The NBA is a league centered around superstars. The teams that win typically have one or two superstars and a good supporting cast like the Lakers (Kobe, Pau) and the Celtics (Pierce and Garnett). Teams that have too many superstars (Mavericks or Barkley lead Rockets with Hakeem and Drexler) never seem to live up to the billing. The Celtics hold true to this because Ray Allen has allowed the team to be guided by Pierce and Garnett while still making his presence felt – another reason to like the guy. When you look at the Bucks, however, you don’t see the superstar power. You have Bogut who has become a solid presence in the middle and appears to continually get better. You have Yi, but the jury is still out on him. Bogut and Yi are both bigger guys – 6’-11”+, and with Bogut especially, play positions that are harder to fill.
And then you have Michael Redd. Michael Redd could score 20 in his sleep. You can put that down every night. That is huge. He is on the Olympic Team – huge for a small market team in terms of exposure and marketing.
The problem, as I see it, is that he is a maximum contract player that doesn’t necessarily give maximum effort. I remember when the Bucks were making the playoff push and being excited about the future with Redd because he hustled on defense, rebounded, passed, just played all around good basketball. Over the years it seems Redd has succumbed to the notion that he is a superstar. I don’t think that is the case. I think he is a very good player, but not a superstar. Superstar players raise the level of everyone on their team, either by demanding it (Jordan) or just by being so dominating (again Jordan) that it made everyone better. I don’t see either of these traits from Redd. He would be great on a team with an established star that Redd could be the second option to
This leads me to my point……….trade Michael Redd.
I don’t know what is value is with his max contract but, freeing up that cap room would be a nice starting point for the rebuilding job which is obviously coming. His stock should be decent since he has made the Olympic team.
As far as the 20 points a game that you would lose, does it really matter? You weren’t winning with the 20 points last year, what makes you think that is suddenly going to change? I think the Bucks could find an average shooting guard that could get you 12-15 points a game and allow you to run the offense through Bogut.
I doubt that Redd gets traded because as I stated above, he is marketable, but marketing doesn’t win games.
Filed under: Bucks | Tagged: Bogut, Bucks, Michael Redd, Yi
