Phil Pressey may carve out role in Portland

The Portland Trail Blazers signed former Boston Celtics guard Phil Pressey to a deal on Friday as they look to add depth to their backcourt.

Pressey, a 5’11” playmaker out of Missouri, has career averages of 3.1 points, 2.9 assists, and 1.5 rebounds per game over the course of the past two years.

Though only averaging 13.9 minutes per game throughout his NBA career thus far, Pressey carries a lot of potential with him.

In college, he ran the show for the Missouri Tigers during his three years there, averaging 11.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 1.8 steals per game in his junior year.

He led the Tigers to an appearance in the NCAA tournament that same year, only to lose in the opening game to Colorado State. Despite forgoing his senior year, Pressey was an All-Southeastern Conference player and leads the school in career assists (580) and steals (196).

Dec 10, 2014; Charlotte, NC, USA; Boston Celtics guard Phil Pressey (26) calls to his team during the second half of the game against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. Hornets win 96-87. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft, Pressey was signed to the Celtics summer league squad that summer. His performance led to a three-year deal with Boston for the league minimum, giving him a chance to prove himself.

In his two years with Boston, Pressey appeared in 125 games and played the role of a back up point guard for the team. However, he was often times buried in the depth chart and stashed behind guys like Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley, and eventually even Marcus Smart and Isaiah Thomas.

In Portland, if he ends up making the regular-season roster and remaining with the team heading into next season, he will be fighting for minutes off the bench with guards like C.J. McCollum and possibly Tim Frazier.

If Pressey continues to improve his game and work hard, he could give Portland a solid 15-20 minutes off the bench to help relieve Damian Lillard, who is expected to have an obscene workload.

Portland possesses one of the best opportunities for Pressey to play a role on a team, considering they are entering what one might call a rebuilding period after losing four of their five starters from last season. While Pressey may never be dependable enough to insert into a starting lineup (barring injuries), he can still contribute good minutes off the bench and lead a second unit with his playmaking abilities.

At age 24, Pressey still has a lot of room to grow as a player. Currently, Pressey’s game consists of being a speedy facilitator with great court vision and passing skills, a pesky on-ball defender, and a well-developed finisher around the rim.

However, he needs to get better as a whole on the offensive end of the ball. In his career so far, Pressey is shooting a subpar 26% from 3-point range, as well as just 33% from the floor overall. Though he’s never been a volume scorer, improving these shooting percentages would make him more of a threat on offense and earn him more minutes.

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