Chicago Bulls: 5 best Jerry Krause draft picks ever

4. Toni Kukoc, Forward

This former second round draft pick for Krause and the Bulls does get bonus points since he contributed a lot to all of the title teams in the 1990’s alongside the likes of Pippen, Rodman, Jordan, etc. This 6-foot-10 and 195 pound “Croatian Sensation” forward Kukoc was the 29th overall pick of the Bulls in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft.

He wouldn’t join the Bulls until the age of 25, and during the 1993-94 season. Kukoc would spend the bulk of his NBA career with the Bulls, for seven seasons. He also played four with the Milwaukee Bucks, and two each with the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers. All of his career accolades, three NBA Championships, 1993-94 All-Rookie honors, and one Sixth Man of the Year award, would come in a Bulls uniform.

During his seven seasons with the Bulls, Kukoc averaged 14.1 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.4 blocks, while shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 32.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 74.8 percent from the charity stripe. That allowed him to compile a sparkling box plus/minus rating of 3.6, 18.3 value over replacement player rating, .154 win shares per 48 minutes, and a 53.5 true shooting percentage during his run with the Bulls.

Although Kukoc didn’t live up to the billing that Krause lauded on him that he would be the next face of the franchise for the Bulls whenever the days of Jordan and Pippen were done in the Windy City, he still had a solid NBA career. The Bulls might not have won the three titles they did in the late 1990’s (or at least it wouldn’t have been as easy) without Kukoc in the fold.