Paul Pressey

Last updated
Paul Pressey
PresseyBanquet2016.jpg
Pressey at a banquet event in June 2016
Personal information
Born Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school George Wythe (Richmond, Virginia)
College
NBA draft 1982: 1st round, 20th overall pick
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Playing career1982–1993
Position Small forward
Number25, 8, 5
Coaching career1994–2016
Career history
As player:
1982–1990 Milwaukee Bucks
1990–1992 San Antonio Spurs
1992–1993 Golden State Warriors
As coach:
1992–1994 Golden State Warriors (assistant)
1994–2000 San Antonio Spurs (assistant)
2000–2004 Orlando Magic (assistant)
2004–2006 Boston Celtics (assistant)
2007–2010 New Orleans Hornets (assistant)
2010–2013 Cleveland Cavaliers (assistant)
2014–2016 Los Angeles Lakers (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As assistant coach:

Career NBA statistics
Points 7,664 (10.6 ppg)
Rebounds 2,798 (3.9 rpg)
Assists 3,715 (5.1 apg)
Stats   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg at NBA.com
Stats   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg at Basketball-Reference.com

Paul Matthew Pressey (born December 24, 1958) is an American former professional basketball player who was also an assistant coach for seven different National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. Pressey is widely credited as being one of the initial point forwards, [1] [2] combining the attributes of a point guard and forward.

Contents

Basketball career

In 1979, while at Western Texas, Pressey and his teammates went 37-0 and won the NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. [3]

In 1982, while playing for Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's basketball, Pressey was awarded MVC Player of the Year after averaging 13.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.2 steals. [4]

While playing small forward for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1980s, Pressey took on many of the ball handling duties, even leading the team in assists for five straight years. As a rookie on March 26, 1983, Pressey scored a season-high 23 points and recorded 4 steals in a 89–81 victory against the New York Knicks. [5]

A renowned defender throughout his career, Pressey was named to the All-NBA Defensive Team three times, and was top 20 in the league in defensive rating, an advanced metric, four consecutive seasons from 1982–83 to 1985–86. [6] He participated in the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, finishing in 6th place out of 8. During his tenure in Milwaukee, alongside hall-of-famers Sidney Moncrief, Bob Lanier, and Marques Johnson, Pressey and the Bucks reached the Eastern Conference Finals three times, although they never advanced to the NBA Finals. [7]

In the 1984-85 NBA season, Pressey helped the Bucks to a 59–23 record, starting 80 games and leading the Bucks in assists with 6.8 per game, while adding 16.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. [8] In that year's playoffs, Pressey and the Bucks advanced past the Michael Jordan-led Bulls in the first round, with Pressey scoring 20 points, grabbing 6 rebounds, and 6 steals in a deciding Game 4 victory. [9] However, in the following round the Bucks would lose in a sweep to the Philadelphia 76ers. [10]

On February 19, 1986, Pressey scored 26 points on 11-15 shooting and recorded 11 assists while leading the Bucks to a 124–107 victory against the Dallas Mavericks. [11] A week later, on February 25, Pressey set a career high with 16 assists in a 114–99 win against the Los Angeles Clippers. [12] In the 1986 NBA Playoffs, Pressey recorded a triple-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 16 assists in Game 5 of the 1986 Eastern Conference Semifinals versus the Philadelphia 76ers on May 7, 1986. [13] The Bucks would win the series in 7 games, before being eliminated in the Conference Finals by the Celtics in the next round.

On November 7, 1988, Pressey played 48 minutes, the entire game, due to injuries to various teammates and scored 21 points, while recording 8 assists, and grabbing 6 rebounds, in a loss against the New Jersey Nets. [14]

During the 1990 NBA Playoffs, his last with the Bucks, Pressey helped Milwaukee to a Game 3 win over the Chicago Bulls with 19 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals. [15] However, the Bucks would go on to lose the series. On August 1, 1990, Pressey was traded to San Antonio for Frank Brickowski. [16]

On November 7, 1990, Pressey scored 14 points and recorded 10 assists in one of the highest scoring games in NBA history, as the Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets 161–153. [17] Teammates David Robinson and Terry Cummings combined for 74 points.

On May 5, 1992, Pressey was released by the Spurs. [18]

In 1992–93, he came out of semi-retirement while an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors to help the team deal with many injuries to other players. He played 18 games before getting injured too.

Career statistics

Legend
  GPGames played  GS Games started MPG Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage 3P%  3-point field goal percentage FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game APG  Assists per game SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game PPG Points per game Bold Career high

NBA

Regular season

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
1982–83 Milwaukee 791819.3.457.111.5973.62.61.30.66.7
1983–84 Milwaukee 811821.4.523.222.6003.53.11.10.68.3
1984–85 Milwaukee 808036.0.517.350.7585.46.81.60.716.1
1985–86 Milwaukee 808033.8.488.182.8065.07.82.10.914.3
1986–87 Milwaukee 616033.7.477.291.7384.97.21.80.813.9
1987–88 Milwaukee 757533.1.491.205.7985.07.01.50.513.1
1988–89 Milwaukee 676232.4.474.218.7763.96.61.80.712.1
1989–90 Milwaukee 57224.6.472.140.7583.04.31.20.411.0
1990–91 San Antonio 701824.0.472.281.8272.53.90.90.57.5
1991–92 San Antonio 56713.6.373.143.6831.72.50.50.32.7
1992–93 Golden State 18014.9.439.000.7781.71.70.60.34.4
Career72442027.2.485.222.7493.95.11.40.610.6

Playoffs

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
1982–83 Milwaukee 9-16.7.404.000.4003.71.61.00.75.1
1983–84 Milwaukee 16-21.9.520.000.6793.73.11.40.68.9
1984–85 Milwaukee 8837.0.511.333.8166.07.62.30.615.3
1985–86 Milwaukee 141437.9.484.333.7614.37.91.30.916.1
1986–87 Milwaukee 121238.8.466.125.7395.28.62.30.714.3
1987–88 Milwaukee 5535.6.460.333.7673.86.60.80.614.0
1989–90 Milwaukee 4232.3.432.000.8085.37.51.50.314.8
1990–91 San Antonio 4031.0.406.250.6672.84.02.00.88.3
1991–92 San Antonio 3215.3.333.500.0001.01.01.00.34.3
Career754330.3.471.244.7284.25.61.50.711.7

College

YearTeamGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
1980–81 Tulsa 333231.8.476-.5795.45.22.90.810.3
1981–82 Tulsa 303032.4.560-.6646.44.03.20.713.2
Career636232.1.517-.6245.94.63.00.711.7

Post-playing career

During the 1998–99 season, Pressey won a championship as an assistant coach for the Spurs. [19]

His daughter Angie [20] attended the University of California, Berkeley and was a member of the Golden Bear volleyball squad that was a semifinalist at the women's 2007 NCAA Final Four. His sons Jeremiah (Paul Jr.) [21] and Phil [22] played basketball for Missouri. [23] Phil played for multiple teams in the NBA from 2013 to 2016, and now plays in Europe. [24]

In 2010, Pressey became an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. [25] He served in that role until 2013. [26] On September 16, 2014; he was added to Byron Scott's coaching staff for the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2019, he became an assistant coach for St Johns University. [27]

In a September 2019 interview, while looking back on being drafted and then playing a relatively long NBA career, Pressey said “It was a dream but a far-fetched dream. I wanted it to happen but felt that I would just get my degree and maybe get into coaching. I thought that I might get picked in the 2nd or 3rd round but never thought I would go in the 1st round.” [28]

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References

  1. ↑ "Lakers Assistant Paul Pressey was the NBA's 1st Point-Forward". Lake Show Life.
  2. ↑ "WHO ACTUALLY CAME UP WITH 'POINT FORWARD'? It wasn't Scottie Pippen". Basketball Network.
  3. ↑ "Season preview: HoopsHD interviews St. John's special assistant Paul Pressey". September 2019.
  4. ↑ "Paul Pressey College Stats".
  5. ↑ "Milwaukee Bucks at New York Knicks Box Score, March 26, 1983".
  6. ↑ "Paul Pressey Stats".
  7. ↑ "Milwaukee Bucks Franchise Index".
  8. ↑ "1984-85 Milwaukee Bucks Roster and Stats". Basketball Reference.
  9. ↑ "1985 NBA Eastern Conference First Round Game 4: Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls Box Score, April 26, 1985". Basketball Reference.
  10. ↑ "76ERS SWEEP BUCKS". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ "Milwaukee Bucks at Dallas Mavericks Box Score, February 19, 1986".
  12. ↑ "Paul Pressey Career High 16 Assists". Statmuse.
  13. ↑ "Paul Pressey Triple Double Playoffs".
  14. ↑ "New Jersey Nets at Milwaukee Bucks Box Score, November 17, 1988".
  15. ↑ "1990 NBA Eastern Conference First Round Game 3: Chicago Bulls at Milwaukee Bucks Box Score, May 1, 1990". Basketball Reference.
  16. ↑ "Paul Pressey Stats".
  17. ↑ "Denver Nuggets at San Antonio Spurs Box Score, November 7, 1990".
  18. ↑ "Paul Pressey Stats".
  19. ↑ "Spurs by the Numbers- the history of #8 continues with Paul Pressey". 5 June 2020.
  20. ↑ Angie Pressey Archived 2007-12-14 at the Wayback Machine . Calbears.cstv.com. Retrieved on 2012-01-04.
  21. ↑ "Matt Pressey". University of Missouri Sports Information. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  22. ↑ Phil Archived September 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  23. ↑ "Phil Pre". University of Missouri Sports Information. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Phil Pressey Stats".
  25. ↑ NBA transactions, 2010–11. Nba.com. Retrieved on 2012-01-04.
  26. ↑ Cleveland Cavaliers might move quickly to court Mike Brown before other teams do, NBA source tells Plain Dealer
  27. ↑ "St. John's adds Pressey, DeMeo to coaching staff". Newsday. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  28. ↑ "Season preview: HoopsHD interviews St. John's special assistant Paul Pressey". September 2019.
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