Bucks' Redd is ready to return

13 months after tearing up his left knee for a second time, the Milwaukee Bucks guard is ready to return.

Bucks general manager John Hammond confirmed Tuesday that Redd would be back with the team Monday for the team's first practice after the NBA all-star break.

The Bucks are not expecting Redd, who ranks fourth on the team's all-time scoring list, to make a startling impact in the final two months of the season. But they are glad to have him back.

"Just as he did last off-season, he has worked so very hard to get himself in a position where he can return," Hammond said. "When he arrives Monday he'll go through the next step in the process.

"He will continue to do his rehab. He will be on the floor with some individual skill work. From that point, then how soon can he progress to doing more basketball-related movements? And from that point, how soon can he progress to actually being able to practice?"

Redd will be hoping to prove to the Bucks and other teams that he's deserving of a contract.

"After his first ACL (injury) I remember him sitting in my office and him saying to me, 'It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life,' " Hammond said. "And no doubt that it was.

"And when he went down last year and I heard it was the same injury, immediately I was thinking, 'Now he has to do the same thing all over again,' and what a challenge that was for him."

Redd said in an October interview he would accept "any role" with the Bucks.

"Even to say that is a little premature, because the first thing he has to do is get himself in a position where he can actually be on the floor," Hammond said.

"Before we talk about exactly what's his role, how many points is he going to be able to score, how much time is he going to have on the floor, it's can he get himself to that point."