FanHouse RamonSessions

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee is cutting costs. With that being no secret, guard Michael Redd doesn't deny there is a possibility he could be traded before his contract expires in the summer of 2011.

But that's not what Redd wants.

"Oh yeah, absolutely,'' Redd said Thursday in an interview with FanHouse about wanting to remain with the Bucks through the life of his deal. "I've been here for 10 years. So I've enjoyed my time here, man, and the team keeps getting better.''

Redd, 30, is making $17.04 million this season and has an $18.3 million early-termination option for next season. It would be a shock if Redd, who has played his entire career with the Bucks since entering the NBA in 2000, opted out.

Imagine a world where upon trading most of your veterans and turning the team over to unproven youngsters, you have growing pains and lots of losses. It's almost as if rebuilding entails some necessary and unavoidable period of truly sucky basketball!

This is all news to one David Kahn, boss of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who blew up the team this past summer.

After Monday's embarrassing dismantling at the hands of the (get ready for it) Golden State Warriors(!), Kahn, in quotes to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, seemed flabbergasted that his mish-mosh of raw players hasn't won many games.

I wrote in September that perhaps there would be no worthy center to start for the West in the All-Star Game.

But this isn't the way I want to see that solved. Do it on the court, not with the ballot.

When the All-Star ballot came out Tuesday, Phoenix power forward Amar'e Stoudemire strangely was listed as a center. Yes, Stoudemire has played center before, but he's started all eight games for Suns this season at power forward, with Channing Frye being the starting center.

It is true the ballot, which was selected by six media members from around the country, had to be decided upon before the season began in order to provide time for printing. But it has been apparent since at least September that Frye would Phoenix's starting center, with Stoudemire at power forward.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Timberwolves spent the offseason loading up on point guards as if they were stocking a fallout shelter during the Cold War.

They drafted Ricky Rubio with the No. 5 pick, Jonny Flynn at No. 6 and Ty Lawson at No. 18, although Lawson soon was shipped to Denver. Then, with Rubio electing to remain in his native Spain, they signed free agents Ramon Sessions and Jason Hart and traded for Antonio Daniels, although Daniels won't join the team.

The chaos has settled, and Flynn has become Minnesota's starter. The reviews so far are mostly good, and credit Flynn for realizing how difficult it is to learn to become an NBA point guard.

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.

It's official: Ramon Sessions is heading to Minnesota.

Bucks general manager John Hammond confirmed to the Journal Sentinel earlier that he will not match the Minnesota Timberwolves' four-year, $16.4 million offer sheet for Sessions.

The Timberwolves signed Sessions to an offer sheet after they failed to lure point guard Ricky Rubio, whom they selected with the No. 5 pick in the June draft, over to the NBA from Europe.

The agent for Ramon Sessions has told FanHouse he does not expect Milwaukee to match Minnesota's four-year, $16 million offer sheet for the point guard. But a new trade rumor leaves open the possibility that Milwaukee is trying to cut enough salary to fit Sessions back into the equation.

Come 2011 or 2012, the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to have a hell of a rotation at point guard.

Everybody's favorite new maverick GM, David Kahn, got over Ricky Rubio's rebuff in a hurry and went out and signed restricted free agent Ramon Sessions to a four-year, $16 million offer sheet, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Sessions, who played in Milwaukee last season, has been hanging out there all summer, drawing interest from a number of teams but never quite receiving that elusive offer. Until, that is, Rubio did his number on the Timberwolves.

At what point does Jonny Flynn become insulted?

Sure, Timberwolves capo David Kahn made fierce Flynn the No. 6 pick in the NBA draft, higher than Brandon Jennings, Jrue Holiday or Ty Lawson. But that pick came after Kahn already took a point guard, Mr. Ricky Rubio. Kahn proceeded to spend all summer trying to get Ricky to actually come play for the Wolves. (It didn't work.)

Now, as Rubio's rejection has seemingly made Flynn's path to the starting lineup clear, there's one more potential roadblock. Gerry Woelfel of the Racine Journal-Times reports that Kahn may soon be presenting restricted free agent point guard Ramon Sessions with an offer sheet.

The Oregonian's Jason Quick reports the Blazers will sign 33-year-old point guard Andre Miller to a deal. The terms look like $22 million over three years, with only the first two guaranteed. By the numbers, it's a good deal for Portland and Miller -- the PG wasn't getting more elsewhere, and the Blazers get away with a good playmaker at a fair rate for a short time.

But the opportunity cost of signing Miller is quite high for the Blazers.