It may seem too early to write a eulogy for Michael Redd’s Milwaukee Bucks career, but all indications are that the $18.3 million man will not step foot on an NBA floor until February at the earliest, for the second year in a row.
Redd devoted 10 years of his NBA life to the Bucks, but the chapter written Milwaukee is as officially closed as it can be at this point. It’s been an unfortunate end to the record-breaking career of a player that will always be remembered for being the one shining light in a decade of team mediocrity.
By Jake McCormick
Potentially one of the best second round draft picks in the past decade, Redd’s career in Milwaukee was mostly a highlight reel of left handed three pointers and the potential to drop 30 or more points each night.
Redd was a pure scorer that deservedly filled Ray Allen’s shoes full time in 2003-04, but he’s always been more of a complimentary player than a floor general.
The Bucks were Redd’s team to lead by default; however, it’s hard to blame him for bad management decisions in the 2000s, and he deserves credit as a person for showing loyalty to the Bucks when Milwaukee was becoming less and less desirable for free agents.
Unfortunately, Redd peaked when the Bucks were at a franchise low point, and he will always be considered one of those great scorers that just never got the chance to legitimately show what he could do in a deep playoff run, as he only played in three quick exit postseasons on teams that couldn’t eclipse 42 wins.
It would have been nice to see the lefty sharpshooter return as a long range scoring compliment during the Bucks 2009-10 playoff run, but it became clear that he wasn’t completely healthy or able to mesh well with a team that already had played half a season without him.
Bucks fans may now be clamoring for John Hammond to do his best to trade Redd for anything of value, but he deserves to be remembered for setting personal, franchise, and league scoring records in Milwaukee while committing to the city when he was given the opportunity to play alongside Lebron James in Cleveland.
Redd holds the record for three pointers in a quarter (eight in the fourth quarter of a 2002 against the Houston Rockets) and set the franchise record in points scored in a single game when he dropped 57 against the Utah Jazz in 2003. He also scored 40 against the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, and is fifth on the Bucks’ all-time total scoring and scoring average lists.
If Redd dons a Bucks uniform in February, he deserves a standing ovation for being an elite scorer on multiple teams that barely tasted a .500 record. Sure there’s more of a chance that Lebron James renegs on his deal with Miami and returns to Cleveland than Redd becoming a significant contributor this season. But his consecutive serious knee injuries and loyalty to the Bucks organization, even at some of its lowest points, should garner the former All-Star one last hurrah of support from the fans he committed to for half a decade.
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