Phil Pressey to play summer league, future with Celtics unknown


The Celtics begin play in the Utah Jazz summer league tomorrow, with Phil Pressey as a late edition to the roster:


Pressey's contract has a $947,000 team option for 2015-16 that the club must decide on by July 15.  Boston already has 14 players with guaranteed deals for next year, and that doesn't even include second-round draft picks Jordan Mickey and Marcus Thornton.

Regarding his impending contract deadline, Pressey said (via Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald):

I mean, it's a concern to me, but it's out of my hands. You've just got to control what you can control and let those things kind of fall into place. I was in the same position last year, so it's nothing new to me.

And on joining the summer league squad:

(It’s) just a good opportunity for me to showcase what I can do again and continue to play. For the past couple of months, I’ve been really working on my game, and this is a good opportunity for me to kind of test some things out and play some five-on-five. 
It was kind of a mutual thing. They wanted me to play a little bit, maybe a game or so and try to see what I can do I guess again.

Does Pressey want to showcase himself to the Celtics, or other teams around the league?

Everybody. It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you're the first guy or the 12th guy. You can be playing on the Celtics one year and you get traded in midseason. So this is a good opportunity for me to continue to play, and, like I said, I love playing. 

Also via Bulpett, here's Brad Stevens' take:

I think we all feel this way: we love Phil. I mean, I think we all appreciate the way he works. We like what he does. We've watched him for two years, and to evaluate him on a five-day basis, you know, it doesn't make any sense from the two years that we've been together. We know everything about him. We'll see how the next 10 days play itself out or whatever it is, and we'll go from there.

Stevens' point is a good one--after two years with the C's it doesn't seem likely that Pressey will do anything in a few summer league games to change their opinion of him.  On the other hand, he could easily play well enough for other teams to take notice.

If I had to take a guess, I'd bet the Celtics do not pick up Pressey's option.  Even though it's only a small amount of money, the financial flexibility is probably of greater value to Danny Ainge right now.



Follow Mark Vandeusen on Twitter @LucidSportsFan
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