Analysis: Bobcats acquire Neal and Ridnour for Sessions and Adrien
The Bobcats are a team looking to make the kinds of moves that will help them solidify the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, if not propel them even higher in the weak Conference's standings, but whether trading Ramon Sessions (and Jeff Adrien) to Milwaukee for Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour accomplishes that is certainly questionable.
Adrien was a rarely used bit player for Charlotte, but Sessions provided the 'Cats with 10.5 points and 3.7 assists per night in about 24 minutes of action as the second unit's primary ball handler. The 27-year-old is by no means a consistent game changer off of a Bobcats bench that ranks 15th with a point-differential per-48 minutes of -1.8, but he provided fairly average bench production on an expiring $5 million deal (Adrien makes less than $1 million).
Neal and Ridnour, on the other hand, have produced far below average and expectation for the atrocious Bucks (PER's of 11.4 and 9.3, respectively), and Neal especially has earned his long list of DNP-CD's with selfish chucking (16.4 field goal attempts per 36 minutes). Ridnour, on the other hand, has simply lost a step at 33-years-old, and it may not be realistic to expect him to consistently contribute down the stretch on a team in the thick of a playoff race.
In addition, the Bobcats have added a bit of salary for next season since Neal's $3.25 million owed to him in 2014-15 makes him the only player in the deal not on an expiring contract, though Charlotte should have a ton of cap space, regardless.
All in all, the tanking Bucks clear an extra bit of salary for next season and the Bobcats make a deal that involves very little risk. It's just that adding some salary going forward usually involves an obvious upgrade, and Neal/Ridnour over Sessions is not.
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