Harold Pressley (born July 14, 1963) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He spent four years in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA) for the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

between

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

before playing a major role in Joventut Badalona's success both in the Spanish league and the Euroleague until 1993.

College

After attending Saint Bernard High School in

Uncasville Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

, Pressley played collegiately at

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Pennsy ...

and was a member of their 1985 National Championship team. At Villanova, he became the first player in

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

history to record a

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

, with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 blocked shots against

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

. He was named to the 1985 NCAA Southeast Regional All-Tournament Team, the 1986 All Big East First Team, a 1986 Associated Press honorable mention All American, the 1986 Big East All-Tournament Team and the 1986

Big East Defensive Player of the Year The Big East Conference gave five football awards at the conclusion of every season. The awards were first given in 1991 following the conference's first football season, and last given in 2012 before the conference was restructured as the American ...

Professional career

Pressley was selected by the

in the 1st round (17th overall pick) of the 1986 NBA Draft. He played the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronge ...

positions for four years with the Kings, averaging 9.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Seeing less opportunities once the Kings hired coach

Dick Motta John Richard Motta (born September 3, 1931) is an American former basketball coach whose career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) spanned 25 years. Motta coached the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA Championship, and he won the 1971 ...

, in 1990 Pressley signed a contract with

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two teams ...

of the Spanish

ACB league The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

, winning two consecutive championships in 1991 and 1992 and reaching the 1992 Euroleague final alongside

Jordi Villacampa Jordi Villacampa Amorós (born October 11, 1963) is a Spanish retired professional basketball player of Joventut Badalona, and former chairman of the club. At 1.96 m (6 ft. 5 in.) tall, he played as a shooting guard-small forward. His main ...

and

Corny Thompson Cornelius Allen "Corny" Thompson (born February 5, 1960) is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6'8" (203 cm) 225 lb (102 kg) power forward who occasionally also played the center position. Thomson was a me ...

. He had 20 points and 9 rebounds against Partizan, but his performance was not enough to prevent a 70–71 loss, highlighted by Sasha Djordjevic' buzzer beater three pointer. In the 1993–94 season, Pressley signed with Pau Orthez in France, before returning to Spain and finishing his career.

Post athletic career

Pressley was a co-host on Sierra Central Sports Roundtable, a sports show that airs every Sunday morning on

Comcast Sports Net NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were orig ...

in the

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

area. On March 30, 2007, he began serving as Director of Player Development for the Sacramento Kings.Sacramento Kings Official Media Release
published March 30, 2007; retrieved April 12, 2007 His son Bryce Pressley was a college basketball player at the University of Portland.

References

External links

NBA stats at basketball-reference.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pressley, Harold 1963 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Baloncesto León players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City Élan Béarnais players Joventut Badalona players Liga ACB players McDonald's High School All-Americans Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Sacramento Kings draft picks Sacramento Kings players Small forwards Sportspeople from the Bronx Villanova Wildcats men's basketball players