SUMMARY
- Michael Jordan and his squad were on the verge of achieving their second three-peat.
- The Bulls' General Manager, Jerry Krause grew envious of the acknowledgement everybody received besides him.
Michael Jordan had a lot of admirers around him during his time in the NBA. In all fairness, things haven’t changed as much today. But during his stint as a player, most of his admirers envied him as they wanted to be above him. Jordan was the epitome of what a basketball player should or should have been at the time. As a result, he got a lot of attention from the masses along with his teammates whom he shared the court.
The concoction of MJ, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman was a mind-boggling setup. Pippen and Jordan had helped the Chicago Bulls achieve a nearly impossible three-peat. The Rodman was added to the team after Jordan returned from his brief hiatus during the 1993-94 season. Somehow, he picked up right where he left off and the Bulls were still on the map. Between 1996 and 1997, Jordan led the team to two more consecutive titles intending to win one more.
While this trio received all the fame and credits, there was one individual who wanted some for himself, Jerry Krause. He was the general manager of the organization who put together this team. However, he wasn’t as recognized. During the Bulls’ peak in the late 90s, Krause slowly started to show his jealousy towards the rest of the Bulls organization. He began by picking on coach Phil Jackson after he was unsuccessful in rebuilding the team without Pippen and Rodman.
Jerry Krause demolished his relationship with the Bulls with one comment
Following the 1997 NBA Championship run, Krause ended up publicly stating that not only players are responsible for a team’s success but the organization as a whole is equally accountable. Meaning, he also wanted to be recognized as their savior. In The Last Dance documentary series, a famous reporter named Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune revealed details about the tension between Krause and the Bulls.
He said, “All the attention was going to Michael and Scottie and Dennis and Phil. And Krause was growing resentful about this. He was good. But he wasn’t good enough to do it without Michael Jordan.” The consensus GOAT of the league also once stated that while the front office was a big piece of the organization, it was the players and the coach who ultimately helped the Bulls win.
Mark Vancil of the Sun-Times also doubled down on Smith’s claims saying, “You could argue that Michael Jordan was as good at his job as anyone has ever been at their job ever, in anything. And Krause wants to make the point that organizations win Championships, not players.”
Krause spoke to the media in 1997 saying that his words were quoted incorrectly by a journalist who interviewed him. He defended his comments stating that he meant to say that players “alone” didn’t win championships but organizations as a whole were responsible for it.