Jerry Krause a Genius?

By V.Aravindan 
Bombay,INDIA

When everybody from the media, sportswriters, Bulls 
fans, Basketball fans and even "The Fat Lady Who 
Sings" is cursing Jerry Krause, am I stupid to call 
Jerry Krause a genius. I am not stupid and ,yes, I 
have reasons to support my claim. This year the Bulls 
saved a lot of salary cap to lure free agents. Many 
big name free agents (Jones, McGrady, Tim Thomas, Glen 
Rice) visited the bulls. They enjoyed a trip of the windy 
city and the only people who the Bulls sign are Ron 
Mercer, Brad Miller and "BENNY THE BULL". The media 
lambasts Jerry Krause for not being able to attract a 
big name free agent. But did Jerry Krause intend to 
sign a free agent? No, He did not. Next year the same 
drama will be repeated with Chris Webber, Michael 
Finley and others and still nobody will sign with the 
Bulls. The Bulls this way will always be way below the 
cap. The only failure of Krause this year is that he 
did not get Jermaine O'Neal this year. 

The Bulls will Suck again this year. They may win a 
little more games than last year. The Bulls will get 
many draft picks (Probably No.1 also). Krause will use 
these draft picks judiciously and pick good college 
talent. The Bulls already have a young core of 
players, Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Marcus Fizer, Jamal 
Crawford, Khalid El Amin and Brad Miller. Add to this 
young crop players with potential. What you get is a 
team of the future. There are impact players who make 
the transition from college to NBA very easily (For ex. 
Tim Duncan). Krause wont take what he needs. He will 
pick the best talent he can get in the pick. In the 
next two years the Bulls will have the best young 
talent. When Brand and Artest become free agents, 
Krause will use the cap space to re-sign them. The next 
thing Krause will do is to sign a big name coach to 
teach these youngsters to win. He will also get 
veterans to groom these youngsters. The Bulls will be 
playoff bound in the weak east in two years and may 
become contenders in next five years. 

What Krause has done after the departure of 
Micheal and Scottie is to lower the expectations of 
people. If he had signed some players then, they would 
have had to deal with the expectations of the fans. 
The Bulls fans now will be jubilant if the team make 
the playoffs. Remember, the Celtics have been 
rebuilding years after Bird left and they still have 
not found success. What Krause has done is he has 
cleaned the slate and has started afresh. I think the 
sratergy of Krause will work.

People might say that since I am from INDIA, I may not 
know much about basketball or I dont hear much news 
about the NBA. That may be true, but my views are also 
not coloured by the views of the media. I am able to 
put things in a perspective and think about it rather 
than somebody giving me a view.

Jerry Riensdorf is not stupid to keep Jerry Krause 
after so much negative publicity. He knows what Krause 
is up to and supports it. After some years when Krause 
succeeds in his mission, the media will forget 
everything and call him a genius. I will proclaim him 
as a genius right now. 

____________
InsideHoops Fan Contribution
9/29/2000

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