Phil Jackson Believes That Jerry Krause Belongs In Hall Of Fame

Former Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause is a pretty polarizing guy, particularly in Chicago, but at least one person thinks that he belongs in the Professional Basketball Hall of Fame for his work with the team. And that one person is a pretty important one, too.

Phil Jackson, the head coach for the Bulls while Krause ran the team and they won six NBA championships, said on Thursday that he believes that his former boss will get in eventually. Krause, most recently a scout with the Chicago White Sox, helped to build the supporting casts around Michael Jordan that enabled the Bulls to win six championships in eight years. He also gave Jackson his first coaching job in 1990, one year before the Bulls began their historic run.

Krause is also distinctly remembered for the way that he ripped that same Bulls team apart, ridding the team of stars like Scottie Pippen, Ron Harper and Dennis Rodman while leaving pressure on Jordan to simply retire. As we all know by now, Jordan did retire, and the Bulls fell into a brutal period of mediocrity that didn't really end until last year.

Among Krause's most notable moves as Bulls GM include drafting Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant and B.J. Armstrong, trading Charles Oakley for Bill Cartwright, luring Toni Kukoc from Europe and re-tooling the team after their first run of championships with veterans like Harper and Rodman.

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