Just about every basketball expert, reporter, and fan has weighed in on the debate between LeBron James and Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all-time, but fans have never heard from the architect of the Chicago Bulls dynasty.
Until now.
That’s because former Bulls G.M. Jerry Krause, in a podcasted interview with the Vertical, was asked about the comparison on Monday. In discussing the issue, Krause went with the oldest argument in the book in favor of Jordan: that he never demanded that his G.M. acquire elite players to help him win championships.
“I’ll say this about him: he never came to me and asked for other players,” Krause said. “He never came to me and asked me to draft a player. He never came to me to ask me to trade for a player. Never once did that happen.”
Obviously Jordan had plenty of great teammates, including Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Horace Grant, but he never left Chicago in search of teammates to play with like James did when he signed with Miami to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, according to Krause’s argument.
“Part of it was that he thought he was so darn good he thought he could win without them, I’m sure of that,” Krause said.
Under Krause’s guidance, Jordan’s Bulls teams won six championships and never lost an NBA Finals series. Meanwhile, James has gone to the NBA Finals on seven different occasions, winning three titles (including the 2016 crown with the Cavaliers).
