“They always gave him a hard time,” said Jud Buechler, who played in Chicago from 1994 to 1998. “The [Krause] thing made it very difficult for him at first,” said Jim Cleamons, a longtime Jackson lieutenant. “It was unfair to Toni, honestly.” Kukoc recognized any ill feelings were about Krause — not him. He was strong enough to play through it. “Toni was just himself,” Cleamons said, “and that was his salvation.”