Former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause didn’t mention LeBron James by name, but his subtle dig at the impatient Cavaliers star likely adds salt to a still open wound.
Krause brought James’ shots at his teammates back to the forefront on Sunday when he made every basketball fan’s favorite comparison, though indirectly, explaining Michael Jordan’s selfless approach to the Bulls’ personnel decisions in the 1980s and ’90s.
According to the two-time NBA Executive of the Year, Jordan never complained — “whined,” as Charles Barkley might say — about who the organization put around him during his twelve iconic seasons in Chicago, which included six NBA championships.
“I’ll say this about him, he never came to me and asked for other players,” Krause said on The Vertical this week. “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. Part of it was he thought he was so darn good he thought he could win without them, I’m sure of that…Michael was smart enough to understand the organization and he understood what we had to do as an organization…He never complained to me.”
James initiated a spirited debate among former NBA players and TV analysts, most notably Barkley and his weeklong, oddly personal feud with James, when he questioned his teammates’ passion in an interview following a Cavaliers’ loss to the Pelicans.
“I just hope that we’re not satisfied as an organization … I just hope we’re not satisfied,” James said. “We’re not better than last year, from a personnel standpoint. … “We need a f—ing playmaker. … I’m not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn’t say that.”
Barkley found James’ comments “inappropriate” and, as is always the case with Barkley and his fiery personality, didn’t hold back from telling him.
“Whiny. All of the above,” he said about James’ criticisms. “The Cleveland Cavaliers, they have given him everything he wanted.”
James fired right back at Barkley, calling him a “hater” among other insults, and was lauded by former teammate Dwyane Wade, for defending himself.
But how can you defend against the ultimate praise for arguably the greatest basketball player of all time?
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