Weren't most of the players on the 1999 Knicks and Spurs either past their prime or entirely without a prime? The main exception, of course, is Duncan, but he wasn't yet at his peak, though he was very, very good as a rookie.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

Watered down NBA? Stop with that nonsense. There were some really good players and teams in the 90s.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

Watered down NBA? Stop with that nonsense. There were some really good players and teams in the 90s.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

The 1990s NBA: No, Bad, Actually. You heard it here first, seriously, because no one has ever said that before.

We need to consult tv ratings

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Jordan and a watered down NBA were the primary reason for the 6 championships. Not Krause. And "genius"architects don't get that stupid all of a sudden. Krause demonstrated what he "knew" about building championship teams once Jordan left. Which was very little actually in retrospect.

Okay so your counter argument is to just assert stuff with no reasoning or evidence. Got it. Makes sense that you're a fields guy too. Hope you're still enjoying tracking the storied career of Patrick Williams.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

When did I say Jordan doesn't deserve credit? That's a dumb thing to allege. Jordan was the best player on those teams.

Are you saying Jordan scouted Scottie Pippen in college and then traded up to draft him?

I'm close to the center on most issues.

No what I am telling you is that Jerry Krause didn't scout Scottie Pippen in college either. And Jordan was the best player in NBA history. Not just "those teams"

In this excerpt, Krause wistfully wrote about the first time he saw Pippen play at the Portsmouth Invitational in Virginia, an annual predraft showcase:

Love at first sight — pure scouting love. Sitting high in the stands away from the other teams’ scouts and general managers as the teams came out to warm up before the last game of the tournament’s first round, I looked at (Bulls scout) Billy (McKinney) and said, ‘That’s Pippen, isn’t it?’ I could tell by his long arms. And the rest of the body — the shoulders, the feet. Wow. I’m thinking, ‘If he can play, this could be something.’

After about a quarter of the first game, the question of could he play had been answered. After the game, I told Billy to change his plans and stay in Portsmouth for the game the next night and to tell me which general managers changed their plans and stayed to watch the kid. Most of us were headed home for a day on the way to the next (predraft) tournament in Honolulu. I prayed that Pippen’s team would get beat the next night and not make it to the finals and that (NBA scouting director Marty) Blake wouldn’t invite him to Hawaii. No such luck. Scottie was the most valuable player award (winner) and was on his way to Hawaii.

In Hawaii, as the competition got better, so did Pippen. The thought of this guy playing alongside Michael (Jordan) caused this scout’s mind to work overtime. The quickest, longest-armed, most tremendous lateral quickness combination in the game . . . we had to get this guy.

We had the eighth and 10th picks in the draft. I learned that Sacramento, picking sixth, told everyone they were set on taking North Carolina point guard Kenny Smith. But I also found out they had cornered Pippen and asked him a bunch of questions and that Smith, who had a questionable knee in college, had taken (medical) tests for every team from Nos. 6 to 12 but us and Sacramento.

We worked out Pippen. It was the best individual workout I’d ever seen. (Strength and conditioning coach) Al (Vermeil) had a drill which measures lateral quickness and pure desire called a three-ball drill. A player has 30 seconds to get as many balls in the basket, basically by moving from a box on one side of the lane, picking the ball up and dunking it or laying it in the basket and moving to the other side of the lane to do it again. Scottie stunned everyone by setting a record that would last for the next 11 years.

We took him to dinner, to breakfast and spent time in between. We asked a ton of questions about his background and gave him psychological tests. When he left, I was more convinced than ever this was a player we had to have.

Figuring Sacramento at No. 6 was lying and would take Pippen, I knew we had to move up to No. 5 owned by Seattle. The Clippers were picking fourth. Seattle general manager Bob Whitsitt had a player he wanted at No. 5. If the Clippers took that player, our deal — swap picks No. 5 and No. 8, give them a second-round pick in the 1988 draft, agree to switch a first-round pick at their option in one of the next two drafts and give them two free exhibition games — was on.

Jerry Reinsdorf was on the phone with the Clippers and I was on another phone with Whitsitt when Reinsdorf told me, “The Clippers are taking Reggie Williams, a 6-7 guard from Georgetown.” I told Whitsitt, who told me Williams was the guy he wanted and thus our deal was on. I told him to draft Pippen for us. I never knew what happened in the Sacramento draft room but they took Smith. At No. 8, we took Olden Polynice, a center from Virginia, for Seattle and called the league to say we had a trade.

Michael Jordan was the best player in NBA history in 1987 and Jerry Krause didn't scout Scottie Pippen?

.



https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/nba/ch ... ip/363970/

I'm close to the center on most issues.

The Knicks team wasn't that old at the time. At least not in comparison to the Bulls. That 98vBulls team was cooked minus Jordan. He was back to scoring nearly half the points just for them to have a chance. Rodman never really played again in the NBA and Pippen was nothing more than a role player for the rest of his career. Plus the Great Phil had already said he was up before the season began. The ONLY coach that Jordan stated he would ever play for.

The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

That Knicks team may not have been that old, but it certainly wasn't that good. They were barely above .500 in '99.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

So more mendacity from ltg but I think I understand the core of his overall thesis: Jerry Krause never existed. He's a figment of the public's imagination we created to rationalize how the Bulls could be so successful during that era. In doing so we took credit away from Jordan for scouting and drafting Pippen, Grant, Kukoc, and for trading for Rodman, among others. Credit to Jordan for all of that acquisition and drafting stuff, never realized he pulled all that off until today. Would explain the Bobcats/Hornets' decades of success too under his watch.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

Trick question, there's no such thing as "Jerry Krause".

I'm close to the center on most issues.

Yep, the entire operation was run by Jordan and AI.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

But by the end of 98', neither were the Bulls. Jordan had to outscore the entire team in that last game just to get by Utah. Who didn't make it anywhere near the Finals the following season.

The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

The Bulls certainly were in a state of decline, but they still won the NBA title in '98 and obviously very well could have beaten a chump team like the Knicks in '99. The roster undoubtedly would have been tuned up a little to infuse some energy into it.

When you watched the '99 Finals, did you think the Bulls would have lost to the Knicks or Spurs? I don't think most NBA fans did.

I'm close to the center on most issues.

Are you aware of the circumstances? The entire reason they have all this footage is because it was indeed was "the last dance". Do you think Jordan doesn't know laying it all out there going 110 MPH isn't good for him? That the internal war with management was over and he won.

They were cooked. Nobody had anything left. It was easy 25 years later to say they all wanted to come back and do it again but at the time, they didn't. All they wanted to do was lord it over Krause and Reinsdorf and then go home and sleep for a month.

The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

There was a 50-game season in '99. Of course the Bulls could have won it all. The fact that a documentary crew was following the team around hardly proves otherwise. J

ackson lost the power struggle with Krause. That's why he wanted out. Jackson vilified Krause so that the players wouldn't stick around and win with someone else, thereby diminishing his legacy.

I'm close to the center on most issues.