prone to come out of the gate a bit slowly. The Lakers would continue to face the same struggles they've encountered thus far: Kobe Bryant is asked to be both a prolific scorer and the distributor responsible for incorporating Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum into the fold.

Sessions serves as a missing link, a guard capable of distributing while creating his own offense from all over the court.

Unfortunately, the same virtues that make him so valuable to the starting lineup may make him an even more valuable asset off the bench. 

Sure, Gasol and Bynum may benefit from having a legitimate point running the show, but there's little doubt the Lakers' bench stands to benefit even more. Without Sessions, this bench is as stagnant and one-dimensional as any in the league. There's no chance Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, Troy Murphy and Josh McRoberts will carry their weight against contenders in the postseason.

With Sessions in the mix, however, these spot-up shooting role players at least have a fighting chance to make a difference. More importantly, they incur less of a scoring burden in the first place with a versatile guard who can both drive to the hoop and shoot from range. 

Meanwhile, Sessions' insertion into the starting lineup runs the risk of disrupting Bryant's ball-dominating game. Kobe is no Ray Allen—he's probably better at isolating, posting up and working his magic than he is in a consistently catch-and-shoot arrangement. Of course, if anyone is capable of adapting, it's Kobe Bryant.

Still, in Sessions' first game starting, Bryant struggled from the field shooting 5-17 including 1-7 from range. In a rare turn of events, Andrew Bynum took more shots (and scored more points) than Bryant. Some fans may welcome this kind of development—it's far less clear that Kobe Bryant will. 

Sure, it's as small as a sample size can be, but it's a dynamic worth keeping an eye on.

Trade fallout is inevitably an extended process. It will take time for a settled chemistry to form, and there's all the reason in the world to believe this particular process will end in success.

Nevertheless, there's something to be said for Sessions' value as a spark-plug off the bench.

There would be no shame in such a decision. Manu Ginobili, James Harden and Jamal Crawford have all seen incredible success as sixth men who remain one of their teams' best players.

There's also no question Sessions should finish games regardless of whether he starts them. In an ideal world, perhaps Sessions accompanies the bench unit as its saving grace while finishing out games with the starting unit. 

In a realistic world, he may be the team's starter, at long as Kobe is on board. By all accounts, Lakers fans who are desperate for a savior certainly are.