Why Michael Jordan HATED Jerry Krause

I do sincerely believe that organizations as a whole win Jerry KRA the Bulls general manager says quote organizations win titles not players and quote have a sense of respect for the people who have laid the groundworks so that you could be a profitable organization Michael Jordan hated Bull's general manager Jerry Krauss so much he nearly left Chicago and blamed him for blowing up the Bulls in 1998 but why did Jordan dislike his GM so much even after they won six championships together this is the complete story of the beef between MJ and when of the most successful general managers of all time Jerry Krauss was a scouting Legend he was the first and only executive in two different sports having dual careers in basketball and baseball Jerry's NBA career started in the 1960s as a scout for the Baltimore Bullets and Krauss immediately made a name for himself in 1965 and 1967 Krauss found two future Hall of Famers from low division programs in Jerry Sloan and Earl The Pearl Monroe after Baltimore Krauss worked as a scout for the Suns 76ers Lakers and Bulls throughout the 70s and 80s during that time Krauss was a baseball Scout for the Cleveland Indians the Oakland A's the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Socks Krauss was often viewed as the hardest workking Scout in sports a guy who spent all of his time watching ball players and evaluating talent in 1985 after the Chicago White sock owner Jerry reinsdorf also bought the Chicago Bulls he plucked Krauss from the white sock staff and handpicked him to become the new general manager of the Bulls despite his experience Krauss had an extremely tough challenge ahead what Krauss inherited was Michael Jordan and the flying cocaine circus that were the majority of his teammates the Bulls sucked with four consecutive losing seasons and a 3844 record in Jordan's rookie season however the first move Krauss made wasn't to draft any player but a Coach Jerry hired teex winter as an assistant coach because he wanted winter to teach the Bulls the infamous triangle offense the first person we hired was teex Winter he's a brilliant man the finest offensive mind in basketball he then signed John Paxton and traded for Charles Oakley who would both Pro to be extremely important figures for the Bulls and Michael Jordan but as soon as cr's first season as GM started the problems did too Jordan broke his ankle in the third game of the 1986 season and was ruled out for several months as stubborn as Jordan was he was soon playing pickup games in North Carolina while the Bull's doctor said he still faced a great risk of reinjuring his foot so when Michael returned to the lineup Krauss limited his minutes making him play Just 7.5 minutes per half carrying a stopwatch and signaling to the coaches when to sub him out Jordan was pissed by not playing and confronted Krauss about his playing time I'm the only person in the NBA who has ever told him no this kid has had his butt kissed by everybody in the world except his parents and me my goal is not to be his friend my goal is to win titles Jerry Krauss but Krauss sticking to the doctor's orders and making Jordan play limited minutes was not the real problem for Jordan it wasn't just what Krauss said it was also the way he said it you're Bulls property now and we tell you what to do Krauss to make things worse the Bulls GM showed up to a team meeting about Jordan and his playing time with a tape recorder where Jordan felt betrayed and completely lost trust in Krauss I was a young enthusiastic kid and that just made me realize this was a business not a game we never hit it off after that Jordan after that season ended it was time for the 1986 draft where the beef between Krauss and Jordan got even worse Krauss planned on selecting for for Brad sers in the draft Jordan on the other hand pushed management to take Johnny Dawkins a two-way Guard from duke Krauss told everybody that he would draft Dawkins but on the day of the draft he picked sellers anyway Jordan was livid and he made sellers life hell in practice going mercilessly at the poor guy just because he was krauss's pick but the very next year in the 1987 NBA draft Krauss showed why he was the right man for the job while the rest of the GMS didn't bother finding talent in division 3 universities krauss's specialty was believing in underdogs because he was an underdog all his life Jerry Krauss was the only NBA executive who scouted Scotti Pippen from the small University of Central Arkansas when I first saw Scotty play I almost had an orgasm Krauss said the Seattle SuperSonics select Scott Pippen of Central Arkansas cruss was devastated when the Seattle SuperSonics drafted Pippen fif but then he traded the eighth pick in the draft Olden polles and future assets to get Scotty technically the Seattle Club took him for us and and then we uh we acquired him Krauss also drafted Horus Grant another future Cornerstone of the franchise thus completing one of the best drafts ever by an NBA GM while Jordan couldn't be unhappy with Jerry's choices Krauss soon gave him another reason to hate him in the 1988 season the Bulls GM traded Charles Oakley to the Knicks for an experienced Center Bill cartright Oakley was Jordan's best friend on the team and his protector on the court especially against the bad boy Pistons although cartright did not have Oakley toughness and rebounding he was a more well-rounded scorer and playmaker and was precisely what the Bulls needed Jordan despised the oakle trade not only because he lost his best friend but also because of how he and Oak found out on TV around that time Jordan started openly mocking Krauss in front of teammates and the media he and Oakley nicknamed him crumbs because of his size and after they'd seen him with crumbs of food on his shirt when Michael came across crows in the hallway he didn't say hello to him and kept trash talking him directly and indirectly in 1989 after the Bulls lost another playoff battle with the Pistons Krauss fired head coach Doug Collins which was another move Jordan hated because he had a great relationship with Collins now if you're getting ready for work right now then you're probably not Doug Collins Chicago Bulls head coach was fired in the surpris move yesterday MJ rightfully felt he was the best player in the NBA and believed he should have some leverage with management decisions so Michael went to the owner Jerry reinsdorf with the ultimatum him or me wanting crra expired however Rin dorf believed in Krauss and asked Jordan to be patient Phil Jackson became the next Bulls coach despite having zero experience as an NBA head coach Jackson previously coached the minor league Albany patroons and a pair of teams in Puerto Rico with NBA teams refusing to take a chance out him largely because of his hippie clothes and offbeat principles in 1987 when Jackson was considering filing for unemployment or going back to law school he reached out to Krauss as a latch Stitch effort to keep his coaching dream alive hired him as an assistant because Phil was willing to implement the triangle offense and get the ball out of Jordan's hands Krauss believed he was the perfect man for the job it's safe to say that Jackson would never become an NBA coach if it weren't for Krauss something that would later ruin their relationship but at first Phil and Jerry had an excellent partnership especially because the Bulls started winning in Phil's second season as a head coach the Bulls finished with the best record in the NBA and they finally got over the Pistons hump and then in the NBA finals they defeated the Lakers for their first NBA title aside from Jordan all Bulls players were drafted or acquired by Krauss proving his decision- making and roster building to be successful the very next year in 1992 the Bulls won the title again but Jordan's beef with Krauss was still going strong after the season Michael and Scotty were part of the dream team at the Olympics in Barcelona and while the rest of the team only had one goal to win a gold medal Pippen and Jordan had ulterior motives they wanted to destroy Tony CUO kuko was drafted by the Bulls in 1990 but he chose to stay in Europe where he kept winning Euroleague titles and before the Olympics Krauss kept raving about kach and his skills which pissed off Jordan and Pippen because they felt kach was krauss's boy they wanted to annihilate him with an angry Jordan and pip in guarding him kach finished the game with just four points on two for 11 shooting and seven turnovers after the Olympics in 1993 the Bulls won their third consecutive championship three-time NBA world champion Chicago Bulls congratulations it's a great accomplishment after which Jordan retired and joined a minor league baseball team kach joined the Bulls after he left and immediately proved that Krauss was right once again Krauss also added Steve cerr to the team who had been looked over by every GM in the NBA because of his size but Krauss rightfully believed that he was the best shooter in the league in 1994 Krauss traded for another virtual nobody in Luke Longley and signed unrestricted free agent Ron Harper both of which proved to be huge additions to the Bulls Jordan returned in 1995 Superstar Michael Jordan is back in the game and he'll play with the bulls later today but because of the departure of Horus Grant Chicago had no interior presence and lost to Shaq and Orlando in the second round of the 95 playoffs next season Krauss decided to battle that problem by trading for Dennis Rodman who was unwanted by most of the NBA due to his volatile Behavior the Bulls announced the acquisition of a player many people consider the most controversial basketball star in the NBA and once again Krauss was right Jordan Pippen Rodman kach Harper Kerr and Longley won an NBA record 72 games in the regular season and then dominated the playoffs to win their fourth NBA Championship in 1997 Chicago won again and up until then krauss's moves almost always panned out and made the team better but then the real problems started and the Bulls GM made his first big mistake cr's relationship with Phil Jackson deteriorated Jerry was mad at Phil for not defending him when Michael trash talked to Krauss in front of everybody Krauss was a guy who believed in loyalty and who believed that Phil owed him everything since he gave him the Bull's job and when Jackson laughed at one of Jordan's jokes about Krauss Jerry was disgusted with Phil Krauss wanted to replace Jackson after 1997 uh this will be Phil's last year as the coach of the Bulls that's the conclusion of the year we'll look towards a future but then the owner reinsdorf intervened and Krauss reluctantly offered Phil an extension but only for one year Bulls owner Jerry rinor has finally come to his senses signing Phil Jackson to a one-year deal to return as coach next season before the start of the 98 season Krauss told the media that he didn't care if the Bulls won 82 games and the title that Phil Jackson would not return as head coach Krauss also made a remark about his impact on the team famously saying I do sincerely believe that organizations has a whole wi this statement particularly made Jordan angry because he was the one scoring all the points while this five fo 6 220lb guy never even played basketball on top of the problems he had with MJ and Phil Krauss also had to deal with Pippen in 1991 after their first championship Scotty signed a 7-year deal worth $19 million about $2.7 million per year while the Bulls were winning their titles Pippen was not even among the 100 highest paid players in the NBA Pippen is as underpaid as underpaid gets only the 122nd highest paid player in the league Scotty was extremely disappointed and wanted a big raise but Krauss didn't want to give it to him so Scotty boycotted the start of the 98 season opting to rehab a foot injury at the start of the season and not during the summer pippet is now demanding a trade and he says he will not return from the injured list until he has gone from Chicago throughout That season Jordan kept saying that he'd retire if Jackson wasn't the head coach of the bulls and that he wouldn't play for anybody else as it may be I have choices you know and I will not choose to play for another coach despite all the turmoil the Bulls still managed to win the 98 championship highlighted by Jordan's shot over Byron Russell Jordan open Chicago with the lead however Krauss kept his promise and Jackson was gone Phil Jackson cleaned out his office at the Chicago blls practice facility and made it official after nine years in six NBA titles he is done as the Bulls coach and so is Michael who retired for the second time in the Last Dance documentary Jordan heavily criticized Krauss for blowing up the Bulls feeling that they had another championship run in them we're entitled to defend what we have until we lose it in the documentary Krauss was never complimented for building a championship roster and finding Talent where others didn't in 2009 during his Hall of Fame speech Jordan again reiterated how much he hated Krauss and never thanked him for helping the Bulls win you know Jerry Krauss is right there and Jerry's not here I don't know who in invited him I didn't in all honesty this was very unfair but hey that's MJ for you while Krauss definitely had his flaw especially his people skills and dealing with the media it's undeniable that he was one of the best general managers in NBA history dynasties can't happen without great scouting and team-friendly contracts without Pippen Rodman K coach and others MJ would still be a great player but he probably wouldn't have six rings

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Length: 12min 55sec (775 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 22 2023