By Jerry Mittleman

He was the opposite of media-friendly, had a negative public image and lacked the interpersonal skills desired of an NBA General Manager. He was the anti-jock, non-athlete, trying to share the same stage with media savvy, cult hero, athletic types like Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson and Scottie Pippin.

What Jerry Krause did possess was a skillful eye for spotting basketball talent and a shrewd knowledge of how to build a winning team. He has been blamed (in some ways unfairly) for breaking up the Chicago Bulls championship dynasty. Now that he has stepped down, it’s time to give him due credit for his role in building that basketball empire.

Krause became the Bulls’ GM in 1985 after having worked for Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf as a scout with baseball’s Chicago White Sox. Krause, himself never a player, made a reputation in the NBA as a superscout for the Baltimore Bullets in the late 1960s.

When Krause arrived on the scene, Michael Jordan was the only present piece of what would become the foundation of the Bulls’ dynasty. Two years later, Krause began surrounding Jordan with the key players who would help turn the Bulls into champions. The 1987 Draft brought Horace Grant and Pippen, a total unknown from a small Arkansas college. Later, Krause would spend years pursuing Toni Kukoc from long distance, way before many other GM’s realized the significant contribution that top-flight European players could make. Finally, Krause would add the volatile Denis Rodman as the final element of a very potent brew.

Krause’s most brilliant move was bringing the man who could possibly be the greatest coach in NBA history into the league. During the summer of 1987, Krause was instrumental in getting Phil Jackson hired as a Bulls assistant, even though his hippie image, long beard and outlandish clothing, had thoroughly turned off the team’s management in an earlier job interview.

It’s true that Krause’s difficult personality was one of the factors in the Bulls splitting up after the 1998 championship season and in trying to entice quality players to come to Chicago as the team tried to rebuild. The Bulls have pretty much been a disaster since the “Jordan era”, first trying to attract free agents and then build around Elton Brand. Krause seems to have finally gotten it right on the third attempt, just as he’s leaving the scene. It took a lot of courage on his part to admit his mistake with Brand and rebuild again around two high schoolers, Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler, but this season those moves are already paying dividends and the Bulls seem to be in for a brighter future.

It was hard to objectively assess Krause’s professional achievements while in charge of the Bulls. Away from the harsh spotlight, hopefully he can receive the credit that is due him.


Jerry Mittleman is a frequent contributor to InsideHoops.com.