The early 2000s was a golden age for shooting guards. Lost among the usual suspects was Michael Redd , the Milwaukee Bucks second-round pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, who became an All-Star.
The Ohio native was the guest on the Knuckleheads podcast and shared some interesting tidbits about his career, including the toughest guys he had to defend.
“For me, the top three guys… I got four, I say Allan Houston at number four,” Redd recalled. “I would say LeBron (James) number three. Now, most people say, like, LeBron number three? Yeah, because it was young LeBron. Now, obviously, he’s more cerebral now than he was younger, but he was just an athletic bull.”
“Number two, Kobe, but he’s 1B, 1A. Kobe speaks for himself. And then number 1, A.I. (Allen Iverson). Because I would have to guard him a lot of times and I would have to stay off him because he was so fast,” added the 2004 All-NBA Third Team member.
Before Redd could say anything about how devastatingly quick Iverson was, podcast host Quentin Richardson chimed in.
“We had no business guarding him,” Q-Rich quipped.
“No, at all!” Redd agreed.
A.I. was unstoppable
The reason was clear as day. The 2001 NBA MVP was a two-guard in a point guard’s body, which means he was matched up with the likes of Redd and Richardson all night. These guys were the size of prototypical NBA shooting guards, about 6-foot-6, north of 200 pounds. Imagine them chasing a guy who’s barely six feet and 180 pounds with the green light to do whatever he wants. In a basketball setting, that’s the definition of unfair.
Even so, the former Bucks guard held his own. In 18 career games facing A.I., he averaged 20.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.7 assists, splitting the win-loss record down the middle.
Redeem Team
The 2004 NBA All-Star was part of the gold medal-winning 2008 U.S. Olympic team. During the interview, he made a distinctive impression on Team USA honcho Jerry Colangelo. Redd had just returned from an NBA team practice and drove from Milwaukee all the way to Chicago. Upon arriving, he insisted on changing his warmups and appeared in front of the executive, wearing a suit and a tie.
That professionalism paid off. Redd made the cut as an end-of-the-bench guy, a role he played without complaints. He appeared in eight Olympic games, averaging nine minutes an outing, the second-least on the team. That said, he was a proven scorer and shooter that Mike Krzyzewski could call upon, even though that didn’t happen in the Beijing games.
Redd was one of the guys who might have played in the wrong era. In his best scoring season in 2006-07 (26.7 points per game), the sharpshooter attempted almost six threes a night on a 38% clip. We can only imagine how he would have done in this pace-and-space era. Nevertheless, he was still a dominant perimeter force when basketball was primarily played from the inside out.
Related: “You’ve got J-Kidd. You’ve got Vince. You’ve got T-Mac” - Michael Redd recalls Rick Carlisle drawing a clutch play for him in the 2004 All-Star Game
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