The Milwaukee Bucks survived in a weak Eastern Conference even without the head coach or stars who got them to the Conference Finals three years ago.
The season: 2003-2004
The record: 41-41
The postseason: 1-4, lost in first round
The story:
Michael Redd‘s first few seasons in the NBA were quite the roller coaster. Redd played in six games in his first Milwaukee Bucks season, riding the bench and watching Ray Allen and Sam Cassell tear up opposing guards on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
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Redd must have thought he’d be a bench player forever in Milwaukee after that season. He got more minutes in his next season, playing in 67 games instead of six, but still largely served from the pine. Then, all of a sudden the year after that, Allen was gone.
By the 2003-04 season, Redd had went from barely playing to being the starter by default. The best players the Bucks got in return for both Glenn Robinson and Allen were Toni Kukoc and Desmond Mason, neither of whom played shooting guard.
In fact, Redd was the only listed shooting guard on Milwaukee’s roster for that season, according to Basketball-Reference. He took that opportunity and ran with it, starting in all 82 games and becoming an unlikely star for his Milwaukee Bucks.
It wasn’t Mason or Kukoc, the big trade returns, or the recently-drafted T.J. Ford who would go on to lead the ’03-04 Bucks in scoring. It was Redd, the former 43rd overall pick who played less than 43 minutes in his first NBA season.
Redd compiled an All-Star season in Milwaukee, quite literally, as he posted 21.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game in his first All-Star year. He was easily the best player on the roster after the ill-fated Sam Cassell trade that brought back Joe Smith and Anthony Peeler.
Peeler was released before the season started, and Smith averaged 10.4 points per game across the next three seasons in Milwaukee. Cassell went on to be an All-Star in the first season after that deal.
So, due to all of the roster churn and lack of solid returns for both trades and draft picks (Ford missed part of the season with a back injury and then all of the next season as well after being picked eighth overall in 2003), the Milwaukee Bucks had become Michael Redd’s team. In that first season, that didn’t seem so bad.
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Milwaukee wasn’t good defensively, but Redd led the Bucks to a top offensive finish. Milwaukee finished the year fourth in both offensive rating and points per game, and 41 wins later the Bucks were heading to the postseason.
Their opponent was the new-look Detroit Pistons, featuring Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups. NBA history buffs probably know that Milwaukee matching up with the eventual 2004 NBA champs means the Bucks would not go on to the second round of the playoffs.
Detroit was kind enough to gentleman sweep the Bucks at least, after Redd led both teams in scoring with 26 points in a Game 2 that Milwaukee won. The Pistons took the other four and headed onto the next round.
Next: 49 years in 49 days: 2002-03 season
The Bucks, meanwhile, headed into the offseason ready to build around Michael Redd. Unfortunately, this would be one of the high points of his era of Milwaukee Bucks basketball.