Center Ervin Johnson returned to the Bucks on Monday, signing a one-year contract with the team he played for from 1997 to 2003.

"Ervin is a hardworking, high-character, veteran player who has always taken a team-first approach to the game," general manager Larry Harris said. "He adds size and depth to our frontcourt and an experienced voice for our younger players."

The 37-year-old Johnson was traded to Minnesota along with Sam Cassell for Joe Smith and Anthony Peeler in 2003. Johnson has averaged 4.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots in 12 seasons with Seattle, Denver, Milwaukee and Minnesota.

"I've had the pleasure of coaching Ervin for seven seasons [in Seattle and Milwaukee] and always respected his attitude and professionalism," coach Terry Stotts said. "His strengths have always been rebounding and blocking shots, so that will help bolster our interior defense."

The Bucks signed second-round draft pick Ersan Ilyasova to a two-year contract Tuesday.

Selected 36th overall this year, Ilyasova averaged 4.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in 12.5 minutes per game for Ulker in the Turkish League last season. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound forward also averaged 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest in Euroleague competition in 2004-05.

"Ersan is a young, skilled player who we felt fortunate to select in the second round of the draft," Bucks general manager Larry Harris said in a statement. "He has all the tools to be a productive NBA player, and he has been working hard this summer to get stronger physically."

Guard Charlie Bell, who led the Spanish league in scoring last season, signed a multiyear contract with the Bucks.

Bell, who went undrafted out of Michigan State, played for the Suns and Mavericks in 2001-02.

The 6-foot-3 guard spent three seasons in Italy, leading all scorers in 2003-04 with 25.5-point average for Livorno. He was tops in Spain last season, averaging 27 points for Breogan.

"Charlie is an explosive scorer who can play both the point and two-guard positions," Bucks general manager Larry Harris said.

The Milwaukee Bucks have requested waivers on center Calvin Booth, General Manager Larry Harris announced today. Booth will be designated as the team?s amnesty player as allowed under the new collective bargaining agreement.

The amnesty provision allows a team to release a player and remove his contract amount from the team?s salary cap for purposes of calculating the luxury tax. The Bucks will be responsible for the remaining years of Booth?s contract and he is free to sign with another team.

Booth was acquired by Milwaukee on February 24, 2005, along with Alan Henderson and an undisclosed amount of cash from Dallas in exchange for Keith Van Horn. The 29-year-old appeared in 17 games with the Bucks last season, averaging 2.5 points and 2.9 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game.

The Milwaukee Bucks re-signed guard Michael Redd on Saturday.

Redd signed a six-year, $90.1 million contract after agreeing to the deal last month.

"This was something that we felt was going to happen ever since the start of last season, when we knew Michael was going to be a free agent," Bucks general manager Larry Harris said in a statement. "Today's signing is definitely the culmination of everything we've done this offseason."

Redd, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Ohio State, averaged a career-high 23 points last season and averaged 17.7 points since Milwaukee drafted him in the second round in 2000.

His deal with the Bucks is the largest contract a second-round pick has ever received. He is the only free agent to sign a maximum contract this offseason.

Redd returned to the Bucks to play alongside No. 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut after spurning a multiyear offer made by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Zaza Pachulia joined the Hawks on Monday after the Milwaukee Bucks declined to match a four-year, $16 million offer sheet.

The 21-year-old Pachulia, a 6-foot-11 center from Tbilisi, Georgia, was a restricted free agent. He averaged 6.2 points and 5.1 rebounds for the Bucks as a backup last season.

Larry Harris announced Monday that the Bucks would let Pachulia walk to the Hawks in exchange for nothing. 16 million over four years seemed like a bargain with the potential Zaza posses. Now he will have a great opportunity with plenty of playing time to prove to the Hawks they are getting one of the biggest steals of the off-season.

Making the trip north from Chicago to the Bradley Center for each of the Milwaukee Bucks' home games next season will be the parents of Bobby Simmons, who officially joined the team Monday.

Absent from those visits will be one of Simmons' three brothers, Shawn Powell, a 23-year-old who was killed in a drive-by shooting last month in Chicago.

His brother's slaying, Simmons said Monday, was as much of a factor in his decision to sign a five-year, $47 million free-agent contract as the Bucks' ambition of qualifying for the playoffs next season.

"It's hard," said Simmons, 25, who was raised in Chicago and played college basketball at DePaul. "That's why I decided to stay closer to home.

"It's great for me to be here. I feel like (my parents) can reach out to me whenever they want to."

Free agent forward Bobby Simmons officially signed with the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday.

The team did not disclose terms, but it was widely reported last month that the contract is a five-year deal worth $47 million.

"It's exciting for me to come back to the Midwest and to be in Milwaukee," said Simmons, who joins his fourth NBA team. "I'm looking forward to playing with the Bucks and being a part of their nucleus of young players."

The Milwaukee Bucks re-signed forward Toni Kukoc to a one-year contract on Friday.

Kukoc played the last three of his 12 NBA seasons with Milwaukee, where he's averaged 8.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 189 regular-season games.

The Tribune reported last month that there was a chance the Bulls might decide to bring Kukoc back.

Kukoc has averaged 12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 781 regular-season games. He's played in 96 playoff games and won three championships with the Bulls in the 1990s.

The Bulls drafted him in the second round in 1990. Kukoc also has played with Philadelphia and Atlanta.

"I've always had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the way Toni plays the game," Bucks coach Terry Stotts said in a written statement. "In addition to his solid, veteran presence on the floor, Toni's knowledge and experience will be an invaluable asset to the younger players on our roster."

The Atlanta Hawks today signed restricted free agent center Zaza Pachulia to an offer sheet, according to Executive Vice President/General Manager Billy Knight. Per club policy, terms of the offer were not disclosed. According to the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Milwaukee Bucks will have seven days from today to match the offer sheet.

A two-year NBA veteran, the 6-11, 240-pound Pachulia averaged 6.2 ppg and 5.1 rpg in 18.9 mpg last season (.452 FG%, .644 FT%), appearing in 74 contests for Milwaukee. He spent his rookie campaign (2003-04) with Orlando, averaging 3.3 ppg and 2.9 rpg in 11.3 mpg (59 games).

He was originally drafted in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Magic. Following his season in Orlando, he was selected by Charlotte in the 2004 Expansion Draft, then acquired by the Bucks for a 2004 second-round draft choice.