There’s no question that August and September are the 2 hardest months to cover the NBA. In particular, the time period from August 15 to September 15 is the absolute worst. By August 15th, most teams have filled out their rosters, most free agents have been signed, and the trade activity has usually quieted down. With training camp not starting until October, there’s just not a whole lot happening in the NBA.
As for writers and bloggers, September and October give us plenty of time to write season previews and team capsules, but it still leaves an enormous void in August. As a result, you tend to see a lot of lists being compiled in August. With nothing else going on, writers tend to resort to different systems of ranking.
Some are mundane and uninspiring, but when Yahoo’s Kelly Dwyer announced he was going to be ranking the top 30 players at every position, I took notice. Not that any one list can truly be authoritative when trying to rank something as relatively subjective as “Best PGs”, but if anyone can come close, it’s Dwyer. Kelly will be the first to point out that he watches an insane amount of NBA basketball and he has as good of a grasp on this league as any writer out there. So when he ranks players, I’m going to pay attention to it.
First up, Kelly ranks the point guards, and the Cavaliers had 2 of theirs make the top 30 list. Not that the Cavaliers were the only team to have 2 PGs make the list, but lets face it, the NBA has become a PG’s league and it’s nice to have 2 players on this list when some teams have none (not that the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers are crying all that much over having none….in fact, when the 2 favorites from each conference are lacking PGs on this list, perhaps I need to reassess my claim that this is a PG’s league).
First up, Ramon Sessions comes in at #22 and Dwyer writes:
22. Ramon Sessions(notes), Cleveland Cavaliers (last year: 16th)
Sessions had an off season, and could you blame him? He was passed over in Milwaukee, signed by a Timberwolves team after being ignored all summer, and that team goes ahead and tries to run the triangle? With a shoot-first rookie point guard leading the way? Traded to Cleveland in the offseason, he’ll … back up another point guard.
Ok, nothing too flattering there, but you might notice the #16 rating he carried last year, meaning he has the potential. It’s also worth noting he’s ranked higher than both Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley, both of whom were either legit targets or rumored targets of the Cavaliers this offseason. With Mo Williams’ future in Cleveland unknown, there’s still a chance Sessions could eventually play himself not only into Cleveland’s PG of the future, but also into a top 15 PG in the league. Not too bad for a guy acquired for Delonte West, who the Cavs more or less had to trade.
Next up, then, we have Mo Williams at #19. Just as Sessions fell 6 spots from last year, Mo falls 7 spots this year, but still cracks the top 20. Dwyer writes:
19. Mo Williams(notes), Cleveland Cavaliers (last year: 12th)
Along Calderon’s lines, I just can’t move forward with the idea of Mo Williams as a top-tier point guard until he at least attempts to move his feet defensively. Playing with a front court that included LeBron James(notes), Anderson Varejao(notes), Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) and Shaquille O’Neal(notes) may have helped mask (or even encourage) bad habits, but Mo has a lot of making up to do on that end. On offense he’s a scorer and not a playmaker, but an efficient scorer to his credit.
It’s hard to argue with much there. I thought in 2008-09, Mo actually made some progress defensively over when he was in Milwaukee, but now I wonder if that was actually more a result of Delonte West’s presence and LeBron’s ability to mask the defensive shortfalls of teammates.
We saw Mo being brutally and mercilessly exposed in the playoffs last year, and with Delonte not being himself and LeBron not being as effective with his help defense as he was the year prior, there was no relief for Mo. Some will suggest that defense is mostly mental and desire, but I’m not sure I always agree. I will say that ever since Mo injured his shoulder in the 2008-09 season he has always seemed somewhat hesitant to fight through screens, and that falls under the mental/desire category. In the big picture, though, Mo simply lacks lateral foot speed and as a result, quicker opposing PGs can get past Mo with a quick first step. When Mo is defending on the ball, he appears to my eyes to be giving effort, but he just can’t seem to get over quick enough to cut off guys when they penetrate.
Sessions has the quickness to be a better defender than Mo and he possesses more size to give opponents a little bit of a different look. In many ways, Mo and Sessions can be pretty nice complimentary players. Sessions is an excellent attacker on offense and loves to push the ball and get into the lane. His weakness is his jump shot. Mo, on the other hand, relies on his jumper as his strength. Mo has shown the ability to drive to the basket in spurts, and he was particularly strong in trying to get to the basket and creating in Game 6 of the Boston series last year, but he still doesn’t have the same attacking skill set as Sessions possesses.
With the departure of LeBron James, there’s no question that more is going to be asked of Mo Williams. With Ramon Sessions now in town, though, Coach Byron Scott will have more options at his disposal and has a chance to utilize each player’s strengths to put them in positions to minimize their weaknesses. If that means finding a way for both players to see some time on the floor together, then so be it. This season, there should be no set rules on what can or cannot be tried.
Mike Brown was never able to really fully realize the advantage of having the level of depth the Cavaliers had. The Cavaliers may not be top heavy in PG talent, but when you include the fact that Daniel Gibson can play some PG as well, you see there is some depth there and multiple players who bring multiple skill sets to the table. It will be up to Coach Scott to make the pieces all fit, but it’s nice to know he at least has some manageable talent to toy with.
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