Deal suits Redd

Contract is richest in team history

By CHARLES F. GARDNER
cgardner@journalsentinel.com
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted: Aug. 13, 2005

St. Francis – Michael Redd certainly dressed the part of a $91 million man on Saturday afternoon at the Cousins Center.

Resplendent in a white suit and bright blue tie, Redd reflected on “one of the greatest days of my life” after signing a six-year maximum salary contract to remain with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Redd’s agent Kevin Poston, said the deal was worth $90.9 million (an average annual salary of $15.15 million), making it the richest contract in Bucks history.

It was a day honestly never envisioned by Redd, the former Ohio State star who went from an unheralded second-round draft pick to a National Basketball Association all-star and a highly sought free agent.

“I remember the first day I came in to the facility,” Redd said of his introduction to the Bucks in the fall of 2000. “I was thinking to myself, how am I going to make this team?

“You’ve got Ray Allen here, Glenn Robinson, Tim Thomas, Sam Cassell, Lindsey Hunter. I was like, ‘How in the world am I going to make this happen?’ I just worked and worked and was determined to be a good NBA player, and Milwaukee hung with me.”

“I kept working hard, one thing happened after another, and here we are today.”

Redd said his loyalty to the Bucks and his trust in team owner Herb Kohl and general manager Larry Harris played a key part in the decision.

Poston announced in early July that Redd had agreed to return to the Bucks, but no contract could be signed until the league moratorium ended on Aug. 2.

The Cleveland Cavaliers also made a strong bid to sign the Columbus, Ohio, native, while trying to persuade him to join all-star LeBron James.

“In my heart of hearts, I wanted to come back here in Milwaukee,” Redd said. “Obviously I went to Cleveland to visit. It just didn’t sit right. I had to do that; it also was in my heart. But eventually staying here in Milwaukee was the one thing I wanted to do.”

Redd’s rapid rise in five years in the NBA has been well-documented, but now he and the Bucks are looking ahead. Redd will be expected to play a leadership role on a revamped team that is seeking a return to the playoffs next season.
“As I said to him upstairs, ‘The real work starts now,’” said Kohl. “He has been rewarded with a great, great contract. It’s for what he’s going to be doing in the next six years, not only in appreciation for what he’s done in the last five.”

“And he understands that’s a big responsibility. He’s a leader on a team that has great aspirations.”

Redd, who will turn 26 on Aug. 24, knows more will be expected of him. But with the Bucks’ off-season additions, including free agent Bobby Simmons and No. 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut, the shooting guard doesn’t necessarily have to improve his scoring average (23.0 points per game last season) to contribute at a higher level.

“I challenge him as being a 20-point scorer and we win more than41 or 42 games,” Harris said. “He sacrifices a point or two, and our wins go up.”

“Now I’m not against him getting 25 some nights, and he can go get some 40s, too, believe me.”

Redd’s three-point shooting percentage dipped from 44% during the 2002-’03 season to 35% the following season and 35.5 last year.

But Harris said he believes Redd is one of the top perimeter shooters in the game along with Seattle’s Ray Allen and Sacramento’s Peja Stojakovic.

“You’ve got to give credit to defenses on the other teams,” Harris said. “Michael will have learned from last season how to adjust to some of that.”

“I remember two times against Kobe (Bryant), where Kobe tried to lock him down like you wouldn’t believe. Now we have tried to surround him with some better players. That will take away some of the pressures he was feeling last year.”

Redd said his lowered three-point percentage does not worry him. He shot a respectable 44% on all field goal attempts and remained one of the top clutch shooters in the league.

“I’ve shot less threes in the last two years,” Redd said. “People don’t let me shoot threes anymore; it’s just the reality.”

“I had to diversify my game. I had to start going to the hole and getting to the free throw line, get offensive rebounds. If they try to take one thing away from you, go to another option or two options.”

Kohl said he did not hesitate to offer Redd such a lucrative contract.

“He’s a special guy,” the Bucks owner said. “He will do whatever is necessary to maximize the team, and that’s really important.

“You don’t want your highest-paid person to be a selfish person or someone who is self-absorbed. Michael is not. Michael is interested in being part of a winning organization.”