Paul Pressey
Paul Matthew Pressey is an American former professional basketball player who previously was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. Pressey is widely, though unofficially, credited with being the originator of the point forward position, combining the attributes of a point guard and forward. 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. He participated in the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, finishing in 6th place out of 8.
Pressey, along with John Johnson, served as a model for later players taking on the point forward role.
In 1992–93, he came out of 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.
His daughter 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 and Phil played basketball for Missouri.
In 2010, Pressey became an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He served in that role until 2013. In 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.
