RIV: Avery Bradley got 4 yrs, 32 mil with the Celtics. Makes me wonder what Jimmy will get some day? Probably more than I would want to give him.
FRED: Amen. I completely agree. I love Jimmy at his salary in 2014-15 (2.1 million). I don’t love Jimmy at 9 or 10 million per year.
On a different topic, here’s reason 1,354 why Krause was a disaster as a GM. I remembered reading this story in ESPN the Mag back in the day, and I finally found it online. Basically, Krause managed to change Yao’s desire to be drafted by Chicago.
FROM ESPN the MAGAZINE, July 10th, 2012
YAO MING – I was very nervous when I first went onto the court, but the basketball helped me relax. Once I touched the ball, shot it, dribbled it, I forgot there was anybody there. It was nice to learn I could do that in such a strange, big-pressure situation. I’d played in big games before, of course, but never anything where everyone was watching just me. That night I had dinner with Jerry Krause, the Bulls’ general manager. He was staying in the same hotel in a suite on the top floor. He has a house in Chicago, so I’m not sure why he was staying in the hotel. People say Krause likes to be very secretive. He had Chinese takeout food in the little white boxes delivered to the room. Before I knew Houston had the first pick, Chicago was where I wanted to go, mainly because Erik lives there and I thought that would make life easier for me. But after I talked to Krause, I got scared. He said that if I was tired after the NBA season, he would talk to the Chinese Basketball Association and get them to let me rest. That’s what scared me. I wanted to play for the national team, and I didn’t want the CBA to have problems because of me. I didn’t want to go to Chicago after that. I went back to my room and watched the Spurs play the Sonics in the first round of the playoffs.
https://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=8151001&wjb=&pg=1
FRED CONTINUED: Again, the point is, Yao wanted to come to the Bulls until he met Krause. Instead of taking him to a nice Chinese restaurant in Chicago, he sequesters him in a hotel and orders take out. After meeting with Krause, he no longer wanted to come to Chicago. The guy was a disaster with interpersonal skils. I remember reading it then, and thinking, why isn’t this bigger news? No one talked about it on sports radio.
RIV: Sounds like not a big deal. I think Yao was only concerned because Krause didn’t want him to play for the Chinese national team. That would have all been sorted out.
It’s funny when Yao said that he didn’t know why Krause had a room in Yao’s hotel because Krause had a home in Chicago. It was because Krause was trying to be secretive about the meeting. Krause was a truly weird guy
FRED: You can’t be in that position and have the personality of a dirty diaper. I wish some video existed of him playing basketball. Can you imagine that? Hey Jerry, if you can dribble from one end of the court, shoot a jumper, and dibble to the other end, McGrady will sign. I can just see Kruase using 2 hands to dribble and shooting underhand.
OZ: Phil Jackson speaks fondly of him: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-18/sports/chi-jerry-krause-phil-jackson-20140318_1_phil-jackson-new-york-knicks-chicago-bulls
FRED: As John Lennon once famously quipped, “Time wounds all heels”, and Jerry Krause is certainly a heel.
Jerry Krause somehow turned off Yao Ming.