Ramon Sessions has been playing well for the Cavaliers in the Princeton offense.
Guard Ramon Sessions, here driving to the basket against Washington's Gilbert Arenas, averaged 14.3 points per game in the preseason.Ramon Sessions has been the perfect understudy for the Cavaliers.
The young point guard clearly was brought in as a backcourt backup, but he has been thrust into the spotlight during the preseason, and he has shone. If the Cavs played baseball, he would be the first guy out of the bullpen.
Take Thursday night in Columbus, when starter Mo Williams left the team after the death of his father-in-law and reserve Daniel Gibson woke up with a stiff neck.
All Sessions did was start for the fifth time in eight preseason games and finish with 26 points to lead the Cavs to a 83-77 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in Cleveland's preseason finale.
"I thought he played well," Cavs coach Byron Scott said of Sessions, who got four of his starts when Williams was out with a groin injury. "He was in a kind of tough situation with Mo not being here . . . and Boobie having a strained neck. He knew he would have to play some tough minutes, but I thought he played pretty well on both ends."
He did have five turnovers in 37 minutes, but Scott preferred to focus on the good things Sessions did.
"He's great in the pick-and-roll with a live dribble or out in space," Scott said. "He's great at creating, and creating for himself and his teammates."
Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles coached Sessions two seasons ago with the Bucks, so he knew what to expect Thursday night. The Bucks just weren't able to do anything to stop him.
"A lot of it was off the ball, too," Skiles said. "We were just losing track of him. He was cutting and getting easy baskets, and he pretty much had his way with us."
For the preseason, Sessions averaged 14.3 points -- tied for second highest on the team -- 4.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 27 minutes per game. He shot 44.1 percent (41-of-93).
Cavs coach Byron Scott says he gets a laugh out of some of the dire predictions being made for the Cavaliers in the upcoming season. One prediction had the Cavs winning 12 games.Looking ahead: National pundits have started issuing their predictions for the season, and one suggested the Cavs would win 12 games.
"That's funny," Scott said. "Seriously, I look at it as kind of a joke. I've been in the situation where I had a team that won 18 games the first year [New Orleans in 2004-05], and we didn't have half the talent we have here. So that's funny to me. It's kind of like a joke."
He said the Cavs will use such predications as motivation.
"I think players read all this stuff, and when we talked to most guys in the summer, they seemed to be pretty fired up about it," Scott said. "I can use it as motivation to get guys to go out and play hard because of everything said. Also, it's an us-against-the-world type of deal, and we'll use it as fuel and just go out and try to surprise everyone.
"But 12? He's out of his mind."
Even NBA Commissioner David Stern thinks the Cavs will be fine -- better than expected, in fact -- after losing LeBron James to Miami.
"I think they have a lot of players who would like to demonstrate that they can be part of a winning team," Stern said during a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon. "They're players of some accomplishment who may well have been overshadowed by one of the most glamorous and best players in the league.
"For the fans of Cleveland, they had that player, and they had him for seven years as a result of the NBA Draft and his renewed contract. Now, let's go. . . . Everybody on board, and let's see how the team can do without that player.
"I'm thinking they'll do better than most people are expecting."
Cavs special: "Unbreakable: Cleveland and their Cavaliers" is a one-hour special about the 2010-11 Cavs team and the unbreakable spirit of Cleveland that will premier at 11 p.m. next Wednesday after the team's season opener against the Boston Celtics on Fox Sports Ohio. The program is produced by Leo Simone, whose previous productions, "Make 'em Forget" and "Light It Up Like Vegas" won multiple Emmy Awards. After its debut, the program will replay at 11 p.m. Oct. 29, 10:30 p.m. Oct. 30 and 5 p.m. Nov. 6.