Myrtle Beach’s Sessions enjoying second stint with ‘unselfish’ Charlotte Hornets

For nearly 10 years, Ramon Sessions has been one of the NBA’s best bench scorers, averaging 10.8 points per game.

This year, however, he’s in a bit of a different position: having to get shots for others.

Through 12 games, the Myrtle Beach native is averaging 3.7 assists – his highest since the 2013-14 season – and 5.1 points per game for the Charlotte Hornets (8-4). He has provided Charlotte solid bench play along with Frank Kaminsky III (10.7 ppg), Marco Belinelli (9.8), Spencer Hawes (7.4), Jeremy Lamb (7.0) and Roy Hibbert (6.4).

“It’s just the style that we play, to be honest. I don’t have to come out there to try to score the ball because we’ve got so many weapons on that second unit,” Sessions said while in Myrtle Beach on Sunday for his sixth annual turkey drive in the Racepath neighborhood where he grew up. “Now I’ve got to kind of get guys their shots. But it’s fun for me because I know that part of the game. I also know how to score the ball. But for me, whatever we’ve got to do to win. I feel like just running that second unit, getting guys shots, everybody being right on defense … I think we’ll be just fine.”

The Hornets are off to a solid start, entering Sunday sitting in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings, just two games behind the conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers.

“It’s been going good. We’re off to a good start early in the season,” Sessions said. “We’ve got a real good, unselfish team that plays well together. Coach [Steve] Clifford is one of the best coaches in the NBA. It’s been great, man. To be 10 years and be with this team and be where I’m at, I couldn’t ask for much more.”

Sessions signed a two-year deal in the offseason with the Hornets, whom he played for previously from 2012-2014. He said the transition has been rather smooth because of the familiarity.

“It’s similar because Coach Clifford, he coaches one way and it’s the same way as when I was there [last time],” Sessions said. “So it’s one of those things that it was easy to pick up on and it’s just good to be back in a familiar setting and on a team that’s ready to win now, a team that’s got a good core group of guys that’s all under contract. So the sky’s the limit for the Hornets organization. I’m just glad to be able to back in.”

It’s a unique team in the way the players share the ball, Sessions said, and he believes that will equate to success in the long run.

“A lot of potential. It’s a real talented team, by far probably the most unselfish team I’ve been a part of in my journey in the NBA,” said Sessions, who’s played for seven teams, including two in different stints, during his career. “I mean, it’s early on, but if we continue to play the way we know how to play the sky’s the limit for us.”

Thanks to Myrtle Beach’s proximity to Charlotte, Sessions was able to make it home for a brief trip between Saturday night’s game at New Orleans and Monday’s game at home against Memphis.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Sessions said of his situation. “Ten years in, just to be close to home, it’s the best.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach’s Sessions enjoying second stint with ‘unselfish’ Charlotte Hornets."