Milwaukee Bucks: 15 greatest draft steals in franchise history
2. player. 89. . Shooting Guard. 2000. Michael Redd
If Vin Baker was the lone bright spot during a rough time for the Bucks in the 1990s, Michael Redd filled that role during the early 2000s for the team during a similar dispiriting stretch of basketball for the franchise.
An Ohio native, Redd played three seasons for his hometown Ohio State Buckeyes, including a trip to the Final Four in 1999. Declaring for the 2000 NBA Draft after his junior season, the Bucks took Redd with the 43rd overall pick.
To say Redd was a draft-day steal is entirely underselling the notion of a steal. Redd played 11 seasons for the Bucks, six times averaging at least 20 points per game.
He was the team’s best player for at least eight of those seasons, an astounding feat for a second-round pick. To highlight how little talent the Bucks had during his career, he was the only NBA All-Star for the franchise between Ray Allen in 2002 and Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2017.
To raise the stakes, Redd was not just a steal for the Bucks regarding the average player taken at 43rd. In the context of his entire draft class, Redd may have been the best player drafted in 2000. Only two other players — Kenyon Martin and Jamaal Magloire — even made an NBA All-Star team, and Redd is the only player from that draft class to make an All-NBA team.
The question of what Michael Redd may have been on a more successful team is impossible to answer, as he was retired by the time the Bucks began to catch their stride. Yet he gave Milwaukee fans someone to cheer for during a down period in franchise history, and he was a true steal in every sense of the word.