The Bucks won the 20-21 NBA championship, and Middleton, wearing the No. 22 jersey, played a role in the championship as the right-hand man next to the alphabet brother. In fact, in the early years of the 21st century, the Bucks also had a player wearing the No. 22 jersey, but the difference was that he was the first core of the Bucks at that time, he was Michael Reed.
Reed was already a well-rounded, consistent shooter in his senior year of high school, and after graduation he chose to join his hometown of Ohio State University. Despite the team's poor record, Reed averaged 21.9 points per game in his first college season, becoming the first freshman scoring champion in the Big 10 Division and being named to the All-American Freshman Team. In his sophomore season, Reid led the team to NCAA with 27 wins and 9 losses, and defeated the University of Murray, the University of Detroit and the tournament's top seed Auburn University and St. John's University led by Ron Artest, leading the team to the final four of the NCAA, unfortunately losing to the University of Connecticut led by Richard Hamilton at the time. In his sophomore season, Reid averaged a team-high 19.5 points plus 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game, becoming the first sophomore to win the top ten league scorers. In his junior season, Reid averaged 17.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game, leading the team to the NCAA, but that year he lost 32 to 16 to the University of Miami led by Salmons, and Reed scored only 13 points in his last college game.
In the 2000 draft, Reed, who was expected to be selected in the first round, was not pronounced by the Bucks until the second round of the 43rd pick. The rookie season only played six games due to injury, a total of 35 minutes, averaging 2.2 points per game, and reed returned healthy in the 01-02 season, averaging 11.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. The 02-03 season continued as a substitute for Allen at the time, averaging 15.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 43.8% from three-point range, when Ray Allen was the team boss, averaging 21.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game, but the Bucks chose to trade Ray Allen to the Supersonics (the predecessor of the Thunder) this season to help Reed. Reid, who was established as the core of the team, averaged 21.7 points, 5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1 steal in the 03-04 season, was selected as the All-Star and three-team of the year, the team ranked sixth in the East, lost to the champion Pistons in the first round, the interesting thing is that Hamilton was the starting point guard of the Pistons that year, averaging 20.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.8 steals in the first round, Reid was limited by the Pistons' defense, averaging 18 points, 5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, shooting 41% from the field, and shooting only 30% of the three-point range. In the 04-05 season, Reed averaged 23 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, but the team only won thirty games and did not qualify for the playoffs, fortunately the Bucks got a pick that year, it is worth mentioning that they could have chosen Paul or Delon to form a strong backcourt combination with Reid, but chose Bogut, and later Bogut's performance proved to be just a qualified team starting center. In 2005, James and the Cavaliers had recruited Reid, but Reed chose to sign a five-year, 91 million contract with the Bucks to stay with the Bucks. In the 05-06 season, Reed averaged 25.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game, which was also a first-line level in that era of four major points, and the team also entered the playoffs with the eighth in the East, facing the Pistons in the first round, or being eliminated 1-4, the difference is that this time Reed did not play well against the Pistons in the last playoff, averaging 27.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, shooting 52.4% from the field, shooting 46.7% from three points, and cutting 40 points in the third game to help the Bucks win the only game in the series.
The 06-07 season was the strongest season of Reid's career, averaging 26.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game, but unfortunately injuries found him, and the team missed the playoffs. In the 07-08 season, Reed, who suffered a knee injury, averaged 22.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, but because the Bucks really lacked enough competitiveness, the team still did not qualify for the playoffs, it is worth mentioning that Reed was selected by the American team in 2008, and won the men's basketball Olympic gold medal with the US men's basketball team at the Beijing Olympics that year. Reid missed the entire November game at the beginning of the 08-09 season due to an ankle injury, averaging 21.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game after returning, although there was still a good performance, but the 29-year-old Reid did not grow into a superstar as expected by the Bucks. Even more sad was that in the game against the Kings, Reed's knee ligament was torn, and Reed's peak was over. In the 09-10 season, Reid played only 18 games due to injury, averaging only 11.9 points, 3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game, ironically saying that Salmons, who was in college, became the team's top scorer, averaging 19.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game, Bogut also remained healthy most of the time, averaging a double-double of 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, while Brandon Scott was also healthy, averaging a double-double of 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Jennings was able to record 15.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals in his rookie season, and he staged a crazy performance of fifty-five points. Obviously, this team is not Reed's team anymore. In the 10-11 season, Reid played only 10 games for the team, averaging only 4.4 points per game, and injuries made him say goodbye to the peak completely. The final season of his career came to the Suns, scoring 8.2 points, and Reid did not choose to renew his contract with any team at the end of the season, and finally announced his retirement in 2013.
Reed is a memorable star in the history of the Bucks, averaging 20 points, 4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in the Bucks' 11 seasons, ranking at the top of the Bucks' all-time data list, Reed is a player with comprehensive scoring skills, can shoot suddenly, plus excellent shooting ability makes him a first-line scorer of that era, unlike traditional shooters, he has a good face frame offense and low singles ability, which also makes him the core of the Bucks' outside ball holding at that time. The disadvantage is that the ability to have no ball is weak, the ball is needed in the hand, and when the feel is not good, it will occasionally become a tumor of the team due to a large number of shots.
Reed went all the way from the second round show to the boss of the team, and it was really emotional that the injury came to the door when he should have better shown the peak. Now the Bucks' No. 22 still has to be thankful that he has a teammate of the level of alphabet brother, if Reid can have this kind of partner at that time, I believe that his career will have better results.