Will Pressey Have An Impact?

by **bobheckler** Sat Sep 21, 2013 12:49 pm

http://www.rantsports.com/nba/2013/09/21/will-phil-pressey-have-an-impact-for-boston-celtics/

When Rajon Rondo went down with a season-ending knee injury in 2013, the Boston Celtics lost their only real PG on the roster. That team managed to get by for the rest of the season with a PG-by-committee type strategy, but the lack of a legitimate, natural PG proved to be problematic at times for the Celtics.

The team’s point guard situation for start of this season doesn’t look much different. The only change to that is the addition of an undrafted, rookie free agent named Phil Pressey.

Pressey is the only natural PG on the Celtics’ roster. The 5-foot-11 guard from Missouri went undrafted, and after proving himself with impressive play during Summer League, Pressey earned a contract with the Celtics. Now, he faces a perfect opportunity. Pressey has a legitimate chance to contribute to a team that really could use his help.

Though Pressey is small in stature, he is quick, athletic and has a natural PG mentality. In addition, he has dribbling and shooting skills, plays tenacious defense and has court vision reminiscent of Rondo. The former Missouri Tiger was statistically one of the best NCAA passers throughout college. The necessary ingredients are all there to make Pressey an NBA-caliber PG.

If Pressey maximizes potential, he could become a cross between Nate Robinson and Jameer Nelson. All Pressey needs is help and time to bring it all together. With the Celtics’ current situation, Pressey’s opportunity to do that couldn’t be better.

There’s also plenty of reason to be weary of Pressey’s game. After all, he did go undrafted in what many experts believe to be a super-weak draft. Pressey’s questionable decision-making and inconsistency are why his draft stock plummeted.

Pressey, also known as ”Flip,” led one of the top offenses in the country during his sophomore year at Mizzou. When his team lost most of that talent the following season, he tried to become “the guy”, which proved to be a frustrating experiencefor Pressey and Tiger fans alike.

ESPN’s draft expert Chad Ford told the Kansas City Star, “Phil Pressey is one of the most frustrating players to scout for NBA scouts … You saw at Missouri, over and over again, as games would get tight, he would start to try to play hero ball, try to do too much … and almost single-handedly lose games for Missouri after playing so well for the first 35 minutes”.

So the question becomes, is Phil Pressey the guy in the first 35 minutes, or is he the guy in that last five minutes? Throughout Pressey’s career, he’s shown flashes of special plays that very few athletes have the ability to make. Because of those flashes, the Celtics decided to give Pressey a shot.

Pressey knew there was a very real chance he wouldn’t be picked when he elected to forgo his senior season to enter the draft, but given his connection to the Celtics’ franchise (his father, Paul, served on Doc Rivers‘ staff from 2004-2007) and a strong pre-draft workout, he remained confident he’d have at least one opportunity to earn an NBA job.

So far, he has made the most of that opportunity. Pressey was neither erratic nor inconsistent during summer league. In fact, up to this point, Pressey has outperformed most of the guards that were drafted in the first round.

Perhaps Pressey’s struggles at Mizzou weren’t because of his decision-making or inconsistency. Maybe instead, you could attribute Pressey’s struggles to the fact that he was forced to play a role not suited to his strengths. The best part about his current situation with the Celtics is that he won’t ever have to be the hero, and can play the role he once thrived under.

Pressey can and will earn some minutes in Rondo’s absence. What he does with those minutes is up for debate, but the team will struggle without a true PG like it did last year. It’s uncertain how exactly that Pressey will fit into the puzzle without Rondo, but if he plays as well as he did in Summer League play, he might even be able to secure a backup PG role even with Rondo back.

bob

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by **Sam** Sat Sep 21, 2013 2:29 pm

My number one player to watch (hopefully) in preseason.

Sam

by **k_j_88** Sat Sep 21, 2013 8:12 pm

Pressey struck me as a feast or famine kind of player. He has skills but can potentially derail his own momentum with turnovers.

KJ

by **Sam** Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:15 pm

KJ,

We haven't seen him play with a consistent rotation over an extended period of time. Turnovers can be a big part of getting to know one another.

Sam

by **dboss** Sun Sep 22, 2013 12:48 pm

KJ, Sam

Pressey is a pure PG. The knock on him coming out of college was related to being inconsistent.

He turned the ball over 3.5 times per game and shot the ball at a rate of .376 %. Pressey may get some run early, out of necessity but once Rondo comes back he will probably get 10-12 MPG and/or bench time and/or a few stints with the lobsters.

During the summer league he averaged 4.0 Turnovers per game. I have not seen enough that convinces me that Pressey is ready to assume the roll of an NBA backup PG let alone a starter. There is a reason why he did not get drafted.

The sample size from college is sufficient to draw some conclusions.

The Celtics would be wise to sign a veteran BU PG.

I do hope that the kid is able to perform but I am not as high on him at this point. His contribution may be on the defensive end of the court.

The most intriguing player for me is KO. His full blown arsenal of offensive moves is impressive. He does a lot of things really well.

dboss

by **bobheckler** Sun Sep 22, 2013 1:38 pm

The scouts who watched him at Mizzou said that he could be phenomenal for 35 minutes and then, if his team was weak or weren't getting it done, he'd try to take over with hero ball and lose the game for them in the last 5 minutes.

This year will be a big learning year for Pressey, obviously. Assuming he shows enough for him to stay around next year, I think you'll see a big improvement. He'll have a year with Rondo under his belt, a year with players older and more experienced than him. Think Sully and Jeff Green won't get in his ear if he doesn't involve them in their offense?

He'll struggle this year, I have no doubt, point guard and football quarterback have the two longest learning curves but he won't be playing hero ball as much as he did at Missouri because he won't be able to.

bob

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by **dboss** Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:33 pm

So Bob are you comfortable going into the season with our current guys at the 1?

Will The new offensive schemes reduce the need of having a reliable playmaker?

(More passing and movement from everyone..and less dependence on a RR initiated offense)

Good thing is that Stevens may very well be willing to give this kid a chance to make mistakes. I know Doc Rivers would have had little patience.

I am rarely concerned when a young player gets in there and messes up. More times than not I want to see the coach let him play.

As we eye the upcoming season I think everyone has some concerns at the 1 and 5 spots. We are deep and solid at the 2, 3 and 4 positions.

The 5 is still the biggest question mark given expectations that Rajon will be back and will be healthy to make the 1 a strength on the team. If the 5 develops well, we could be a very good team.

Dboss

by **bobheckler** Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:47 pm

dboss wrote:So Bob are you comfortable going into the season with our current guys at the 1?

Will The new offensive schemes reduce the need of having a reliable playmaker?

(More passing and movement from everyone..and less dependence on a RR initiated offense)

Good thing is that Stevens may very well be willing to give this kid a chance to make mistakes. I know Doc Rivers would have had little patience.

I am rarely concerned when a young player gets in there and messes up. More times than not I want to see the coach let him play.

As we eye the upcoming season I think everyone has some concerns at the 1 and 5 spots. We are deep and solid at the 2, 3 and 4 positions.

The 5 is still the biggest question mark given expectations that Rajon will be back and will be healthy to make the 1 a strength on the team. If the 5 develops well, we could be a very good team.

Dboss

dboss,

On the "Baron Davis" thread I opined having another veteran point guard would be better. I still believe that. We all know the current Celtic roster is unbalanced but you go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had. This year is a year for youth development and to figure out who's a keeper and who isn't. I don't want Pressey to get thrown to the wolves, but I don't want a veteran short-term rental player taking all his minutes after Rondo comes back either.

I've wrapped my mind around the likelihood that we're going to get our brains beat in at the 1 and 5 positions. We're too thin, too young. If Danny can pull off a coup and fix that I'd be thrilled, but patience is a virtue and teams' short term goals and needs to achieve those goals change as they approach the trade deadline. We may just have to be patient, and take our punishment, until then.

bob

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by **cowens/oldschool** Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:21 pm

I'm not expecting anything at all this year...let the rebuilding begin.

by **k_j_88** Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:38 pm

"Rebuild" is such an ugly term that carries rather undesirable weight. I don't think that's what Boston is doing, seeing as how Rondo and Green are still on the team, not to mention Sully and Bradley, too. Once you start moving assets and all of your stars, then you are rebuilding.

KJ

by **Sam** Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:42 pm

Dboss, I don't believe any of us is comfortable going into the season with only a rookie as a backup PG. Although, come to think of it, even a rookie PURE PG is more than the team had last year. I'm still hopeful they'll come up with a vet minimum guy as long as he's not just another combo guard. And I pay very little attention to the concerns about the salary cap. There are ways to handle it.

Sam

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