Chicago Bulls: 5 times Jerry Krause whiffed in the NBA Draft as GM

Throughout most of the dynasty years, general manager Jerry Krause and the Chicago Bulls did a good job in the NBA Draft, except on a few occasions.

A very grim focus on the end of the run for former Chicago Bulls legendary head coach Phil Jackson during the 10-part ESPN/ABC documentary series on the 1997-98 title run called “The Last Dance” was highlighted in the first four episodes. The friction that occurred for Jackson within the Bulls organization was largely caused by general manager Jerry Krause.

In the first four parts of The Last Dance, Krause wasn’t shown in the best light. That is largely due to how he somewhat forced Jackson out of the Windy City following the 1997-98 season. Jackson was the one who coined the term “The Last Dance” once he figured out that he wasn’t likely to be back with the Bulls following this last title run.

Both Jackson and all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan would be done with the Bulls for good heading into the 1998 offseason. Krause would be the Bulls general manager for a while longer, until 2003.

The attempts for Krause to rebuild the Bulls brought mixed, but mostly poor results once the title years were over. He would have a shot to try and rebuild this Bulls team in another five rounds of the NBA Draft prior to the end of his run as the general manager. It is interesting to see how his NBA Draft picks figured into that “baby Bulls” team that finally found success under John Paxson. Now the Bulls are trying to fix a rebuild that Paxson and former general manager Gar Forman largely botched in the last three or four years.

Here’s a look into the five biggest NBA Draft misses that Jerry Krause had during his tenure as general manager with the Chicago Bulls.