Jerry Krause’s side of Bulls’ dismantling contests ‘The Last Dance’ narrative

As the 10-part Michael Jordan documentary series “The Last Dance” wrapped up Sunday night, one man did not come out of it with the same honor and glory that the rest of the legendary Chicago Bulls franchise did. General manager Jerry Krause was heavily scrutinized for breaking up the dominant dynasty before giving them a …

As the 10-part Michael Jordan documentary series “The Last Dance” wrapped up Sunday night, one man did not come out of it with the same honor and glory that the rest of the legendary Chicago Bulls franchise did.

General manager Jerry Krause was heavily scrutinized for breaking up the dominant dynasty before giving them a chance to compete for a seventh NBA championship title. But in a concluding excerpt from the former GM’s unfinished and unpublished memoir, “To Set the Record Straight,” Krause reveals what went down from his point of view following the 1997-98 season.

“I’m now going to take you to a place no Bulls outsider has ever been,” Krause, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 77, wrote in an a passage published by NBC Sports Chicago.

Krause explained that during the last championship run, “cracks in the foundation” of the team began to surface. He claimed the media was blind to the physical toll that competing in over 100 games per year in two of the previous three seasons took on the team.

Dennis Rodman wasn’t performing up to his usual standard and a 29-year-old Luc Longley wasn’t as limber as he once was. Winning titles meant drafting last each year, as well.

“But to the fans and media, we had Michael Jordan and he could overcome anything,” Krause wrote. “He could play without a center and a power forward for a capped team with little or no flexibility and still win by himself. Or Scottie Pippen, with two operations in the previous two years, could rise to the occasion and win with Michael and a declining supporting cast.

“We had the finest coach in the game in Phil Jackson, whom the public did not know didn’t want to coach a rebuilding team and who’d informed us before the season that he wanted to ride off to Montana and take at least a year off.”

Krause — who had declared before the 1997-98 season that it would be Jackson’s last with the franchise — then details a private meeting in early July 1998 with owner Jerry Reinsdorf, assistant general manager Jim Stack, strength and conditioning coach Al Vermeil, the team doctors and surgeons, VP of Finance Irwin Mandel and assistant to the GM Karen Stack.

The purpose of the meeting was the reevaluate what options they had with the current Bulls team. With health and durability issues at the forefront, Krause reveals that then-trainer Chip Schaefer had to submit a written report to Vermeil on the team’s health.

“The first question I asked was how much did people think we could get out of Luc Longley, a free-agent-to-be who we’d had to rest periodically over the last few years because of unstable ankles. Al and the doctors thought he would break down quickly.

“Next question: Rodman? Each person in the room was concerned that Dennis’ off-court meanderings had caught up with him, that he was playing on fumes at the end of the season.

“OK. No center, no power forward, very little (cap space) to sign anybody of any quality to replace them. Who defends in the middle if Jordan and Pippen do come back? Who rebounds?

“We go to Pippen. He’s had two major surgeries in two years, one of them late in the summer to purposely defy our instructions to do it earlier and not miss regular-season time. He wants to rightfully be paid superstar dollars. Is he worth the risk, especially if we can’t find a center and a power forward, and he and Michael have to carry the load for a new coach? I seriously doubt it.

“Can Michael continue his greatness without a center, power forward and possibly Pippen? Could Bill Russell, the greatest team player ever, have won without great players around him? No. Michael has said publicly that he will not play for a coach other than Phil. Phil has told us he’s gone. What does Michael do?

“The important role players like Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler are free agents who can get more money from other teams than we can give them under the cap rules.”

With all that in mind, Krause then explains how unlikely it was for Jackson to come back and coach a team “without a proven center, power forward, probably Pippen, a basically new bench and crazy expectations that “in Michael we trust” can win without help? Not a chance.”

“Did we break up the winning team so that we could satisfy our own egos and win without those players and coaches? Do you really think that people who worked for so many years to win and then win again and again would be dumb enough to let egos get in the way of trying to win again?

“Do you think that an organization built with one single purpose, from its chairman on down through the lowest-ranking member of the front office — to win championships — would easily give up that thought?”

But Krause assured that those in the meeting never breathed a word of what was said to ensure they didn’t hurt any player’s chances at getting a quality contract. Things worked out for many of the players that weren’t retained by Chicago. The Suns gave Longley a lifetime security in the form of a five-year, $30 million deal. Rodman played just 35 more games over the ensuing two years before retiring. Pippen’s camp asked for a favor.

“By doing a sign-and-trade with Houston, Scottie could get $20 million more than he could by just signing a straight-out contract. Jerry and I gave him his going-away present,” Krause wrote.

“There you have it, the truth.”

Or, at the very least, the other side of the story.

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