There have been very few general managers who had the level of success in professional sports (even less had Michael Jordan) as Jerry Krause.
Krause was the general manager of the Chicago Bulls from 1985 through 2003, including winning six championships during the 1990s with Jordan and Pippen leading the Bulls teams.
He passed away at the age of 77 on Tuesday.
Jerry Krause poses with a young Charles Oakley and Scottie Pippen. #RIP pic.twitter.com/iIxYTrh5M3
— SI Vault (@si_vault) March 21, 2017
Krause often had a strained relationship with his greatest player Michael Jordan as Jordan wanted all of the credit for the extreme success along with his teammates, and Krause always insisted that it was a full organizational effort including the front office, coaching staff and all other employees.
Here is the famous Jerry Krause quote on the topic that was taken out of context to an extent:
“Players and coaches don’t win championships. Organizations win championships.”
While often overlooked as one of the great front office personnel men of his generation, he was responsible for drafting Scottie Pippen, Tony Kukoc, Horace Grant and B.J. Armstrong among a litany of other great moves to build a dynasty around Jordan in Chicago.
Here is a short he shared about trading up to draft Pippen at No. 5 in the 1987 NBA Draft with The Vertical podcast:
“I saw Joe Axelson, may God rest his soul, who was then the general manager of the Sacramento club, was talking to Pip off to the side and in back of the stands one night. And I leaned over and I saw it and I said, ‘Uh oh, they’re picking sixth, and I don’t like that conversation, the way it’s going.’ I’m looking at Axelson, and his eyes are a little buggy. And I thought, ‘Uh oh, we got a problem.’ So in the next week or so — they had the sixth pick and they also swore to everybody in the world — Joe was real good at this — he swore to everybody in the world they were going to take Kenny Smith from North Carolina. And Kenny Smith took five or six Cybex tests before that draft on a knee, and he didn’t take one at Sacramento. And I thought, ‘Uh oh, I’m getting lied to.’ He’s going to take Pippen.”
Krause will forever be remembered for his strained relationship with his stars, with his tactics and almost trading Pippen for Tracy McGrady in 1998, but he will also be remembered as an integral part of one of the greatest dynasties in the history of professional sports.
