NBA.com profiles Sessions' journey thus far.
It's been a while since I last pulled notes together, but the last month has been a perfect storm of vacations (Japan = cool), work, and uninspiring basketball (funny how that coincides with not wanting to write as much). I'll try to be a little more regular with our updates from here on out, especially given the games are almost over with and an all-important summer is drawing near .
- Michael Hunt wrote earlier this week about the Bucks upcoming summer, which we've covered ad nauseum previously. Still, Hunt and the JS usually don't speculate unless someone is feeding them information, so there's like something behind this. I hope to talk a bit more about this later on, but the key takeaway is that Villanueva likely won't be back. Something has to give, and with little latitude to clear space under the luxury tax CV's departure seems to the most likely outcome.
Villanueva has to be considered a goner. Even if his future salary was somehow manageable because of a depressed free-agent market and/or unforeseen trades, Villanueva, for his other qualities, doesn't give the Bucks the defense-minded power forward they need. A long-term investment in Villanueva would put them right back in the untenable spot they're in now.
Regarding Hunt's mention of Brandon Jennings and Eric Maynor as having more upside than Sessions, I'm not sure it's worth gambling either (especially Maynor), but that's not to say they should be ignoring PGs simply because they intend to keep Sessions. As we saw when they passed on Brook Lopez last year, the best player is always worth taking--but that still leaves the very difficult task of determining who's the best guy in the first place. - Check out Ty's analysis of each Buck's value added.
- Ghostface Ziller does a post-mortem on the Bucks' playoff-less season over at FanHouse.
- Charles Gardner takes a closer look at Salim Stoudemire. I'm still trying to make sense of the signing to some extent. I suppose it's useful having him rehab and work with the coaches over the entire summer, but why even bother paying him for the last couple weeks of this season? Aside from that, the Bucks could probably get the same production from a guy making the rookie minimum next year, saving them a couple hundred grand. Hopefully the deal's non-guaranteed, though I haven't seen confirmation of that.
- Villanueva offers photographic evidence of his lost bet with Charlie Bell. Yes, that's Bell's old #14 jersey he's wearing.