Michael Redd’s two arms would flick the ball from behind his head towards the hoop from behind the three-point line as only he could. Seconds later, that ball would fall through the net and the crowd would cheer on their star. Between his accuracy and the peculiarity of his stroke, Michael Redd was a very endearing scorer.
Redd would hold the ball and size up the defense from the wing. For two, three, even four second, Redd would stand. Sometimes he’d jab-step, sometimes his back would be to the hoop and sometimes he would face up and just look around. Maybe his defender felt nervous about all the ways a scorer in his prime like Redd could attack him. As losses started to pile up and Redd’s scoring remained high while his assist totals remained low, it was moments like these that became easy to criticize. Michael Redd wasn’t a very enjoyable isolation scorer.
Injuries always nagged at Redd, but they stopped nagging and started taking more action in late 2008. It started with a sprained ankle. He landed awkwardly trying to chase down a loose ball. After that, it seemed every time he jumped, something went wrong. Redd came down on a teammate in January of 2009, tearing both his ACL and MCL. He re-injured the knee on a dunk in just the second game of the next season. He tore the same ACL and MCL on what seemed to be a routine jump shot and landing almost a year to the day in January of 2010.
Michael Redd is no longer the shooter or scorer the league had come to know him as. When basketball resumes, he’ll be a free agent. He’s likely played his last game as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. He’ll find a job again. The memory of what he was and the little bit that he showed in an abbreviated 10 game 2010-11 season have earned him another job. But for now, it wil be the big contract, the ball holding, the losses and the injuries that come to the minds of Bucks fans when Redd’s name is brought up.
Give it some time. As both parties move on and a new star begins to assert his will on the Bucks, we’ll look back on a more complete picture of Michael Redd. Instead of just a contract and games missed, we’ll remember all the points he scored and the fun we had watching him. We’ll remember that big game against Utah and that stroke he made smooth despite it’s obvious flaws. We’ll remember one of the best Milwaukee Bucks players of all time. – JS
(We’re counting down the best 20 Bucks since 1991 over the next few weeks. It’s something to do with the lockout sucking the life out of NBA fans. We continue with number 10. Desmond Mason. Dunks and dunks and dunks and dunks. Also, art. – Jeremy)
Initially, I didn’t like Desmond Mason. It wasn’t his fault. I was just filled with a lot of teen angst at the time, but didn’t have a lot to complain about. Therefore all my impotent rage was directed at everything and everyone associated with the trade that sent Kevin Ollie’s mustache out of Milwaukee (oh, and Ray Allen too).
But then Mason got on the court. And dunked.And dunked.And dunked. And dunked his way into my heart. Ultimately, isn’t it all about the highlights!!!
He didn’t win a lot. His stats are modest. His hook shot was weird. For someone with his length and athleticism, defense just wasn’t his thing. He wasn’t great. At his best, he was just good. Yet, he was still magnificent.
I’ve heard Milwaukee Bucks management approached Michael Redd before the lockout about returning for another season, although my impeccable sources insist he’s going to wind up with one of the Eastern Conference’s title contenders.
Awwwwwwww. It was all but certain before, but it seems that Michael Redd is finally gone from Milwaukee. Unless of course, Milwaukee ends up being the only team that offers anything to Redd which is definitely in the realm of possibility.
Redd’s legacy in Milwaukee is tricky. Jeremy has talked about this before. He’s not a great player, but based on the criteria the Bucks have established, then his number should hang in the rafters. Redd was a better player than Brian Winters (best/second best player on bad teams) or Jon McGlocklin (5th wheel on good teams). His career as a Buck was better than Bob Lanier’s (career averages plummeted when he was traded to Bucks). What does all this mean? The Bucks haven’t had very good players.
Random thoughts on the no. 5 scorer in Bucks history:
Defining game: 57 points against Utah…in a loss. No assists. 25 points in the 4th quarter. Tied the game with just enough time to lose. In 2006, if I told you that stat line and asked you whose it was, the first answer would be Kobe Bryant, but Redd wouldn’t be far behind.
My vote for Most Fun Shooting Stroke ever
If you take a deep 3 from the right wing, it should be Wisconsin state law that you yell, “Michael Redd!”
If Redd ends up going to the Heat, I wouldn’t be able to handle all the puns when he has a good shooting night.
Redd should go play for the New York Knicks. It was always his destiny to be the 2 guard for the Steve Nash/Mike D’antoni Suns. Now that he’s half the player he was, it’d be apt that he goes to play for half of that tandem.
I’ll miss him. And I’ll forever yell his name during pick-up games, if only to confuse and infuriate the guy who yells, “Kobe!”
Ian Segovia is a contributor to Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Continued to scrap
One of the walking wounded
Lost his long ball touch
Every NBA player needs a card to play that makes him unique. Ilyasova’s appeared to be his combination of scrappy play with a solid touch from three-point range. After last season, Coach Scott Skiles talked of his hopes that Ilyasova would turn into a 37-38% shooter from three. That didn’t pan out. Ilyasova took a step back as a shooter, falling to sub-30% from deep. Going forward, that’ll be where Ilyasova must straighten himself out. He was among the team’s leaders in charges taken, but he’ll never be the defender Mbah a Moute is at the four, and his rebounding is no better than average.
Brandon Jennings
Question of import:
Did his development stall?
Most pressing issue
Watching Chris Paul terrorize the Lakers is frustrating as a Bucks fan. Size wise, Paul is no bigger than Jennings. Maybe he’s a bit thicker, but he seems to have a sense ingrained in him about what to do and when to do it. Jennings may not have that, but he could still be an effective player. Some are jumping ship on him already, others are giving him a bit more string. But after his third year, we’ll probably have a fairly good idea about whether or not Jennings is the right guy at the point guard position for the Bucks. This will be a huge off-season for him.
Corey Maggette
On a losing team
Designated driver was
Pulled over as well
Brought in to even out the Bucks free throw numbers, Maggette largely did his thing. Per 36 minutes, he attempted 8.4 free throws per game — in line with his 8.7 per game numbers per 36 for his career. But he had trouble earning consistent minutes down the stretch, as Skiles went largely exclusively with John Salmons and Carlos Delfino at the wings. Maggette had his moments before that — the game at Golden State comes to mind — but for whatever reason, he could never earn his coach’s trust. Milwaukee may look to move him this summer, but it doesn’t appear that he’s pressed the issue just yet. He was largely regarded as a positive teammate and got praise for just being a good guy. In the NBA though, that’s not enough.
After months of injuries, underwhelming performances, failures to execute, missed shots and fourth quarter collapses, most people feel like they have a pretty good handle on this Bucks team. But Wednesday night’s 104-98 victory over the Toronto Raptors certainly didn’t fit the profile that’s been established.
Recent gruesome losses featuring very poor fourth quarter performances were still fresh in the minds of Bucks fans when Toronto turned a 85-80 deficit into a 88-87 lead with 4:48 left in the fourth quarter. But this time, the Bucks were able to use the same fight they had against the Bobcats and mix in enough made shots to flip the script. 35 seconds and three offensive rebounds after an Andrea Bargnani layup would put the Bucks behind, Carlos Delfino responded with a three from the corner to conclude a possession in which the Bucks went one for four with three offensive rebounds. It wasn’t so unlike the final possession against Charlotte, but it was TOTALLY unlike that final possession, in that the Bucks found a way to finish it out.
Milwaukee would feature plenty of Drew Gooden to hold the Raptors, as Gooden’s touch from long range was alive and well, but the Bucks even mixed in an Andrew Bogut right-handed hook from the paint to keep the Raptors at bay. Multiple players making shots when the Bucks needed them to be made? This group didn’t resemble the Bucks of the past week.
That’s the beauty of playing Toronto though. Milwaukee’s victory left them with a 3-0 lead over their Canadian counterparts this season. In each game Milwaukee’s offense was able to do virtually as it pleased. So when I say this game seemed a bit of a tease, I keep the Bucks-Raptors series this season in mind. The long since banished to the end of the bench Corey Maggette logged a double-double in the Bucks first trip to Toronto, a game I think of when I see Gooden score 22 points and grab 11 rebounds. Will Gooden always get looks good enough to end up six of eight from 20-feet out? Probably not, even though he’s been a good shooter on long two’s this season (45% from 16-23 feet).
So forgive me if I see this game as less proof of what a healthy Bucks team can do and more an indictment of just how bad Toronto is. That said, it’s still fun to see a victory and a team that’s working hard get a reward for their efforts.
