Though many Chicago Bulls players took to treating long-time general manager Jerry Krause as a less-than, Horace Grant took the high road
So far, the 10-part documentary taking a look at Michael Jordan and his career with the Chicago Bulls has painted a villainous image of long-time Bulls general manager Jerry Krause.
From episode one, Krause is depicted as the reason Phil Jackson’s time as head coach of the Bulls is coming to an end, and the reason the Bulls are entering the very last season with their all-time best player, Michael Jordan. Krause, keeping as long of a view as possible when it came to running the Bulls, figured the team needed to retool and restructure to remain competitive beyond the Jordan era.
Krause is shown as being a general manager that is jealous of the praise his coach and star player got, often looking to point out that the organization is the reason for the success rather than one certain individual.
The roster moves Krause made that angered Jordan would probably run a star player today right out of town.
Throughout the series, there are clips of players — primarily Jordan — picking on Jerry Krause. He’s repeatedly referred to as “crumbs,” which is a reference to the crumbs on his shirt from how much he ate.
To put it briefly, Krause is bullied by Jordan and some other players from the team.
Not every player from the Bulls participated in that bullying, though, as some viewed it as disrespectful and morally wrong, given that Krause was in a position of authority.
One of those players was Horace Grant, who spoke about the uncomfortable nature of plenty of players not liking Krause on the Pardon My Take podcast on Monday:
"“I’m from the south and you always were taught to respect people. And a lot of guys just didn’t see him as the boss. He was our boss. And a lot of times I agreed with a lot of things Jerry Krause did. But for me, saying to Jerry, ‘[you’re] crumbs’ and ‘you this and that’ that would have never come out of my mouth to Jerry Krause. No, ‘cause he was the GM. And you know, I can’t speak for anybody else but none of that ever, ever, ever came out of my mouth,” Grant said."
Jerry Krause, who passed away in 2017, did build winners for the Chicago Bulls. His job was certainly made easier by the likes of Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, but Krause is perhaps unfairly looked at as having nothing to do with the Bulls two three-peat runs in the 90s.
If nothing else, thematically the internal struggle between Krause and Bulls players and coaches is quite fascinating.
Grant seems to take the high road whenever possible, having also smoothed things over with fierce rival Isiah Thomas since retiring from the NBA.