‘The Last Dance’ Jerry Krause = BB the GM?

Having watched The Last Dance and learnt more about some of the behind the scenes events after the ‘97 season I find it incredibly that Jerry Krause is still held in such high regard. Jerry wanted to break-up the team after the ‘97 season and only agreed to return Phil and MJ for one more season (MJ had said he would only play for Phil). Why is Krause not demonized more?

Even after it was demonstrably shown he was dead wrong to break up the ‘98 team (they won after all), he still keeps yapping that everyone was over the hill and about to collapse blah blah. See below.

Krause explains why Bulls’ dynasty unraveled, in his words

And infact he wanted to blow up the team even earlier and we might not have gotten the 3 peat. Reminds me of BB wanting to keep JG and we might have missed out on the 2016 and 2018 SBs.

And now BB the GM has been dead set on proving he can win without Brady and that sounds exactly like Krause. And Kraus’ rebuilding famously bombed and failed. He might as well have kept the team together for ‘99 as well and who knows. Winning Championships and SBs are HARD.

I just feel BB the GM is doomed to repeat the same mistakes Krause made.

I think there would be more similarities if Bill had moved on from Brady after SB51.

I thought Krause was vilified, though I stopped watching the series when I realized it was a predictable Jordan Film Production.

I was surprised Reinsdorf wasn’t given more criticism too. I mean, you’re the owner of the team, buddy. Kick Krause’s ass to the curb if he’s going to break up an all time great team.

Bill Belichick is so stupid.

Terrible post I wish could downvote the OP 100 times. There are zero similarities between Jerry Krause and Bill Belichick. Belichick is 0.750 on the Pats without Brady. I love Tom but Belichick is the best coach/GM combo in the league by far the last 20 years.

Krause had the great fortune of becoming a GM with Jordan already in the fold. Having the best player in the NBA almost always leads to titles contrasted with the NFL there is the "MVP curse" That said, Krause absolutely blew it by not trying for one more title. Jordan was only 35 years old and arguably the best player in the league, the Eastern conference was incredibly weak and with no dominant team in the West and a shortened season the Bulls probably had a 50% chance of winning it all. Figuring out how to bring Pippen back would have been the big challenge.

The Pats situation is much different. Brady will be 43 when the season starts and even if he returned the Pats would have been no better than 3rd choice in the AFC behind the Chiefs and Ravens. The Pats cap situation also needed to be dealt with. Now they could have moved some money around and postponed the cap problem into the future and they would likely be in a better position this year but a title would still be unlikely and they would be worse off moving forward.

I wanted Brady back and for them to try for one more but the move was nothing like what Krause did.

This thread will be good. Props to @Biffins as this may get people out of hiding and talk.

Bulls would’ve easily won in the ‘98-‘99 lockout season. Maybe ‘99-‘2000 as well. Fecking tragic!

Crazy how this happened and benefited my Lakers. That team was mentally weak until Phil arrived. The Shaq/Kobe teams may have gone ringless without the Bulls breakup.

Thought vilifying Krause was the worst part of the series. It’s immature, rewriting history, and taking every awkward word and facial expression of his career to make him be the bad guy in absentia. Classless and baseless.

Krause if a HoF GM who mad et tough calls, yet rebuilt around two alltime greats TWICE.

Jordan & Pippen were exceptional players, but also a-holes and babies. The latter whines about how he’s portrayed, yet as a 50 something he offers that he’d “do the same thing” (walk out of a playoff game). Jordan didn’t NEED to be a huge massive you-know-what. Russell didn’t. Brady didn’t. It’s his huge ego and personality.

The portrayal of Krause was BS. Having said that, BB is just one level ahead - even as a GM. The entire BB crybaby bad GM crowd around here has no idea what they are talking about. BB is a HoF GM even w/o coaching a down.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

I think there would be more similarities if Bill had moved on from Brady after SB51.

I thought Krause was vilified, though I stopped watching the series when I realized it was a predictable Jordan Film Production.

I was surprised Reinsdorf wasn’t given more criticism too. I mean, you’re the owner of the team, buddy. Kick Krause’s ass to the curb if he’s going to break up an all time great team.

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Yeah, I stopped watching after the 5th/6th show too.

DropKickFlutie said:

Terrible post I wish could downvote the OP 100 times. There are zero similarities between Jerry Krause and Bill Belichick. Belichick is 0.750 on the Pats without Brady. I love Tom but Belichick is the best coach/GM combo in the league by far the last 20 years.

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Yeah that percentage is going down - way down - after this season.

captain stone said:

Yeah that percentage is going down - way down - after this season.

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I don’t think the Bulls % would have come close to what it had been - if that team had been kept together.

Jordan can say whatever he wants, money wasn't an issue for him.

Pippen was grossly underpaid with the Bulls and wasn't turning down $67 million dollars. Here's a good story about his sign and trade, he wanted to get paid or wanted out:

www.si.com/nba/rockets/news/jerry-krause-scottie-pippen-trade-bulls-rockets-favor

I can sort of see the point the OP is trying to make but I have to agree with a poster above in thinking it would line up a bit better if Brady was traded instead of Jimmy, maybe even a year earlier, and we never won another superbowl. Even so I think it's pushing it though, BB is just too good overall.

Wozzy said:

Jordan can say whatever he wants, money wasn't an issue for him.

Pippen was grossly underpaid with the Bulls and wasn't turning down $67 million dollars. Here's a good story about his sign and trade, he wanted to get paid or wanted out:

www.si.com/nba/rockets/news/jerry-krause-scottie-pippen-trade-bulls-rockets-favor

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« Grossly underpaid ». There are two parts to that. Yes, other players in the league were earning more $. Yes, Pippen was most likely top 5 in the league.

But, Pippen had accepted long-term financial security instead of rolling the dice and betting on himself. I don’t invest money on risky stocks. I don’t spend my life savings on risky ventures. I like being cautious and living well, while knowing I’ll never be wealthy. I don’t cry about being underpaid, because I’m choosing security over the bet of getting richer... Pippen got security. No one forced him to sign a long term.

11-5 with Cassel and a subpar defense. 3-1 with JG and Brissett.

yeah I’ll take my chances with the greatest coach in the history of the sport.

sb1 said:

11-5 with Cassel and a subpar defense

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And vs a schedule rivaled only by the first half of 2019 for its softness...[/QUOTE]

3-1 with JG and Brissett...

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At Arizona then 3 straight home games...

captain stone said:

And vs a schedule rivaled only by the first half of 2019 for its softness...

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The defense was pretty bad. So was Cassel in the preseason... most of us wanted him cut. Only one reason why they didn’t have a season like the Colts did in 11 and his initials are BB.

At Arizona then 3 straight home games...

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3-1 is still 3-1. Better than some thinking 0-4 without Brady.

sb1 said:

3-1 is still 3-1. Better than some thinking 0-4 without Brady.

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IIRC, I think most of us figured we'd be 2-2 after our first four...I did anyway...

Biffins said:

Having watched The Last Dance and learnt more about some of the behind the scenes events after the ‘97 season I find it incredibly that Jerry Krause is still held in such high regard. Jerry wanted to break-up the team after the ‘97 season and only agreed to return Phil and MJ for one more season (MJ had said he would only play for Phil). Why is Krause not demonized more?

Even after it was demonstrably shown he was dead wrong to break up the ‘98 team (they won after all), he still keeps yapping that everyone was over the hill and about to collapse blah blah. See below.

Krause explains why Bulls’ dynasty unraveled, in his words

And infact he wanted to blow up the team even earlier and we might not have gotten the 3 peat. Reminds me of BB wanting to keep JG and we might have missed out on the 2016 and 2018 SBs.

And now BB the GM has been dead set on proving he can win without Brady and that sounds exactly like Krause. And Kraus’ rebuilding famously bombed and failed. He might as well have kept the team together for ‘99 as well and who knows. Winning Championships and SBs are HARD.

I just feel BB the GM is doomed to repeat the same mistakes Krause made.

Click to expand...

Hot garbage. If you want to take a shot at the man, come directly at him and stop with this Krause weak source. Krause can't light BB's cigar.

captain stone said:

IIRC, I think most of us figured we'd be 2-2 after our first four...I did anyway...

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A lot of us were on the 0-4 or 1-3 side too. Though it was way easier to be optimistic after Jimmy’s debut.

I don't think Krause was/is highly regarded at all. He didn't draft 23. Pip was an easy top 5 - 10 pick. Arguably the best in his class.
He made a few good moves, no doubt but did more harm than good imo. He wasn't the GM of that team. Jordan was. MJ literally did everything. His energy, presence, unwillingness to lose commanded others attention. Jordan was the guy rallying the troops to focus on a singular goal with chaos around them. That couldn't be more evident imo. Krause wasn't the glue or even handled his job well. Sure they had Scottie by the balls but how much unnecessary drama did that cause? Again they had all the leverage so throwing him a bone when he was like the 75th highest player in the league. Not even top 5 on his own team. Would have done wonders.
The constant meddling and trying to break up a dynasty was borderline insane considering the level everyone was still playing at. Imagine the old Bulls defending their title against SA and/or LAL. Jordan was still the best player in the sport even at his age. Again just insane instead of adding pieces.

Comparing him to Bill is embarrassing. GM Bill isn't as good as HC Bill but Bill the GM is top tier. We'll know more soon but he's made enough moves independent of Brady to solidify that spot. Draft, contacts, trades, FA ... He's had his misses on all but a lot more +++ than --- imo. I'm a player/talent > scheme/coaching guy but Bill is a borderline football god. He pushes the margins and really makes a difference.

Krause was good in a few areas. Bill has hit homes from every position on the field. Coach/teacher, draft, FA/Contracts, trades.

The Welker & Moss trades are stuff of legend as far as I'm concerned lol. Moss had like 50 TDs in 51 games. Helped us set the league on fire & brought some of the best out of Brady. We fell a little short and it hurts more than any other lose but as a Pats fan it's just another great chapter in this story.

So for a 2nd, 4th & 7th. Bill got almost 1000 recs, 90 TDs, 11000 yards from those two.

I'm truly excited to see where he goes post-12. Offensively and defensively. Really interested to see where he goes and how he does? How long he'll coach? Again I'm just pumped we have and really intrigued to see which direction he takes us in.