STATEMENT FROM JERRY KRAUSE
"The rigors and stress of the job have caused me some minorphysical problems in the past few years. Those problems can beeliminated if I lessen my load for a while and concentrate onovercoming them. My first obligation is to accomplish that for mywife, children and grandchildren.
"It is only fair to the players and staff that Jerry Reinsdorf beable to select my successor as soon as possible prior to the draftjust as he did with me on March 26, 1985.
"I take great pride in what we've accomplished here. The staff,players and coaches will always be a bright spot in my heart.
"Upon leaving, I'm very confident that we have assembled the keypieces so that the franchise can return to the NBA's elite teams inthe very near future.
"I am not retiring. I'm going to take some time off and spend itwith my family before making any decision on my future. I will leavemy options open.
"I want to thank Jerry Reinsdorf for giving me the opportunity tofulfill a lifelong dream, to be able to general manage a team in mybirthplace, the greatest city in the world.
"I have chosen not to have a press conference with regard to thisannouncement. This was an extremely hard decision to make, and Ibelieve there is no need to belabor it."
STATEMENT FROM JERRY REINSDORF
"Jerry Krause is one of a kind. He brought with him a vision ofhow to build a champion, and he proceeded to create one of the mostdominant champions of all time. No basketball fan in America canbegin to imagine the World Champion Chicago Bulls without hisimprint. There would not have been a coach Phil Jackson. There wouldnot have been Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, Dennis Rodman or ahost of others who wore Bulls uniforms during those championshipseasons. He creatively surrounded the best player in the world,Michael Jordan, with the kind of talent to be a consistent andexciting winner.
"I am already considering successors and plan to announce onewithin the next month. It is vital that the new general manager be inplace as soon as possible to evaluate talent both on the current teamand throughout the league to take maximum advantage of the upcomingdraft and free-agent signing season. We now have the nucleus for thenext elite Bulls team and are enthusiastic about our prospects forthe next few seasons.
"Personally, Jerry has always been a battler, and the Bullssupport his decision to put his health first. We wish him, and hisfamily, the very best."
No comments:
Post a Comment