| | I know, he looks like the eighth dwarf -- Ugly? Nasty? Crumbsy?-- who ate
all the other dwarves and then told Snow White to pound sand.
|  | | You may not like Krause, but he hasn't had a bad offseason. |
His social graces make Marge Schott look like Martha Stewart.
And his unapologetic arrogance makes Bobby Knight look like the Dalai
Lama. (Can the Dalai Lama be fired?)
But c'mon, people, let's give Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause
a break. It's not like he promised Utopia and delivered Charlestown, West
Virginia. It's more like he promised Utopia and delivered, well, Milwaukee.
It's not great, but it's not terrible, either.
Listen, after Krause told everybody who would and could decipher his
blatherings that the Bulls were going to recreate the success of Michael and
Scottie through free agency, he deserves to get skewered.
But it's not like the guy has not put together a decent group of talent in
Chicago. Look at his roster: Elton Brand, Marcus Fizer, Ron Mercer, Ron
Artest, Jamal Crawford, Brad Miller, Dragan Tarlac. OK, I'm not even going to
pretend I know anything about Dragan Tarlac, but that's a pretty good name,
even if he stinks. If he has even any hops, they can call him the Draganfly.
Anyway, that group of players, they're young, to be sure, and I am not
ready to declare them playoff-bound just yet, but that's the nucleus of a
pretty decent club, and in the Eastern Conference, that's all you need.
This was Krause's biggest mistake: Knowing that he was going to have $20
million under the cap, he immediately assumed the Bulls were guaranteed one
of the top four free agents, and let everybody know it. Nobody likes somebody
who gloats, but Krause simply cannot help himself.
So when he did not sign any of those players, his critics were more than
willing to gloat about his deficiencies.
But would you have rather had Krause pull a Phil Jackson and tell the
world, despite what everybody knows to the contrary, how bad everything is
going to be?
Remember last season, when Phil had Kobe and Shaq, and Phil was like,
"Well, you know, maybe, if we're lucky, and we get some breaks, and Tim
Duncan and Rasheed Wallace and Gary Payton and Karl Malone and Jason Kidd all
snap their seventh vertebrae, you know, the Lakers might win, let's say, 24
games."
Gimme a break. I forgot how much I hate that Lou Holtz woe-is-me BS until
I saw Holtz Saturday night, after his South Carolina team upset Georgia,
moaning and groaning about it being only "one win." Hey, Lou, you're about
to get canned, live it up a little when you get a big win.
Pro sports is all about expectations, and Krause built his a little too
high. Nobody ever said the guy was a diplomat. They've said he's another
word that begins with D-I-P, but, hey, who remembers little things like that.
I have to give Krausy credit, though. In the midst of a brutal attack by
media, fans and colleagues -- including rumors that Krause created a racist
atmosphere in Chicago by giving Toni Kukoc big money while stiffing Scottie
and Michael for years -- he chose to be patient, bide his time, ignore his
detractors and make wise decisions.
| |  | |
| Mercer |
OK, for the most part wise. I still think he overpaid for Mercer, who
passes as frequently as a car in the right lane on the Kennedy Expressway
during rush hour, but he had to land somebody at a time when other players
were disappearing.
After that, he waited. And waited. And waited some more. And then he
finally got the center the Bulls sought by signing Miller. And he did not
overpay Miller. He gave him just slightly above what Charlotte could match,
and not a penny more. Shrewd. Smart. Calculating.
And what it did was enable the Bulls to keep some of that money they had
for next summer, when another batch -- albeit much less talented -- comes
along and Krausy will have another chance to add to the core.
Do you ever see those criminals, and as they're being led out of the klink
with a paper bag over their faces, their mothers are telling the television
camera, "Oh, I know little Johnny, and little Johnny could not have done
this, because he's the sweetest person. When he was
three-and-a-half-years-old, he brought me home a buttercup."
Well, I feel like that mother trying to defend Krause. Perhaps I'm a
little bit naive. But I at least feel like the guy deserves some recognition
for putting his franchise in a pretty good position to win. Not now, like he
promised, but at some point in the near future. Wouldn't it be nice to see a
group of players all come up together and have success, just like the old
days?
And if they don't?
Well, then I'll just pile on Krausy like everybody else.
Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
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