The Last Dance Episodes 1 & 2 Biggest Takeaways
Jerry Krause Ruined The Greatest Dynasty Ever…. but Still Deserves More Credit
One of the biggest overall takeaways from the documentary was the overwhelming feeling that the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls Jerry Krause ruined arguably the greatest dynasty ever.
This documentary definitely painted Krause as the bad guy, and for good reason.
Before entering the ‘97–’98 season Krause had made it clear that he was trying to tear this team apart and trying to move forward in a different direction. This meant that although Krause had the best coach and best player at his disposal, both of whom were going for their 3rd straight championship, he still decided to go against all logic and break this team up.
Why? You may ask. We’ll get into the reasoning a little later.
First we have to address the fact that although Krause was probably the biggest reason why the Bulls broke apart, he deserves a lot more credit for assembling a powerhouse.
He built the ideal team to surround Jordan. He made a draft day deal to acquire Scottie Pippen, he drafted Horace Grant, traded for Dennis Rodman, and gave a coaching position to Phil Jackson.
Jordan admitted during the documentary that although he enjoyed having Charles Oakley as his teammate, that trading Oakley helped put the Bulls in a better position to win a championship.
Krause did an exceptional job building a championship contender, which is a much harder job than one might think. There has to be an immense pressure having the greatest player of all time on your team, if you don’t win with Jordan, people may wonder why you’re still employed.
It is necessary to find the players to compliment his game, and to also find a coach to compliment his playstyle. Krause did just that.
Of course Jordan deserves the vast majority of credit, but there are plenty of great coaches and players who don’t win championships. Krause put certain things in place to make sure that that didn’t happen.
Getting back to the reasoning behind why Krause decided to break up a dynasty going for their 3rd straight championship, and their 6th championship in 8 years.
According to the documentary many believe that Krause had an ego problem. Many believed that Krasue felt as though he wasn’t getting enough attention during the Bulls’ championship runs.
Jackson, Jordan, and Pippen were the ones receiving most of the credit by the media and fans for the Bulls’ success. This quite possibly didn’t sit well with Krause. It’s almost as if Krause didn’t care for those championships if he wasn’t the one in the spotlight.
How selfish can one guy be? The people that you picked to put the best product out there on the court are winning YOU championships and making YOU millions, and all you are concerned about is who gets the most credit?
Before the ‘97-’98 season started Krause made it very clear that this would be Jackson’s last year as coach. Jordan has stated that he is not playing for another coach. How is the team morale, focus, and confidence supposed to be after hearing this?
On top of all this he was underpaying Pippen and actively trying to trade him.
A ton of Krause’s actions were straight up selfish! How can he expect to get the same amount of attention as the players and coaches, I’m sure many Bulls’ fans didn’t even know how he looked.
Well I’m sorry if a 4’11 overweight GM isn’t as marketable as a global superstar who can dunk a basketball from the foul line. Krause won multiple GM of the Year awards, after that I don’t know what other sort of recognition he wanted.
Krause deserves a ton of credit for putting a championship level team on the court, but sadly the negatives heavily outweigh the positives when it comes to Krause. The biggest negative being that he may have dismantled a dynasty a little earlier than he should have, and did it in a classless way.
Jerry Reinsdorf should not be off the Hook
Jerry Reinsdorf is the current Chicago Bulls owner and he was the owner of the Bulls all throughout the 90s. Now as much ridicule as Krause gets, Reinsdorf deserves his fair share of ridicule as well.
Krause was only the GM, meaning that Krause had a boss. That boss was Reinsdorf.
Reinsdorf at any time could have stepped in and told Krause that the organization was not going to follow through with his plans. Krause made his intentions clear to everyone. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Krause’s plans weren’t what was best for the team.
When Krause was actively looking to trade Pippen, Reinsdorf could have stepped up. When Pippen was grossly underpaid, Reinsdorf should have stepped up. Reisdorf had the ability to stop any idiocy that Krause had planned.
There were many alternatives that I’m sure Krause refused to explore due to his enormous ego. Reinsdorf could have easily injected himself and found a much better solution.
Reinsdorf knew Krause’s intentions, knew the reasoning behind his intentions, and knew the Bulls were winning championships, and he still let Krause go through with his plans. He knew what needed to be done.
The way I see it Reinsdorf is equal to blame, if not should take more of the blame because he was Krause’s boss.
Scottie Pippen was Mistreated but was Selfish
Scottie Pippen may not ever get the credit that he truly deserves, because he played along side the greatest player to ever step on the hardwood. One thing is for sure is that he is underrated. It’s a shame that he’ll always be known as the Robin to Jordan’s Batman, but it takes a very special person that is willing to take the backseat.
There are not many athletes out there that will willingly take that backseat knowing that they can sit in the front on another team. It takes a very special person to put their ego aside for the betterment of a franchise (unlike Krause).
It takes a very special person to stay on a team knowing that another player is going to get more credit, praise, adoration, and money. Especially when they know that if they were to go to a different team that those same things would be awarded to them.
It seemed as though that not having the spotlight didn’t really matter to Pippen. He seemed to be more than content with winning championships. The thing that truly seemed to bother him the most was the fact that Krause was looking to trade Pippen on multiple occasions.
Pippen had put his blood sweat and tears into this organization and was a pivotal part of the Bulls’ championship runs.
Pippen also didn’t like the fact that Krasue almost seemed to try to get Pippen traded behind his back. Pippen mentioned during the documentary that Krause was completely different in front of the media, compared to how he acted in front of Pippen. He would much rather have Krause taken a more direct approach, and at least let Pippen know Krause’s true intention.
Another reason Krause was trying to give the Bulls a fresh start was because he believed along with some other people in the higher ups that many of the Bulls players were on the decline. So the idea was to trade some of the players while they still had value before they inevitably wear down.
These issues coupled with the fact that Pippen was grossly underpaid could not have made things easy for him.
Keep in mind that this was a different era. An era in which didn’t include the massive TV deals that we see in today’s game, and an era in which role players weren’t paid 60 million.
We were not accustomed to seeing teams back out dumpster trucks full of money for players.
While I’m sure that Pippen wouldn’t mind a bigger payday back then, in the documentary he didn’t seem all that frazzled by it.
I’m also sure that being underpaid doesn’t help with what he was going through.
One thing that must be pointed out when talking about Scottie Pippen’s contract is the fact that he was heavily advised against it. Reinsdorf warned Pippen not to sign the contract, as he believed that Pippen was underselling himself a little.
For those of you that don’t know, allow me to fill you in. Scottie Pippen once a free agent decided to resign with the Bulls, he was offered a 7 year, 18 million dollar contract. Reinsdorf recommended for Pippen to take a shorter term deal, so that Pippen would have a chance for a larger payout down the road.
Pippen decided against this and decided to take the long term security and sign that contract. Reinsdorf and Krause let Pippen know that if he were to outplay his contract that there is no turning back, and once you sign this deal, it is set in stone.
The reason that Pippen decided to take this deal is because he came from humble beginnings, and he wanted the long term guarantee that he and his family would be financially set. He had two paralyzed members in his family and he always felt like it was his obligation to take care of them.
One of Pippen’s family members in the documentary mentioned that he did just that, he fulfilled his obligations and took care of his family handsomely.
Pippen didn’t want any unforeseen circumstances to arise and strip him of any ability to take care of his family financially.
Regardless of Pippen’s prior contractual agreement with the Bulls, the organization should have stepped up and did what was right. Seeing the progression in Pippen’s game, seeing the championships won, seeing the millions flow into their pockets because of Pippen, and seeing the revenue flow into the NBA as a whole, there is no excuse why Pippen was that criminally underpaid.
They couldn’t have felt good seeing a top 5 player in the league being paid so little. One of the best players in the entire league at the time wasn’t in the top 100 when it came to salary.
Some people viewed Pippen’s actions leading up to the ‘97-’98 season as justification for what was going on, but many others viewed it as selfish.
During the ’97 playoffs Pippen sustained an injury, Pippen admitted in the documentary that he could have had surgery right after the playoffs and he would have been ready to start the season.
Instead he selfishly delayed his surgery knowing that he would miss a significant amount of games. Pippen admitted in the documentary that he felt as though the Bulls organization wasn’t excited to have him back, so he decided to give the organization a sneak peek how life would be without him.
While working his way back, Pippen also said openly that he wanted a trade and that he would likely never suit up for the Chicago Bulls ever again.
I understand why Scottie Pippen felt underappreciated by the organization, but actions like these are without a doubt selfish.
No matter what the higher ups thought of Pippen, he was revered and loved by his teammates. Whether he realized it or not, his teammates were the ones who were most affected by his actions.
His teammates were trying to accomplish something great, trying to win 3 straight championships for the 2nd time in their franchise’s history. He knew how handicapped the team would be without his presence.
It’s much easier said than done to sit here and say that Pippen should have just sucked it up and gotten the surgery and be ready for the season.
We also can’t sit here and act like he wasn’t being mistreated. Having the organization that drafted you, ignore your hard work, and actively try to get rid of you cannot be easy.
Overall “The Last Dance” documentary was great as it was informative and I am eager to break down parts 3 and 4.
