LAS VEGAS – Phil Pressey’s days as a Boston Celtic appear to be over now that he’s no longer with the team’s summer league entry in Las Vegas.
“He came out, just to be able to practice with us, get some extra reps,” said Celtics assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry who is coaching Boston’s summer league entry in Las Vegas. “All the coaches were here in Vegas and he was there (in Boston) working out with us before. For him to be in Boston with all the coaches gone, we thought it would be good for him to come and help us out, get extra reps.”
Boston has spent the bulk of summer league focused on making sure that Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier get plenty of minutes playing the point guard position.
“Phil was OK with that,” Shrewsberry said. “Phil was there, an extra body if anything happened.”
Pressey’s contract becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the Celtics roster July 15.
He may be part of the Celtics’ pending trade with Golden State that will send Gerald Wallace to the Warriors in exchange for David Lee.
Considering the Celtics’ focus on developing Smart and Rozier into playmakers coupled with Evan Turner still being around, there’s simply no room for Pressey to have a substantial role on this roster.
Pressey has appeared in 125 games for the Celtics, averaging 3.1 points, 2.9 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game. He has often provided a spark with his ability to push the ball up the floor quickly and get the ball into his teammates’ hands for easy scores.
However, the 5-foot-11 guard never developed into a reliable shooter (a career 33.3 percent shooter from the field, 25.7 percent on 3s). And while he showed signs of being a decent playmaker, he was often plagued by inconsistent play or inconsistent minutes.
“He’s good enough to be a point guard in the NBA,” one league executive told CSNNE.com on Saturday. “But he has to find the right situation with the right team and the timing has to be right. Any one of those things is off, and he could easily be headed overseas or somewhere.”