Jerry Krause

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Jerry Krause was a longtime professional basketball scout and general manager for, among other franchises, the Baltimore Bullets and, most notably, the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. He is a two-time recipient of the NBA's Executive of the Year award.

Contents 1 Early career 2 The Chicago Bulls 2.1 Drafting 2.2 The Oakley trade 2.3 Rebuilding after the retirement of Jordan 2.4 "The Last Dance" 3 Rebuilding 3.1 Younger talent 3.2 Retirement 4 References

[edit] Early career

Krause was born in 1939 and grew up in Chicago. Portly as a youth, he played high school baseball as a catcher at Taft High School in Chicago and received a scholarship to Bradley University where he played baseball until he suffered a shoulder injury.

After college he went to work as a scout with the Baltimore Bullets. Early on Krause gained a reputation of being able to eye talent. Krause, nicknamed "Crumbs" for his poor nutritional and grooming habits, often having the leftovers of snacks and meals, [1] liked to say that he "discovered" Hall of Famer Earl Monroe while with Baltimore; while this story was probably apocryphal, it underscores the special talent Krause had for player evaluation - and his need for acknowledgement.

After a few years with Baltimore, Krause worked as a scout with the Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls in the 1970s before he left pro basketball to scout pro baseball instead. He was scouting for the Chicago White Sox when he received a call from new Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf to join the Bulls as their new General Manager and once again work in pro basketball.

[edit] The Chicago Bulls

Krause succeeded Rod Thorn as Chicago Bulls GM in 1985, and began to build a champion around Michael Jordan, who was already considered one of the greatest players in the NBA. He is credited with surrounding Jordan with the role players that finally brought the Bulls an NBA championship.

[edit] Drafting

On a positive note, Krause found two gems in the 1987 draft: Scottie Pippen, an ultra-athletic small forward from the small University of Central Arkansas; and Horace Grant, a tough power forward from Clemson. The two were undoubtedly irreplaceable cornerstones, along with Jordan, of the Bulls' 1991-1993 Championship teams. They were also culled from relative hoops obscurity; this went back to Krause's strength for finding players who were not well-received or even known by mainstream scouts. It was a matter of pride for Krause to "out-smart" his fellow GM's with obscure draft picks.

However, Krause also made some picks that didn't sit well with fans. In 1986, Krause was mesmerized by a tall forward named Brad Sellers, and planned on selecting him in the NBA Draft. Sellers, Krause reasoned, was too good a pick to pass up, as he handled the ball very well for a big man, and also had a solid outside jumper. Two things Sellers did not do well, despite his large frame, were rebound and play interior defense; this underscored an overall lack of toughness and intensity to his game. Jordan, on the other hand, pushed management to take a hard-nosed two-way guard from Duke named Johnny Dawkins. He felt Dawkins could aid Chicago in their quest to dethrone the Detroit Pistons exponentially more than the soft Sellers could. It looked like Krause would take Dawkins even as late as the morning of the draft; the coaches and players had made it clear that they wanted him and not Sellers, and Krause didn't particularly have a problem with Dawkins' game. However, Krause ignored everyone and picked Sellers anyway, and spent the summer trying to sell him to Jordan. Jordan would have none of it, though, and went after Sellers mercilessly in practice; naturally, Sellers wilted in the glare of the game's most intense performer. As it turned out, Dawkins had an unremarkable career in the NBA as a decent contributor, while Sellers proved to be everything Jordan predicted: a soft, jump-shooting big man who rarely ventured into the paint and was out of the league in a matter of years. Other Krause first round draft picks that underperformed include Stacey King, Will Perdue, Marcus Fizer and Mark Randall.

[edit] The Oakley trade

Krause made another transaction in 1988 to which Jordan strongly objected, albeit with far better results than the Sellers-Dawkins affair. It was clear that the Bulls needed a center if they were to contend for a title, so Krause dealt Charles Oakley to New York for Bill Cartwright. It had all the makings of Brad Sellers, part 2: Oakley, who happened to be Jordan's best friend on the team, was extremely tough, particularly on the boards and on defense, and never backed down against Detroit. Cartwright was a true center, unlike the power forward Oakley, but was much older. He also never enjoyed a reputation as an outstanding defender, unlike Oakley, but was a far more capable inside scorer. However, although not being a true lockdown defender, Cartwright was very effective at preventing opposing centers from dominating games. Jordan despised the trade, not only because of the players involved but also because of how Oakley learned of it: via television, while he was out with Jordan. Cartwright turned out to be everything the Bulls needed, however, providing a presence in the middle for all three Bulls championships from 1991-1993. Perhaps most importantly, Cartwright proved to be the league's best center at defending Patrick Ewing, the New York Knicks' star who was the key player on the Bulls' most important early-1990s conference rival. Jordan later admitted that he may have been wrong and Krause may have been right about the trade, but it changed nothing about Jordan's overall distrust and hatred for Krause. Jordan would later be quoted as saying: "The trade of Oakley was good, and the best thing he did was to get Pippen and Grant. That's it. His claim to fame is that he drafted Earl Monroe for the Bullets. And I say to him, `What pick was that?' He says, `Two.' And I say, `Hell! Earl Monroe was a real secret, huh? A real secret? If you hadn't taken him, he'd have gone third!'" [2]

[edit] Rebuilding after the retirement of Jordan

The retirement of Jordan following the 1993 NBA season brought massive change to the Chicago Bulls roster. Krause attempted to replace Jordan with defensive specialist Pete Myers and free agent Ron Harper, but neither proved capable of leading Chicago to a championship, although Harper would play an invaluable role in the second "three-peat". Krause also discovered a young Croatian swingman named Toni Kukoč who would also become a major contributor to the Bulls. When Jordan returned to the NBA at the end of the 1995, Krause had some part in assembling what has been labelled the best team in NBA history after offseason acquisition of Dennis Rodman from the Spurs. The Bulls won an NBA record 72 games and Krause was named Executive of the Year for the second time.

[edit] "The Last Dance"

As the success piled up for the Bulls, Krause became more and more hungry for attention. He did much to alienate Jordan and other Bulls players through his constant presence at team-only locales. Krause seemed to feel an insatiable need to be "one of the guys"; as a young man, he never seemed to fit in with other players or scouts, though not for lack of trying. It was just not a part of his personality, much to Krause's anguish, yet he continued to overstep the bounds of a GM in a misguided effort to fit in. Jealous of the attention received by Jordan and Head Coach Phil Jackson, a man who Krause believed was indebted to him because he got him his initial job with Chicago, Krause did several things to alienate Jackson and the players. Some examples include:

• During the summer of 1997, Krause's stepdaughter married. All of the Bulls assistant coaches and their wives were invited to the wedding, as was Tim Floyd, then the head coach at Iowa State, whom Krause was openly courting as Jackson's successor (and would eventually succeed Jackson). Jackson and his wife were not only not invited, but Krause did not tell them of the snub; they found out from the wife of assistant Bill Cartwright.

• After contentious negotiations between Jackson and the Bulls in that same period, Jackson was signed for the 1997-98 season only. Krause announced the signing in what Chicago media widely considered to be a mean-spirited manner, emphasizing that Jackson would not be rehired even if the Bulls won the 1997-98 title. That triggered an argument between Jackson and Krause in which Jackson essentially told Krause that he seemed to be rooting for the other side and not the Bulls. At that point, Krause told Jackson, "I don't care if it's 82-and-0 this year, you're fucking gone."

• Krause, publicly portrayed Jackson as a two-faced character who had very little regard for his assistant coaches, a perception that certain Krause associates in the Bulls organization had sought to spread about Jackson. At the height of the hard feelings in the spring of 1998, one of Krause’s scouts went to press row in Chicago’s United Center to explain to a reporter the insidious nature of Jackson’s ego. (excerpt from my Phil Jackson biography Mindgames)

• It was during the 1997-1998 season that Krause was quoted by the media uttering the statement "Players don't win championships, organizations win championships", which raised the ire of Michael Jordan. Later, however, Krause said that his original statement was "players and coaches alone don't win championships; organizations win championships"

The 1998 season was labelled the "Last Dance" after several key members of the Bulls faced free agency in the upcoming season. Pippen, who had long desired a massive contract extension after years of being underpaid, criticized Krause and threatened to leave following the season. Amid the distractions, the Bulls won their sixth title in eight years.

After the Bulls' final title of the Jordan era in 1998, Jackson left the team vowing never to coach again but after he took a year off he decided to give it another chance with the Lakers.

Michael Jordan biographer Mitchell Krugel used the term Jabba the Hutt to disparage Krause after Krause made a comment about Jordan and other players' multi-million dollar contracts: "Krause added to his greedy Jabba the Hutt image during the media gathering that preceded the opening of camp when he answered a question about the prospect of rebuilding the Bulls without Phil or Michael in the imminent future by saying, 'Organizations win championships. Players and coaches are parts of organizations'."^[1]

[edit] Rebuilding

Deciding that the Bulls were aging and facing an uncertain future, Krause chose to unload the veterans and rebuild. His original intentions were to compile an untalented team that would lose and therefore obtain high draft picks while clearing salary space to make a run at major free agents. The plan did not work, though, as notable free agents Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and lesser free agents Eddie Jones and Tim Thomas spurned the Bulls. At least one star, Kevin Garnett, stated publicly that the manner of the break-up and the treatment of Jordan and Pippen by the team meant that he would not consider playing for the Bulls.

[edit] Younger talent

Krause decided to focus on building through the draft and the notion that the Bulls would "grow its own stars". The draft brought prolific collegiate players such as Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Marcus Fizer, Jamal Crawford, and Jay Williams to the Bulls but it would be the 2001 draft that stood out. After finishing 15-67 during the 2000-2001 season, Krause decided to gamble and trade away his best player in Brand for high schooler Tyson Chandler who was hyped as "the next Kevin Garnett", and draft another high schooler in Eddy Curry who, similarly, was hyped as a slightly smaller version of Shaquille O'Neal, with the fourth overall pick in the draft.

Krause believed that the tandem of Chandler and Curry would develop into elite players and provide the foundation for another dynasty. A mid-season trade the following year brought scorer Jalen Rose to the Bulls in exchange for Brad Miller and Artest which cleared playing time for the two rookies. After drafting Jay Williams during the offseason, the Bulls had a roster with Rose, Crawford, Curry, Chandler, Williams, and Fizer that fulfilled Krause's dream of a talented young athletic team. The Bulls showed some improvement the following year.

[edit] Retirement

However, in 2003, Krause retired as GM. While the official explanation involved obesity related health problems, team insiders suggested that Krause may have been told that his tenure was over and given the chance to resign rather than be fired. The Bulls fell to 23-59 in the next season, and Krause's dream of a talented young athletic team imploded with all of his draft picks and signings traded or out of the league within three years. Curry and Chandler are widely regarded as never playing to their potential. Meanwhile, former players Brand, Miller and Artest became All-Stars for their new teams. Krause went back to his roots and worked briefly for the New York Yankees baseball team as a scout, before joining the New York Mets in 2005. He now lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and appears occasionally on sports radio as an analyst.

[edit] References