Jerry Krause Also Deserves Some Credit For the Los Angeles Lakers' Titles

Jerry Krause has taken a lot of abuse in The Last Dance as the man who helped build and then destroy Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. First in old footage from Jordan and Scottie Pippen, and then in new interviews and on the internet from people wondering how you walk away from Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson before you absolutely have to. It would be very interesting to hear Krause's side of these stories, but Phil Jackson gave him a lot of credit after his death in 2017. Via Bulls.com:

"“I had to temper what to say when I was in LA,” Jackson admitted. “I couldn’t say, ‘The Bulls wouldn’t do things this way.’ The Lakers felt they knew how to do things even though they were 10 years behind Jerry. We had the cable system (Jerry) Reinsdorf put in at the Berto Center to tape all the games we wanted."

And here's something from the 90's Bulls that is good to keep in mind as the NBA strives to finish their season. LeBron saying players need a month to get ready doesn't sound so bad.

"We started using an internist as the doctor to process players’ needs as a whole player and not just (a specialist). He used (Al) Vermeil in weight training. Our players were on offseason programs training. He bought into Al’s belief it took 10 weeks or more for a player to build a base to work through during the course of a season."

Coincidentally, the Lakers caught up to the Bulls as they added Hall of Famers. What came first, the Hall of Fame chicken or the in-house massage therapist?

"We had a psychologist available; all these things when I went to L.A. were not in place, video, medical, therapist, massage therapy. One season with all those four in five nights we had no injuries, one player all season on a 10-day contract. He was ahead of the curve I’d say by 10 years in a lot of the things we did for the whole person, a players’ total being.”"

While Jackson turned around the Lakers using the lessons he learned from Krause, the Bulls were trying to win number seven. It never happened, but Krause was positive it would and told Ron Artest as much. That never worked out.