Do or Die Time for Phil Pressey

Everyone knows that the Boston Celtics are going to have to part ways with one or more of their young guards and Phil Pressey appears to be the first on the chopping block.

After initial plans to have Pressey left off of the summer league team in order to get more playing time for the other younger guards, the Celtics changed things up and added Pressey to the roster.

Pressey will have an uphill battle because as it stands now he likely has Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas, Evan Turner, Avery Bradley already ahead of him and Terry Rozier, R.J Hunter, Marcus Thornton and James Young will all be given more opportunities and time to earn their spot.

Mar 4, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) and guard Avery Bradley (0) celebrate against the Utah Jazz during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Pressey also has to deal with an upcomming cut off date. The contract is still under $1 million but Pressey’s contract becomes fully guaranteed if he remains on the roster after July 15th.

The Celtics do not currently have to worry about the salary cap but they won’t be throwing money away for a guard who could be as low as 8th on the depth chart.

The Celtics are giving Pressey one final chance to prove to the Celtics that he has earned a roster spot but things are not looking too good for the 24 year old. Pressey was given minimal playing time last year and even if he stays on the roster his role will be reduced this year.

The Celtics have such a wide variety of guards that Pressey brings nothing to the table that they cannot get from someone else. The Celtics have a lot of issues with their size and with Thomas already standing at just 5’9 they can’t afford to have another guard under 6 feet. Smart and Rozier do not have a significant size advantage but they will be better rebounders and the Celtics certainly do not need Pressey in order to go small.

Brad Stevens is better off keeping the likes of Young, Hunter and Turner, if nothing else, because their size will give him a lot more lineup options.

Apr 26, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics guard Evan Turner (11) grabs the arm of Cleveland Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov (20) during the second half in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Pressey has also been lacklustre on offense. Its all in a small sample size but Pressey shot the three under 25% which is worse than any other guard on the Celtics, including Turner who appeared to be as close to rock bottom as possible from beyond the arc.

Pressey may get his only edge when it comes to distributing the ball. Per 36 minutes he averaged 7 assists per game and that is certainly within range or even better than any other guard on the Celtics. The problem is that he also averages 2.5 turnovers per 36 minutes.

The Celtics still cannot fully trust Pressey to run the offense for a long period of time and he brings no size or defensize advantage.

Its nice of the Celtics to give Pressey one last chance on the summer league squad but he simply has too much ground to make up in a very short period of time. It’s hard to imagine any player doing enough by July 15th to secure themselves a spot on the Celtics and considering they already know they will have to part ways with multiple guards there is no sense in paying out the soon to be guaranteed contract.

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