Former star Stackhouse eyes comeback with Bucks

HOUSTON (AP)

Jerry Stackhouse will join the Bucks when they return to Milwaukee and may see action in their next game on Wednesday.

The Bucks signed Stackhouse for the rest of this season Monday, and coach Scott Skiles says the 14-year veteran will be activated for Wednesday's game against Toronto.

The Bucks are in need of a scoring threat after guard Michael Redd suffered a season-ending knee injury last Sunday. Milwaukee played Houston on Monday to finish a six-game road trip.

"We're not signing him to be on the inactive list," Skiles said. "We'll activate him right away and get him in a game. That's our plan."

The 35-year-old Stackhouse played in only 10 games for Dallas last season. He was traded to Memphis in July, then became an unrestricted free agent the next day.

Skiles said he was impressed by Stackhouse's level of fitness in a recent workout.

"He's not in midseason shape or anything, but considering he's been out so long, he was in surprisingly good shape," Skiles said. "We're hoping he can do what he's done in his career, come in and score some points. He's always had a pretty high level of toughness, he's not afraid to attack the rim and get to the line. We're hoping he can do those things for us."

Stackhouse dealt with plantar fasciitis and a bone spur in his right heel last season, his fifth with Dallas. He didn't play after Feb. 21 and he asked for trade possibilities.

Skiles said Stackhouse was taking his physical Monday and the Bucks have no concerns about his health.

"We don't anticipate any issues," Skiles said. "We've been talking the last several days, and it was good to see him work out. He gave us a little bit of a comfort level after we saw him. He's seems really excited about it."

Stackhouse's scoring has steadily declined in recent years, and he averaged only 4.2 points and shot 26.7 percent from the field with the Mavericks last season. But Skiles said Stackhouse was the best immediately available option for the Bucks.

"It's someone like him, or it's D-league type players," Skiles said. "There is a big difference between those two. I don't want to put too much on him. We need to see what he can actually do in an NBA game. It's a long time to be out, and just the speed and timing and those kinds of things take a little bit to get used to. We'll put him out there and see."

Stackhouse has averaged 18.4 points, 3.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds in his career. He was the league's second-leading scorer in 2000-01 (29.8 points) and also averaged 5.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds for Detroit.