In tribute to Jerry Krause

In the pre-history of this blog, R.M. gave a nice email summary of the post-Jordan Krause years in Chicago:

It's nice to see some kind thoughts going Krause's way. I always admired his skill as a GM, and thought he got a bum rap.

He took a huge gamble by blowing up the nucleus and trying to clear cap room, and it almost worked. At the time Krause blew up the Bulls' nucleus, the CBA was different than it was today. There were no max contracts--teams could outbid each other if they had cap space, which is why Shaq and Garnett still make far above the league max.

Krause blew up the team because he knew that in a year, tons of awesome players would be free agents--Tim Duncan, Kobe, Grant Hill, Ray Allen, McGrady, Marbury, etc. At the time, if his team had the most cap room (which it would) he could outbid everyone for those players.

Then, unexpectedly, the new CBA not only introduced the concept of the max contract, but also gave an advantage to the player's current team in re-signing him. Suddenly the Bulls couldn't ever pay Duncan as much as the Spurs could, or Kobe as much as the Lakers could. After the CBA was signed, most of those guys re-upped with their current teams. Kobe, Allen, Marbury, etc.

Even after that, there were a few top free agents available during that fateful summer when the Bulls had max cap room. Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, McGrady, Eddie Jones (good at the time), Glen Rice. But once Tim Duncan stayed with the Spurs, the Magic got both Hill and McGrady. If Duncan bolted, the Bulls would have gotten McGrady (who loved Chicago and Krause, who almost traded Pippen for him a couple of years earlier). As it turns out, the Bulls got squat.

Krause's Plan B wasn't bad, because he had a good eye for talent. He drafted Elton Brand and Ron Artest, and signed Brad Miller for cheap. He had two lottery picks in the 2000 Draft, which turned out to be arguably the worst draft in NBA history. Only a few players in that draft are even starting, none are stars (except for Redd, selected in the second round). He got Jamal Crawford, who turned out to be one of the better players from that draft (sad, I know) but that wasn't enough to take that team anywhere.

But the team and fans were impatient, and Krause didn't stick with that group. He's most remembered for Plan C, which was a total screwup. He traded Brand for Chandler (?!?) and then traded Artest, Miller, and others for Jalen Rose. Those two trades pretty much defined him and prematurely ended his NBA career.

I think it's sad because he really was a good talent evaluator. He drafted Pippen, Horace Grant, and Kukoc (in the second round). Seeing where Pip's career went, Krause was smart to bail on him when he did. His free-agent plan was a good one, it wasn't his fault that the CBA changed. And he drafted well. It's unfair to judge the guy only by his last two trades.

Regarding the current state of the Bulls, I'm optimistic about the Bulls in the next couple years, even though we overachieved last year and will be lucky to get the #8 seed this year. I'm not high on Gordon, and Hinrich has been inconsistent this year. I do think Paxson did an awesome job trading Curry for the Knick's unprotected pick + a starting PF. Their pick will likely be a high lottery pick, and Curry wasn't worth the $10 million+ a year the Knicks paid him.