Sessions to Minnesota, Lee to Sign After Labor Day?

by Seth on Sep 4, 2009 12:14 PM EDT in News

Well, the report came out late last night that Ramon Sessions would be a Timberwolf, and it appears the deed is done: From ESPN:

The waiting and wondering is finally over for restricted free agent Ramon Sessions, who agreed Friday to sign a four-year, $16 million offer sheet with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A source told ESPN.com that the paperwork on the deal was being processed Friday morning. After Sessions signs, the Milwaukee Bucks will have seven days to match the offer, which they are not expected to do.

Walsh likely wouldn't have signed off on anything above the MLE, so I guess we can simply applaud the Wolves for making an offer Ramon couldn't refuse (though, to be fair, Walsh could've inked Sessions back when David Kahn was still pleading with Ricky Rubio). The Wolves now have a hell of a point guard battle on their hands, and the Knicks are the same team they were in June. Oh well. Long live cap space.

Speaking of which, the long-rumored one-year deal for David Lee has been projected to materialize "at some point after Labor Day". Also from ESPN:

Contract discussions are expected to heat up next week, with a deal expected to fall into the $6 million-to-$8 million range. The only way the deal with Lee wouldn't get done is if another team offers the Knicks a sign-and-trade scenario for a player the Knicks like at least as much as Lee and still allows for future financial flexibility.

Nothing new there, really. These ambiguous deadlines and talks of imminence are getting pretty tiresome, if you ask me. It'll be fantastic once these various loose ends are tied and we can talk about the coming season with some certainty.

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good

Sessions is good, but I don’t think he can do what Toney Douglas do.

by fuhry on Sep 4, 2009 12:49 PM EDT reply actions

david kahn

i think he’s playing the danny ainge card – get a bunch of young guys, hope a guy really pans out, and then trade him for kevin garnett.

…oh wait!

by latrell chokewell on Sep 4, 2009 2:18 PM EDT reply actions

sigh of relief

Still can’t figure why everybody wanted Sessions so bad. I’m relieved he’s going to Minnesota. Yeah yeah, he’s nice young player, but the guy CAN’T SHOOT! That will destroy D’antoni’s offensive system. The defense will just go under the screen everytime and dare him to shoot… and he will miss.

by StarksMiddleFinger on Sep 4, 2009 4:07 PM EDT reply actions

well...

I don’t think Sessions would have turned into an offensive juggernaut even in the ssol but he would have def been an improvement over duhon. Duhon is not the answer at PG, we know that for sure so Sessions would have def been a upgrade for our current roster. Its great to have cap room but we wont get any noteworthy free agents if we stink every year. I hope I’m wrong but im thinking Donnie dropped the ball here.
Also like you said hes a nice young player, over time you can assume that he would become a better shooter along the same lines of Trevor Ariza (we remember him from Knick days as a terrible shooter). IMO Sessions could have held down the pg for the future or at least until Toney Douglas was ready to step in and take over ft. I guess not we will never know.

by Mr. 2 on Sep 4, 2009 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Ariza

Looked great playing next to Kobe, but I don’t think he’s going to be all that in Houston. You’re probably right in saying Sessions’ shooting will improve – like Jason Kidd? Jeez, I hope not. But if we did sign sessions and couldn’t get rid of Jeffries or Curry, that would be a drag. So we’ll just have to throw Toney Douglas to the dogs, which is, I think, a good thing.

by fuhry on Sep 4, 2009 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions

i like the spirit

of organic development at the point guard spot (pretty toney) instead of paying for sessions. if you can’t buy it, build your own.

Posting and Toasting: DWTDD.

by Seth on Sep 4, 2009 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions

or, rather

if you CAN buy it, but choose not to so as to preserve cap space in the future….build your own.

Posting and Toasting: DWTDD.

by Seth on Sep 4, 2009 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah

Hopefully Pretty Toney will put duhon on the bench. A young core of Douglas, Chandler, Gallinari, D.Lee, Hill (Milicic…maybe) could be a nice team. Add whatever FA pick up from the summer of 2010, IMO it’ll be Bosh, and the knicks should contend for a playoff spot in about three years…..time to start drinking away my sorrows lol

by Mr. 2 on Sep 5, 2009 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

But you can buy it,

for really cheap, too, considering.

I support the Tornado Release [See: Joakim Noah]

by Prevenge on Sep 6, 2009 3:01 AM EDT up reply actions

it's not that losing Sessions hurts

my reaction is “eh”.

what worries me is what has this team done to get better since last season? Darko and Hill add frontcourt depth, Toney could be a nice pickup as well, but is this team any better than the 12th-best in the East?

it’s already been a decade of suck, so i guess i can put up with one more year. hopefully this 2010 shit pays off.

Ewing with the step...YES! and the foul!

by Anthony Masons Haircut on Sep 4, 2009 9:14 PM EDT reply actions

long term... this isnt that bad

short term, kinda sucks. Woulda been nice to have a young pg.

But…

with Ghostface backing up Duhon, maybe he plays at the level he did during the first half last year for a whole season. Duhon can do the pick and role, and he had some real good games last season. Plus, another season to learn the system and what will probobly be a more stable roster should help as well.

Getting rid of Q for Darko has the potential to be a huge steal. It also has the potential to be absolutely nothing.

Chandler and hopefully Lee having a year of the ssol system under their belt will only help the cause.

I think we will be better this year. We cant be too impatient. It always bothered me when people say you cant rebuild in NYC. I dont want to prove them right by being impatient.

Can we dream of a LBJ 2010 and a CP3 2011?

by gbaked on Sep 4, 2009 10:41 PM EDT reply actions

Wish he weren't a free agent

Jonny Flynn should be a Knick.

by adselver15 on Sep 4, 2009 10:42 PM EDT reply actions

Jonny Flynn can jump out of the gym

And is probably going to be a good point guard. And I think the Knicks expected him to be available and might have picked him. But Toney Douglas is bigger, stronger, quicker and faster. He will bother Flynn and Sessions and Jennings and all those other hotshots with defense. I like that he’ll get more of a shot now.

by fuhry on Sep 4, 2009 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Minny fan, and that makes some sense

Flynn is absolutely crackling with electricity any team would love to have on its roster. If he can stay on the floor, he’s going to turn into someone’s charismatic leader. He’s the type of guy who pulls a true windmill dunk to close out the summer league and then jogs back with a big grin on his face.

During the draft, after Rubio and then Flynn had gone back to back, most of us in Minnesota were waiting for another shoe to drop. Picking Hill took the Knicks out of that discussion; the expectation was something like DeRozan and (maybe cap flexibility-type) change for Flynn, to align the backcourt. That pick was just about the only asset New York had in a potential trade with us, and they used it to choose someone redundant to the only actual strong position on the Wolves’ roster.

Time’ll prove out. In a couple of years Rubio’s European buyout will have the potential to reshuffle the deck again, and it’s not like Sessions wouldn’t be a potential commodity then either. (And, presumably, somehow the Knicks might have assets the Wolves would remotely consider in exchange for Flynn or Rubio or Sessions. That’s not the case right now, at all. Not even for Sessions, in terms of roster balance and that kind of thing.)

by feral on Sep 5, 2009 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions