Milwaukee Bucks: Top 10 NBA Draft picks in franchise history

9. Paul Pressey (SF) – No. 20 pick in 1982 NBA Draft

Career stats (with the Bucks):  580 GP, 11.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 5.6 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 2.6 TOV, 49.0 FG%, 74.5 FT%

Paul Pressey was a late first-round pick in the 1982 NBA Draft, and for the first few seasons of career was a bench rotation player for the Bucks. But in 1984 he broke out, becoming a full-time starter and the team’s primary facilitator.

Despite joining a team filled with other skill position players, Milwaukee coach Don Nelson wanted to take advantage of Pressey’s gifted passing ability. He thus deployed him nominally as the 3, but with the ball-handling duties of a point guard. Basketball lore suggests that Pressey was the first NBA player referred to as a “point forward” – a term now used to describe stars such as LeBron James and another Milwaukee draft pick.

Pressey never scored more than 16.1 points in a single season, but on a team loaded with other members of this list he didn’t have to. The Milwaukee Bucks made the postseason all eight seasons Pressey was on the team, and five of those seasons Pressey led the team in assists. “Point forward” was a role in which he thrived.

Many of the accolades heaped on other Milwaukee greats missed Pressey, such as retired numbers or All-Star appearances. But Pressey was one of the first in a basketball revolution that is still reverberating today, where position-less basketball grows in popularity and effectiveness.