Full-Court Pressey

http://bostonherald.com/sports/celtics_nba/nba_coverage/2013/10/full_court_pressey

Full-court Pressey
Ex-C’s staffer happy to see son turn Green



Sunday, October 13, 2013
By:  Steve Bulpett


Phil Pressey’s delight at getting a chance with the Celtics is very much a family affair. There’s no question his dad is ecstatic about him catching on in one of his former homes.

Paul Pressey followed a distinguished NBA playing career with a move to the coaching ranks, which included a stint on Doc Rivers’ staff. While he was noted for being the original point forward, Phil is, at 5-foot-11, a true point guard the C’s need, especially with Rajon Rondo rehabbing from knee surgery.

“It’s great,” said the elder Pressey. “He’s the youngest out of my four kids, and it’s exciting to see that he’s getting an opportunity at this level to prove what he can do.”

Phil played one year at Waltham High, and he drew a lot of interest around draft time before eventually going unselected out of Missouri.

“Actually there were about three teams,” said Paul. “He had a chance to go to Boston and work out, and they called him back a second time. I know Danny (Ainge) and, of course, Doc before he made the shift. They’ve always loved Phil, and that never changed.

“When it got down to it after the draft process and nothing happened, the phone started ringing. To me, an opportunity with a young team that’s rebuilding, it’s a perfect fit for him.

“One, a team that wants you. Two, an opportunity that you can play for that team. The rest of it will take care of itself.”

As for his son’s diminutive stature, Pressey said, “I think his body’s still got some maturing to do. He’s pretty fit now, but I think he’ll put on probably eight or 10 pounds of muscle before it’s all over with. He’ll be able to take that pounding.

“He’ll learn that. He’s used to going against guys that aren’t this big in college, and I think all young players that come to our level have to figure it out. And he’s smart enough to figure it out.”

It will help, too, that Phil is going to a familiar area.

“Absolutely,” said Paul. “He had three years there. It’s cold weather again, but that’s OK.”

Not that Dad minded the cold after playing the bulk of his career in Milwaukee.

“That’s why I have four kids,” Pressey said with a laugh. “That’s how he happened.”

This week’s
C’s timeline

Tuesday at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m. — The Celts get their first visit with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and, oh, yeah, the Nets. Certainly this is preseason and all, but C’s fans are undoubtedly looking forward to checking in with Pierce and KG and hearing their latest thoughts.

Wednesday at Toronto, 7 p.m. — With a home and home in the preseason and the regular season opener in Toronto, the Raptors are to the Celtics what the Twins are to the Red Sox. In this, the sixth exhibition game, Brad Stevens should be getting his rotation into tighter order depending on how he chooses to approach the back-to-back situation.

THE TOP FIVE LIST

From the home office in Baskett, Ky., this week’s subject: Top Five rejected 2013-14 Celtics slogans:

5. Aim low for success


4.”Please pardon our appearance while we renovate

3. Lottery Fever: The illness is the cure

2. They are just so cute at this age

1. Don’t worry. You’ll thank us later

RAPTORS’ CASEY DOESN’T BUY INTO THIS ‘REBUILDING’ JOB

Dwane Casey doesn’t want to get too deep into semantics, but he has a bit of a problem with the way the Celtics are being characterized these days.

“Don’t say they’re ‘rebuilding,’ ” the Toronto coach said. “I don’t look at it as a total rebuild — not with what they have there.

“They have some good young pieces and they still have Rajon Rondo, who’s an All-Star point guard and one of the best point guards in the league. And you have those good pieces around him, so they have a lot to work with.

“They had a good run. Doc (Rivers) was here through the thin time and then they rebuilt it. But, again, they have a lot of good pieces now, as far as starting after the Big Three era to go with.”

Casey’s Raptors, meanwhile, are deeper into their latest push to become a playoff-worthy club.

“Our goal is to continue to improve and get better,” he said. “As far as where we are in our process, we’re two years into our building. This year will continue that step and see where it takes us.

“I mean, we missed the playoffs last year by four games. We were knocking on the door, but then we had just dug ourselves too deep of a hole early to make that up. So we’re going to continue where we left off last year and keep on building from there.”

The Raptors showed some stretches of promise, but injuries took a bit out of their slim postseason hopes.

“(Andrea) Bargnani missed a lot of games,” said Casey. “Landry (Fields) had surgery. Alan Anderson missed a lot of games early in the year. (Linas) Kleiza missed a lot of games early in the year. But that’s part of the NBA. That’s not an excuse. (Jonas) Valanciunas was young and took his lumps early. He had so much to learn, but as the year went on he got better with time.”

Now Bargnani, Anderson, Kleiza and others are gone, D.J. Augustin, Tyler Hansbrough and Steve Novak are in as the Raptors continue to seek the right mix. How ready are they to make a substantial move forward?

“We’ll see,” said Casey, who praised outgoing GM Bryan Colangelo, calling him “a big-time basketball man.” “We’ll see. We’re going to see how big that step is. We took a big step last year, so we’ll see how it happens this year.”

Fiddlin’ and diddlin’

Great seeing former Herald colleague Mike Carey interviewed extensively on ESPN’s mini-documentary on the Spirits of St. Louis.

Mike is the author of “BAD NEWS: The Strange and Twisted Life of Marvin Barnes.” Barnes, a star at Providence College, became a central figure in the Spirits’ tale. . . .

It won’t be the same around the Celtics this season without Greg Dickerson. Good dude who worked hard. Hope he enjoys his next role. . . .

Deeply saddened by the passing last weekend of John Galaris, an All-America at Salem State in the 1960s who played professionally in Greece and went on to become his alma mater’s AD, helping create one of the nation’s model Division 3 athletic programs.

Galaris, a family friend, wasn’t given to false modesty, but I’ve always enjoyed telling people, “You know how good he tells you he was? . . . Well, he was better than that.”



bob


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