The elbow is up, aligned like a coach would teach in any small Indiana town. It’s pointed toward the hoop, the angle correct, the follow through a nice flick as Ramon Sessions shoots from the forehead.
His guide hand? That’s another matter. Sessions’ left hand is contorted, turned over and back, almost behind his head and on top of the ball. In theory, the guide hand should be vertical and leave the ball early. For Sessions, years of being diminutive has caused his jumper to still have a mangled release in his eighth NBA season and first with the Washington Wizards.
“When I was young, I was so small that I used to have to shoot with two hands,” Sessions said.
“I had to shoot like that,” he said, flicking both hands forward. “As I got older, it’s been a process to try to get it this way. It’s just a funny … I’m just so used to using this hand when I was young, because I used to push off like this, so now I kind of keep it on there a different kind of way. But, it works, though.”
The Wizards flipped Andre Miller for Sessions at the trade deadline in a light and lucky move. They could only trade Miller because his former coach, George Karl, made his way back into the league when the Sacramento Kings fired Mike Malone early in the season. His relationship with Miller enabled the Wizards to pick up Sessions, who provided more speed and different spacing than Miller.
At the time of the trade, there was a bit of a cringe locally. Miller had played an important role in the playoffs against the Chicago Bulls last season. During the sweep of the perimeter-oriented series against the Toronto Raptors, Sessions provided an option that Miller would not have. He was fast enough to track Lou Williams, the league’s Sixth Man of the Year, when he played next to Kyle Lowry. Sessions also guarded Lowry and Greivis Vasquez. At 16.5, his minutes weren’t hefty, but he shot a solid 44.4 percent and his flexibility has helped.
“Sesh has been tremendous, I think, on both ends of the floor because he accepts that defensive challenge on any guard,” guard Bradley Beal said. “On top of that, he’s learned the offense quick. He’s able to push the ball, get to the basket. He’s definitely grown a lot. We’re glad to have him on board. He’s been nothing but good for us.”
Point guard John Wall left the floor after his third foul with 4:02 to play in the second quarter of Game 4. The Wizards led by by 11 points when Sessions replaced him. Sessions helped yank the lead back to 16 points by the half. Those four minutes were a crucial stretch to keep Toronto hopeless.
“I thought Sesh came off the bench and gave us a huge lift,” coach Randy Wittman said.
Being traded to a playoff team was the opposite of last season for Sessions, who was sent from the playoff-bound Charlotte Bobcats to the lottery-bound Milwaukee Bucks. This year, on Feb. 20, Sacramento put him into the playoffs.
“Milwaukee, at the time, was rebuilding, one of the worst teams in the league,” Sessions said. “So, it was tough that year. Then, this year, I’m in Sacramento knowing we’re kind of rebuilding, not going to the playoffs and I get traded to a playoff team. It was exciting and I was looking forward to it.”
In college at Nevada, coaches tried to rework Sessions’ shooting form in an attempt to fix that wayward guide hand. But, it was too late. He had shot that way for so long, they relented.
“They tried to break me out of it, but got to a point that it was so much in my head to do it, we left it alone,” Sessions said.
The form was effective enough to get him into the NBA and now his second playoff series. His only other appearance was with the Los Angeles Lakers three years ago, when, naturally, he was traded late in the season.
“Now to be in the moment, couldn’t ask for anything more for a guy like me who started off with a rebuilding team to come to a team that’s proven,” Sessions said. “Just to be a part of that and to be helping out with the guys. It’s been a great trade for me overall. Just looking forward to the finish.”
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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