Revisiting the Ramon Sessions Trade

Is Ramon Sessions as good as Jarrett Jack (who the Wizards almost traded for, had they wanted to give up more)? Probably not. Is he an upgrade over Andre Miller? Yes.

Is he an upgrade over Eric Maynor? Definitely. When the Wizards first traded for Sessions (sending Miller to the Kings and nothing else) I was baffled there could be any hesitation to the trade.

Sessions is by no mean a premier backup point guard. There are probably 15 other guys I'd rather have as the Wizard's backup point guard, if not more. But if he's shown anything in his limited time in Washington, it's that he's at least going to be a better option in the playoffs than Miller.

In 51 appearances for the Wizards this season, Miller averaged 3.6 points, 2.8 assists and 1.5 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game. Already, Sessions is playing more often than Miller and is averaging more points and rebounds and just about the same number of assists.

In their past 10 games, Sessions' shooting percentage is four whole points higher than Miller's and in his past four games, Sessions is averaging 8.4 points per game.

Session's shooting percentage hasn't been amazing my any means. Just look at his shot chart so far with the Wizards, per StatMuse.

His shooting at the rim is below the league average. But he is able to chuck up a few balls from beyond the arc, something that Miller never did, and he's at least attempting to get to the basket at a higher rate.

In his last 15 games, 58.5 percent of the shots Sessions is attempting are coming inside 10 feet, which is a great change of pace from Washington's usual long-two offense. That comes out to 3.2 attempts per game inside 10 feet. On the season, Miller is averaging just 2.1 of those shots per game, according to NBA.com/Stats.

Plus Sessions did this a few games ago, which was definitely exciting, and something I don't think Miller is going to do any time soon.

(Vine via Kyle Weidie)

Those drives also lead to more open looks for Washington's shooters. Sessions dishes it to Beal 1.2 times per game and 1.3 to Rasual Butler. Beal is shooting 54.5 percent off of passes from Sessions, and Butler, who has been struggling in the second half of the season, is shooting 55.6 percent from beyond the arc on Session's dishes.

The other dimension that Sessions brings to the table is the ability to play he and John Wall at the same time.

That lineup often pushes Beal over to the three and Paul Pierce to the four, or just allows Beal to rest while Otto Porter plays on the wing with Pierce. Either way, pairing Wall with Sessions has been more successful than Wall with Miller. Here's a comparison of how Wall and Sessions have performed together, compared to Wall and Miller:

After the Sessions trade went down, people seemed to forget about it days later, which is definitely fair. Ramon Sessions is nothing to get excited about.

But there's not very many games left in the regular season, and the Wizards are going to need every advantage they can get. And if it's even just a slight bump from Sessions over Miller off the bench, so be it.