First 5 minutes of "The Last Dance", documentary of the Bulls '97-'98 season, released

It never made sense dismantling that team. Unless Jordan truly wanted to retire. Or Phil.

The argument of preparing for the future inevitable decline makes sense. EXCEPT when you leave a couple rings on the table. Knowing how long it takes to replace a world beating player and get back on top for past teams. 1986 to 2008 for the Celtics. Even the Lakers had a decade hiccup between Magic and Kobe and that’s probably the best case scenario. How’d the Bulls do???

Just look at the Bulls history before and after Jordan. They're basically a slightly better version of the Cavs Without LeBron.

It's a shitty organization who, outside of the greatest player ever, hasn't done anything.

The couple years prior they had tried to trade Pippen. He also was drastically underpaid but never spoke up because that’s not who he was. Also they tried to have Kukoc take a lot of the final shots. So Pippen had one foot out the door already. Jordan was on a year to year basis and told everyone, if Phil is gone...I’m gone. Phil and Krause couldn’t work together any longer and basically came to an agreement prior to 98 that it would be Phil’s last year.

At the end they tried to get everyone back together but the Jerry’s just wanted to move on.

Friend,

Do you think that Jordan, obese and out of shape, though he tries his best to hide it with designer clothing, regrets calling Krause "Crumbs"?

Yours,
TulaneLSU

I wish the bulls played the knicks in the eastern finals and the spurs would have been a great series.

Well Krause did a helluva job building that team, so it worked out.

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Most interesting thing in this is Reinsdorf saying when he bought the Bulls, Krause, who was a scout for the White Sox, approached him for the Bulls GM job. Reinsdorf asked around the league, and everyone told him to stay away from Krause. He just had a way of alienating people. But Reinsdorf didn't care about that, just wanted someone to build a team the way he wanted it built. Krause had an insatiable desire to get attention, credit, and when Jordan, Pippen, and Jackson were getting all the credit for the Bulls success and not Krause, he became resentful.

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All things considered, Krause did a great job of building a team around Jordan and finding Phil Jackson from Buttfrick, South Dakota whatever CBA team he was coaching, that was clutch. Hell, he even did a great job constructing the team after MJ's first retirement so they could remain relevant in the NBA discussion. When he wanted to strictly construct a team by himself, yeah he totally sucked at that. Reinsdorf and Rod Thorn really set this whole thing in motion ultimately.

Gotdam i cannot wait for Sunday night

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I don't doubt that all of what's said about him is true, and he played a role in the Bulls breakup, but now he's dead and can't defend himself to tell his side of the story.

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He told his side of the story plenty of times before he died, he believes in what he did and never really backed down from that.

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I have a feeling this whole thing is going to be a giant shite-on-Krause party, which is really unfair. He did pretty much everything but draft MJ; drafting Pippen and Grant, signing Cartwright, Paxson and later Rodman, plucking Phil Jackson from the CBA was all him.

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Ehh. Pippen and Grant are his biggest calling card, but they happened in a single draft.

Cartwright was a trade for Charles Oakley, who was pretty good in his own right. I'm not even sure Krause won that trade.

Kukoc was a decent find, and signing Rodman was a solid move. Jackson...that was MJ getting Doug Collins fired and Jackson being on as an assistant.

Krause's other first round picks included Brad Sellers, Will Perdue, Stacey King and Marcus Fizer. He also brought Tim Floyd in to replace Jackson.

I do agree he didn't break the Bulls up. They barely dragged themselves by the Jazz in 98. Rodman was close to done and Jordan and Pippen had peaked and were on a downslope. MJ wasn't sticking around to lose in the conference semis, and if he wasn't staying, no one was.

Krause had ups and downs. What's more notable is the Bulls won 6 rings with their GM hating the coach and players and the coach and players hating him right back. It was simultaneously as contentious and successful as a team can get.