Jerry Krause

Jerome Richard Krause (April 6, 1939 – March 21, 2017) was an American sports scout and executive who was the general manager of the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1985 to 2003.

Krause was born in 1939 to a Jewish family and grew up in Chicago.

He played high school baseball as a catcher at Taft High School in Chicago and attended Bradley University.

After college, he went to work as a scout with the Baltimore Bullets.

Early on, Krause gained a reputation of being able to spot talent.

He is credited by some for discovering future Hall-of-Famer Earl Monroe.

While with the Bullets, Krause urged the team to pick North Dakota forward Phil Jackson in the 1967 NBA draft.

The Bullets did not draft him, but Krause continued to keep in touch during Jackson's playing career and into his first years as a coach.

Their relationship flourished during the 1970s and 1980s.

While Jackson was coaching the Albany Patroons in the Continental Basketball Association, Krause once called him to ask for an analysis of the league's players, which Jackson provided in detail.

After a few years with Baltimore, Krause worked as a scout with the Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Chicago Bulls in the 1970s.

Krause also worked as a baseball scout.

He worked in the 1970s for the Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Chicago White Sox.

While working for the Mariners, Krause continued to scout part-time for the Lakers.

As a White Sox scout, he played a role in the signing of Ozzie Guillén and Kenny Williams, who would lead the White Sox to a World Series championship in as manager and general manager, respectively.

He scouted for the White Sox until 1984.

Krause replaced Rod Thorn as Chicago Bulls General Manager ahead of the 1985–86 NBA season.

Krause's first hire with the Bulls was longtime personal friend Tex Winter.

Krause hired Winter as an assistant bench coach.

Krause urged Winter to teach all of the Bulls players, especially Michael Jordan, the Triangle Offense.

Winter had learned the triangle offense as a college player at USC under then head coach Sam Barry, and later used it to successfully guide Kansas State to a number one ranking.

Krause fired then-head coach Doug Collins and replaced him with assistant coach Phil Jackson because Collins would not let Winter do as Krause had instructed.

In the 1987 NBA draft, Krause chose power forward Horace Grant.

He also traded draft pick Olden Polynice, a center, for Seattle's first-round draft pick, small forward and future Bulls star Scottie Pippen.

Krause received the NBA Executive of the Year Award in 1988 and 1996.

In 1988, Krause traded power forward Charles Oakley to the New York Knicks for center Bill Cartwright.

Oakley was Jordan's best friend on the team, and Jordan despised the trade.

He and Oakley learned of the trade while they were on their way to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson fight.

By 1988, the Bulls had assembled their starting five players (guards Jordan and Paxson, forwards Pippen and Grant, and center Cartwright) for the team that would reach five consecutive Eastern Conference finals from 1989–93 and win three consecutive NBA championships from 1991–93.

Krause was named NBA Executive of the Year in 1988.

In 1989 and 1990, Krause added depth to the roster.

Perhaps most importantly, Cartwright proved to be the league's best center at defending Patrick Ewing, the New York Knicks' star who was the key player on the Bulls' most important early-1990s conference rival.

Jordan later acknowledged that Krause had made the correct move in trading Oakley for Cartwright.

His tenure with the Bulls included their six NBA championships between 1991 and 1998, led by superstar player Michael Jordan.

At the time Krause became the Bulls' general manager, Michael Jordan and John Paxson — two of the five players who would become key parts of the team that would win three consecutive championships from 1991 to 1993--were already on the team.

Krause began building the foundation for future success by turning over the Bulls roster and building up a collection of draft picks.

Grant and Pippen were, along with Jordan, cornerstones of the Bulls' 1991–1993 championship teams.

Cartwright turned out to be everything the Bulls needed, however, providing a presence in the middle for all three Bulls championships from 1991–1993.

He was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.

His career in sports included positions as a scout or general manager for the Baltimore Bullets, Chicago White Sox, and the Chicago Bulls.