Sports Illustrated's Phil Taylor:
The End of the
Road
Posted: Wed July 22,
1998
Well, they've finally done it.
The two Jerry's,
Reinsdorf
and
Krause, have done what the 28 other teams in the
NBA could not—bring an end to the Chicago Bulls' dynasty.
Make no mistake, that's exactly what Reinsdorf, the Bulls'
owner and Krause, the GM, have done with their apparent
hiring of Iowa State coach
Tim
Floyd. The two Jerrys have made
Michael
Jordan's decision for him. Floyd, through no fault of his own, is
the one coach Jordan would never play for, under any
circumstances because Floyd is the protegé of
Krause, whom Jordan despises. Reinsdorf and Krause know
this. So curse the two Jerrys for
making Jordan a retiree sooner than he wanted to
be.
If Jordan is gone, free agents
Scottie
Pippen and
Dennis
Rodman are history as well, which means the Bulls are in for a
full-scale rebuilding effort. Krause thinks that this
process can be done quickly, but he's in for a rude
awakening when he finds out that the top free agents aren't
going to be eager to try to
replace Jordan and play for a coach with no pro
experience.
Reinsdorf has spent the last few months telling the media
that he wanted to bring his team back intact next year, but
by hiring Floyd, he showed that was never really the case.
Wish Floyd luck, because he'll need it without the players
who made the
Bulls great. Wish Jordan a happy retirement. Wish Pippen well as
a Phoenix Sun. And wish the two Jerrys about 50 losses next
season. That's what they deserve for making a dynasty
crumble.
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