Looking like he could still dot an opponent’s eye with that smooth jump shot so many in Milwaukee came to love, Michael Redd formally announced his retirement from the NBA on Wednesday night prior to the Bucks game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
The 34-year-old shooting guard said he fielded a few offers to play this season, despite the fact that his last game action came on April 25, 2012, but said it was time to stay home with his family.
"I love the game, but I just didn’t have the push to go play anymore," he said.
Redd’s career – let alone the fact that he is the Bucks’ fourth all-time leading scorer or won an Olympic gold medal for Team USA – is remarkable. It’s not often that second round picks even make a roster, let alone become an All-Star. It’s why that draft night in 2000 remains his career highlight.
"I mean, being drafted into the NBA is a big deal," he said. "I never took that for granted."
But what of the franchise record 57 points against Utah in November, 2006? Redd admitted that was special, but he’s never forgotten that the team lost that night.
He insists that he has no regrets, and that his faith has prevented him from wondering what his career could have been like if his knees didn’t start failing in his late 20s.
"It just happened," he said of the injuries. "I just accepted it and moved on with my life."
Redd is aware, however, that is he is the only member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team that is out of the NBA. And, he credited Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose for sitting out all of last season to rehab from his torn anterior cruciate ligament because that was something he couldn’t bring himself to do at the end of his tenure Milwaukee when he played in just 61 games over his last three seasons.
But, he insists there are no regrets.
"I’m not bitter from the injury," he said. "It happens. But I was blessed to last as long as I did. It was great."
Redd said he spoke with Bucks owner Herb Kohl about returning to the organization in some capacity down the line, and that he enjoys his time at home now.
"It’s been a crazy, crazy ride the last 15 years and I’ve enjoyed it," he said. "I’ve enjoyed it"
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
