After a miserable, morbid month of news, sports fans finally got a reprieve last night when ESPN released the first two episodes of their highly-anticipated documentary on the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls called “The Last Dance.” The film follows how the greatest dynasty in NBA history collapsed and based on the early social media reviews it’s a hit.
The clear hero of the tale is Michael Jordan, who at his peak was the greatest athlete on the planet. Reliving Jordan’s exploits – including a 63-point performance in the playoffs against a historic Boston Celtics team – offered a tremendous release for fans who haven’t gotten to see any live games in weeks.
Like any great story, there’s also a compelling villain. In this case it’s former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, whose ego was the catalyst in the destruction of the dynasty. Krause seems to have been truly despised by his players, especially the extremly underpaid Scottie Pippen, who eventually took to insulting Krause in front of the entire team.
Some Panthers players who were watching saw parallels between Krause and a certain former Carolina general manager.
Free safety Tre Boston seemd to hint at the connection in this tweet, blaming Krause for being determined to get rid of Phil Jackson before the season started and taking credit for the team’s success.
Boy we know some GMs like this… lol
How you get rid of the Best Coach in the game or believe it’s truly the system and not the Players Ballin is beyond a lot of us. 🤦🏾♂️— Tre Boston (@TreBos10) April 20, 2020
Former linebacker Thomas Davis went one futher. Near the end of the show he straight up tweeted Jerry Krause = Dave Gettleman.
Jerry Krause=Dave Gettleman 🤷🏾♂️🤣🤣
— Thomas Davis (@ThomasDavisSDTM) April 20, 2020
While Gettleman did make some unpopular decisions and handled the exits of several beloved players poorly, it might be a bit harsh to compare him with Krause.
There are undeniable similarities, though. Both played a role in assembling a very talented group of players and had a reputation for driving a hard bargain – perhaps too hard. Whereas Krause alienated Pippen and Jackson, Gettleman drove Jordan Gross into retirement and eventually also pushed out Steve Smith and Josh Norman.
Gettleman didn’t intentionally blow up the best team in his sport that had just won three straight titles, though. Also, as it turned out, not paying Norman $15 million a year was the right move.
No matter what you may think of Krause the man isn’t around anymore to defend himself, as Julius Peppers pointed out this morning.
We've always known that Jerry Krause was the villain in the Bulls story and his philosophy on that particular team was highly questionable. But while we magnify his shortcomings and make jokes, let's not forget that man is deceased and isn't here to defend himself.
— Julius Peppers (@juliuspeppers_) April 20, 2020
Fair point.
In any case, the moral of the story is that when you have a good thing going, you don’t destroy it all to satisfy your ego. We can’t wait for the next couple of episodes.
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