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NBA BASKETBALL
Did Krause Have a Plan? Does He Now?
<December 27, 2001>
By
Don Ellis
Tim Floyd's resignation puts the
pressure on Krause
Many wondered what Bulls
general manager Jerry Krause was thinking when he brought
in veteran free-speaker Charles Oakley in the off-season.
If Charles would publicly criticize the winningest coach
of all-time, Toronto coach Lenny Wilkens, what did Krause
think Oak would have to say about the losingest coach
of all time?
Naturally, it took Charles - who once claimed that 60%
of the players in the NBA smoke marijuana - only five
games to tell everyone in the media (and in the Bulls'
clubhouse) what a lousy coach Floyd was. After the worst
loss in the Bulls' 36-year history - a 127-74 loss at
Minnesota on November 8th - Oakley let it be known that
he didn't appreciate seeing all five starters benched
with the Bulls trailing 27-10 late in the first quarter.
''If he challenged our effort, he has to challenge the
way he does things,'' Oakley said at the time. ''He's
got guys out there with different lineup changes every
day. Every coach knows five-man substitutions don't
work. I'm a veteran and don't want to tell the coach
what to do, but sooner or later, somebody has to put
a stop to it and wonder what's going on around here.''
The next day, reports surfaced that a fiery team meeting
ended with Floyd refusing to run practice and telling
Oakley to go coach the team, with Floyd rarely straying
from his office during the session. Krause fined Oakley
$50,000 for his public lashing of Floyd, followed by
several of Oakley's teammates offering to pay the fine
for him- an extremely generous offer, considering the
fact that Oakley is the highest-paid player on the Bulls'
roster ($7.3 million this season).
Soon thereafter, Bulls rookie Tyson Chandler publicly
stated that Floyd hadn't defined exactly what he wanted
out of Chandler. As of late, it's fellow high-school
rookie Eddy Curry who has been wondering why he played
a total of 2 minutes in a recent five-game stretch,
despite the fact that he had been very successful early
in the season, averaging 6.2 points in only 11.2 minutes
in his first five NBA games.
In between, Floyd supposedly told his team that he would
quit if that's what the players wanted, although he
denied the report publicly. Floyd, who had been branded
"Pink Floyd" by Michael Jordan soon after Floyd's arrival
in Chicago, soon was fighting for his job and his reputation
as a coach, stating that every day in the Windy City
"has been hell". It was all downhill from there, with
the only surprising thing about his resignation being
that it came of Christmas Eve.
The timing is merrily ironic for some Bulls fans, who
have long called for a change in the coaching ranks
and consider Floyd's resignation to be an early Christmas
present. Floyd asked for some veteran help during the
off-season, and he got some- not the Antonio Davis and
Tim Hardaway he pined for, but many feel that even Charles
Oakley and Greg Anthony should have been good enough
for more than four wins in 25 games this season.
During the past three seasons, Floyd was generally allowed
to pass go and collect his $200 without much criticism,
because most of the free world blamed Krause for breaking
up the Bulls dynasty and replacing Michael Jordan, Scottie
Pippen, Toni Kukoc and Dennis Rodman with Rusty LaRue,
Kornel David, Chris Anstey and Dragan Tarlac. Most importantly,
Floyd's players- and fellow coaches such as Jeff Van
Gundy and Pat Riley- defended Floyd, almost to a fault.
Then Charles Oakley came to town, he criticized Floyd,
and the players were no longer in the coach's corner.
Did Krause bring Oakley in to "persuade" Krause's hand-picked
coach and fishing buddy to quit? We'll probably never
know for sure, but one thing is certain- the next coach
Krause brings in had better start to win some games.
Soon.
Once the coach is fired, if the team continues to lose,
the GM is naturally the next to go. Whether Krause deserves
the blame for the prematurely breaking up the Bulls
dynasty or not, his famous "organizations, not players,
win championships" statement puts his head squarely
on the chopping block now that Floyd is gone. If Krause's
organization continues to lose games at a record pace-
Floyd leaves with a career 49-190 record, worst in NBA
history- Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will have no
choice but to replace Krause, his long-time right-hand
man, next.
Whoever Krause brings in to coach the Bulls- the early
favorite would seem to be Bill Cartright, the only Floyd
assistant (other than interim coach Bill Berry) who
still has a job - had better win some games quickly.
With Ron Artest now healthy, Jamal Crawford saying he'll
be back not long after the All-Star break, and Chandler
and Curry (and 2nd-round pick Trenton Hassell, an early
surprise) each improving with experience, 16-41 isn't
too much to expect the rest of the season. If the Bulls
can't at least do that, the next resignation press conference
Krause appears at will most likely be his own.
Don Ellis is a regular columnist
at bulls4ever.com
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