Milwaukee Bucks: Meet the 2000s All-Decade Team
Milwaukee Bucks: Meet the 2000s All-Decade Team – Michael Redd
In NBA lore, the 2000 NBA Draft is generally regarded as one of the worst drafts in the history of the league. Yet, the Bucks managed to find an eventual All-Star and natural 20 point per game-scorer all the way down at the 43rd overall pick.
Michael Redd was far from an overnight success upon entering the NBA and the Bucks organization as he recounted the odds he had to overcome just to find his place in the league early on in his career to Truman Reed of Bucks.com in November of 2013:
"“It looked impossible, it really did,” Redd said. “They had Ray Allen, Lindsey Hunter … other guys who played my position. I didn’t know how I was going to play. I was just happy to be in the NBA. (Then Bucks Head Coach) George Karl challenged me. He told me I wasn’t going to make it unless I was willing to work. And I did. All I needed was my foot in the door.”"
Redd certainly found his foot in the door during his sophomore season where he started to display his lethal marksmanship and three-level scoring ability as a reserve during the 2001-02 season.
It was the following year when Redd’s career completely changed in light of the franchise-changing Ray Allen trade at the day of the NBA trade deadline as he recalled to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in April of 2011:
"“That was a tough day,” Redd recalled of discovering the news in February 2003 that Allen had been traded to Seattle. “But lo and behold, it wound up being one of the best days because it opened the door for me to start my career. “We talk about it until this day, me and Ray. He’s gone on to do great things, obviously. But that was a day that kind of shifted everything for me.”"
The full dismantling of the ‘Big 3’ era over the summer eventually opened the pathway to the starting lineup for Redd and it was the 2003-04 season when he fully broke through by averaging over 20 points for a full season for the first time while earning the lone All-Star and All-NBA nods of his 12-year career.
As Redd’s profile and prolific scoring output grew over the decade, the beacon of light the former Buckeye stood as didn’t prevent Milwaukee from sinking further into mediocrity and eventually, into the basement of the league. The fact that Redd’s 57-point masterpiece, the most ever by a Bucks player in a single game, was accompanied by a 113-111 loss to the Utah Jazz on November 11, 2006 may ultimately be the fitting metaphor for Redd’s efforts to carry some terrible Bucks teams.
Still, Redd’s individual brilliance helped him earn spots on the international level as part of Team USA and he went on to a play a minimal role with the ‘Redeem Team’ during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
A pair of torn ACLs suffered in both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons paved the way for his premature retirement, which he announced in Milwaukee near the start of the 2013-14 season. But you can find Redd’s name near the top of the Bucks’ record books, whether it’s ranking second in made threes (1,003), fourth in total points scored (11,554), fifth in minutes played (19,334) and seventh in total appearances (578).
In his 578 appearances with the Bucks, Redd averaged 20 points on .449/.383/.840 shooting splits, 4.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a steal across 33.4 minutes per game.