Jimako10 wrote:Krause's side of the story.
We had the finest coach in the game in Phil Jackson, whom the public did not know didn’t want to coach a rebuilding team and who’d informed us before the season that he wanted to ride off to Montana and take at least a year off.
I don't blame him. Phil, and especially Michael, deserved to not have to worry about a rebuilding team at that point in their careers. I know they were tired. I know they could have been done, but they deserved a chance to go out on their own terms. Not being told before the season even began that this was it.
As the summer wore on and players were locked out of the training facilities by the league — that would mean the NBA season would not start until late January — things got even worse. Michael sliced a finger on a cigar cutter that would’ve prevented him from playing an entire season. To his credit, he could have stiffed us and signed a huge contract. But he was honest and we were well informed what the condition of the hand was. He didn’t want to play on a rebuilding team, and he stuck to his word.
The cigar cutter story always irks me. Maybe for good reason, maybe not. It's become nearly accepted that Jordan would have been hampered during a potential 1999 season due to the finger injury. What I always believed was that at the point that injury occurred, regardless of what was publicly announced, Jordan knew he was not playing that season. Phil was gone. I don't think it is unreasonable to believe that MJ was well aware of what was inevitable and that led him to perhaps, maybe, be a little more lax in judgment during that off-season.
Jordan was a maniac when it came to preparation. I think it is at least reasonable that the cigar cutter incident doesn't happen if MJ is staring down a defense of his seat on the throne and not a retirement press conference.
Glad the series ended as such. 22 years and still rebuilding. Ride it will it’s hot!
