Redd remains one constant on ever-changing Bucks

Michael Redd didn't hesitate at what was supposed to be a challenging test of memory. Asked how many teammates he could remember from his rookie season -- way back in 2000-01 -- the Milwaukee Bucks guard started rattling off names instantly.

"Ray Allen. Glenn Robinson. Tim Thomas. Sam Cassell,'' Redd said after a preseason game against Chicago last week in Green Bay, Wisc. "Uh, Lindsey Hunter was on our team. Scott Williams. Mark Pope. Ervin Johnson. Jason Caffey ... Jason Hart. Joel Przybilla. That team was tight, so I remember.''

Redd didn't mention Rafer Alston, Darvin Ham or Jerome Kersey so technically, he gets a B (12 out of 15 correct). But then, the Jeopardy! music hadn't run out, so he didn't use his allotted time.

The next logical challenge would have been unfair: Name every teammate you've had since arriving in Milwaukee as the No. 43 pick (second round) in the 2000 NBA Draft. That's not quite like Madonna trying to list each of her conquests, but it still would require more RAM than readily accessible to mere mortals. We'll end the suspense: Redd has had 79 of them through the years, as researched by the club's media department. And that doesn't include the wannabe-Bucks who showed up at various training camps and summer leagues.

This season, Redd faces more changes still: There are seven new players among the 15 in camp. Richard Jefferson, Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions -- pals and, in particular, offensive helpers from last season -- are gone. That makes it, whether he wanted one or not, another fresh start for Redd.

The Bucks' shooting guard has renewal issues of his own, coming back from left knee surgery on his ACL and MCL that wiped Milwaukee's final 35 games off his schedule. And he already had missed 14 games in November with a right ankle sprain. He was good when he played, averaging 21.2 points and 36.5 minutes. He just didn't play enough; Milwaukee was 17-15 in the games Redd started last season, 17-33 when he did not.

So far in the preseason, Redd -- along with center Andrew Bogut, recovering from a stress fracture in his lower back that limited him to 36 games -- has looked and felt good. He passed one test this week, scoring 22 points in Houston and 15 in Chicago in back-to-back games. That had coach Scott Skiles talking about boosting Redd's minutes in remaining tune-up games. "It seems like he's 100 percent,'' Skiles said, "so there's no reason not to turn it up a little bit and get ready for opening night.''

Skiles, as long as we're counting, is the fifth coach Redd has played for in Milwaukee. His first was George Karl, who contributed this preseason moment at a game in Minot, N.D., in October 2000: Late in the fourth quarter, with the ball about to be inbounded, at an otherwise quiet, small-townish gym, Karl's voice boomed across the court at a rookie. "Michael Redd! What the [expletive] are you doing?''

There was nervous laughter in the stands near the end of a meaningless game. Meaningless to most, though not to Redd and obviously not to Karl.

"You remember that, huh?'' Redd said, chuckling the other night. "He helped me, though. He helped me.''

Redd has come a long way since then. He is a veteran with a 20.5 career scoring average. He has been a solid citizen for the Bucks, heavily involved in community work. Redd moved into prominent spots on Milwaukee's all-time lists in scoring (fifth, 11,295 points), free throws made (third, 2,374), 3-pointers made (second, 981), games played (eighth, 550) and minutes (fifth, 18,710). In 2005, he signed a six-year, $90 million contract that will pay him the league's 10th highest salary in 2009-10. He was a gold medal winner as part of Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and he was an NBA All-Star in 2004.

That February weekend at the All-Star Game in L.A. might qualify as a crossroads in Redd's playing career . His scoring average has gone up since then but the Bucks' fortunes have gone down, dragging his profile with them. Durability has declined, too, with Redd missing 29, 10 and 49 games the past three seasons.

He has appeared in only 16 playoff games, starting 10. The Bucks didn't survive the first round in 2003, 2004 or 2006, and when they reached the Eastern Conference finals at the end of Redd's rookie year -- just missing the Finals after dropping Game 7 of the Eastern Conference championship at Philadelphia -- he was on the inactive list. He had played only 35 minutes in six games in the regular season as Milwaukee won its first division title since 1986 (and last). Considering how that season began, of course, he might have been fortunate to still be around.

"Out of all the people that I've played with. I seem like the unlikeliest guy to still be here,'' Redd said.

Now those are more likely to be "Hey, Brandon Jennings!'' moments, only with Skiles as the coach trying to mold the club's new 20-year-old point guard. Redd has responsibility, too, as one of the roster's relative old heads. (Kurt Thomas, Francisco Elson and Dan Gadzuric are older than Redd but only Thomas has been in the league longer.) "I going to just try to encourage the young guys, give 'em all the experience I've got and hopefully they catch on,'' Redd said.

As happens so often in pro sports, valued (or heavily contracted) veterans will see teammates, partners, sidekicks and colleagues spin through what can start to seem like a revolving door. It happened to Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, for instance, where the Timberwolves' roster got turned over more than the basketball in his 12 years there. Garnett's frustrations grew through three lottery finishes at the end, until Minnesota shipped him to Boston. Redd is in the same position -- pre-Celtics, anyway.

"It's tough,'' Redd said. "You've got to continue to be professional, which KG was. He never complained. He never didn't play hard. He did his job and obviously the Wolves respected him enough to send him someplace he could win a championship. And voila, he won a championship.''

Redd said he committed to the Bucks, mentally, physically and financially, when he signed his big deal, which has an $18 million player option for 2010-11. He also believes that, when healthy, he has done everything he can to improve the team's record. "I'm not complaining here. I love our team,'' he said. "Obviously it's tough to continue playing with new guys every year. But good things happen to good people, man. Continue to work hard and I'll win either here or somewhere else.''

Said Skiles: "The logical response to that is, we've been in last place in our division five straight years, there's going to be turnover. [General manager John Hammond] and I had a conference call recently with a whole bunch of fans and the question came up about keeping our core together. Our response was basically, you don't have a core when you have seasons like that. You're trying to find a core.

"In talking to Michael, he understands that. Your analogy with KG, at least they were a playoff team. They got beat in the first round [seven out of eight years] but they were a playoff team. That's what we're trying to get to. When you win 48, 50 games, then you can say, hey, we've got three, four main guys -- we're going to keep these guys and build around that.''

Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA for 25 years. You can e-mail him here.

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