Who Was Jerry Krause? The 90’s Bulls’ General Manager

Krause was fairly unfiltered and had a habit of making remarks that seemed to play down his players’ contributions and build up his own, not the best move to gain players’ trust and loyalty. Before the 1997-98 season, he said that players do not win championships, organizations do, a remark that was widely repeated. He later claimed he had been misquoted.

At the same time, he was forcing out Jackson, who coached all of the Bulls’ championship teams, telling him that he would go after the 1997-98 season no matter how well the team did. After duly winning title No. 6 in 1998, Jackson went on to win five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bulls are still waiting for a post-Jordan title.

In 2011, Krause said that he no longer spoke with Jackson and that the reason was personal, not professional.

Getting good press was difficult for Krause, in part because he tended to be contemptuous of the news media. “He treats us like we’re morons,” Sam Smith of The Chicago Tribune said.

Doesn’t Krause get any credit for the Bulls’ success?

Krause was the architect of six championship teams, from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998. But hardly coincidentally, the years in between were the ones in which Jordan left to try baseball.

Still, his scout’s nose contributed to acquiring Pippen, Kukoc, Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper and other key Jordan teammates.

He traded center Olden Polynice to move up three places in the draft to land Pippen, a product of a small college, Central Arkansas, who went on to a Hall of Fame career as Jordan’s most important teammate.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/article/jerry-krause-bulls-the-last-dance.html