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Jamal Crawford: Krause's Bulls Wanted Duncan, Hill, McGrady After Jordan's Exit
May 19, 2020
The Chicago Bulls have never come close to replicating their dominance of the 1990s when Michael Jordan was leading the way, but former general manager Jerry Krause apparently had his eyes on building another superteam in the 2000s.
Jamal Crawford, who played for the Bulls from 2000-01 through 2003-04, said on The Platform podcast Krause believed Chicago was going to sign Grant Hill, Tim Duncan and Tracy McGrady with its cap space shortly after Jordan retired in 1998.
"Jerry wholeheartedly believed we would get all three of them," Crawford said.
There may be more than six championship banners hanging in the rafters of the United Center if Krause was able to pull that off.
Instead, he missed on all three even though he famously met McGrady at the airport in an effort to convince him to sign in Chicago. All three went on to Hall of Fame careers, and Duncan won five championships with the San Antonio Spurs.
The Bulls languished near the bottom of the league and went 119-341 in the six seasons after Jordan retired and head coach Phil Jackson went elsewhere. To make matters worse for Krause, Jackson won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers while the Bulls remained in rebuilding mode without any marquee free agents.
