Shockingly, Ramon Sessions and Jonny Flynn Can't Really Play Together

When new Minnesota GM David Kahn made a play for free agent point guard Ramon Sessions, there were two ways to look at it. On the surface, the Sessions deal (four years, $16 million) is a fair price for a solid young playmaker. Given how bad Minnesota's backcourt has been, Sessions can't hurt, right?

But Kahn famously selected two high-profile point guards within the top six picks of the June draft, Spaniard Ricky Rubio and Syracuse's Jonny Flynn. Rubio stayed in Barcelona, all while Kahn insisted the plan was for the pair to play together in Minnesota. When Kahn signed Sessions, the plan was to play him and Flynn together. The problem, which I noted at the time of the signing, is that neither Sessions nor Flynn has any business playing off-guard.

It seems Wolves coach Kurt Rambis has now arrived at the same conclusion.

Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune notes that Sessions and Flynn have not played together at all in three preseason games, and that Rambis has said he doesn't like what he has seen from the two-PG lineup in practice. The quote Zgoda got from Rambis is actually pretty great.

"We looked at it a little in practice. I didn't go, 'Oooohhhhhh.' I went, 'Ehhhhhhhhh.'"

Again, this is not a surprise. Sessions has a bad jumper he doesn't trust. Flynn is less than six-feet-tall, and is stylistically purely a point guard. Playing either off the ball is unnatural. Just as it would have been with Rubio and Flynn. I'm all for apositionality ... but planning to play two point guards together a lot is the opposite of that. It's called "outsmarting yourself."

In the immediate, if Rambis doesn't relent and deal with the on-court ramifications of the two-PG lineup (something he hardly seems inclined to do), one of the players is going to get the short end of the stick, unless the coach moves to a true platoon. Although I'd argue that in that case, Sessions would be getting the short end of the stick.

So, in case you need a reminder: In 2-3 years, two of Sessions, Flynn and Rubio will be on the market. Assuming a sane GM has taken over the Wolves.