Why did the Chicago Bulls dynasty end? It hasn’t always been clear — until the release of “The Last Dance,” where executives, staffers and players shared their takes on why the NBA’s top dynasty ended so soon.
And Jerry Krause, the former general manager of the Chicago Bulls, apparently wrote about in an unpublished and unfinished memoir, according to NBC Sports.
An excerpt from the unpublished memoir details how the Bulls thought about the final season of the dynasty, and what it would mean for the team to come back for another year.
Krause reportedly wrote that the team considered how much players like Luc Longley and Dennis Rodman began to break down from the multiple championship years. And he explained that winning titles meant they receive worse draft picks, meaning they couldn’t plan for the future.
Krause said it was hard to consider a future where role players like Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler would come back to the team since other clubs would offer them more money.
Scottie Pippen had been through multiple surgeries, too, meaning his stamina was weakening, according to NBC Sports.
It was a bleak future, he wrote. One that the team — built on winning championships — didn’t see as a fitting way to go out.
“Can Michael continue his greatness without a center, power forward and possibly Pippen?” Krause wrote. “Could Bill Russell, the greatest team player ever, have won without great players around him? No. Michael has said publicly that he will not play for a coach other than Phil (Jackson). Phil has told us he’s gone. What does Michael do?”
Jackson ended up joining the Los Angeles Lakers. Jordan came back again for two seasons with the Washington Wizards. Pippen was sent to the Houston Rockets in a deal that made him an extra $20 million, per Bleacher Report.