Former Chicago Bulls player Corey Benjamin recently gave some insight to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype about the post-Michael Jordan era in Chicago. Among these nuggets, Benjamin, who played for the Bulls from 1998-2001, noted the franchise was low-balling would-be All-Stars like Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O'Neal in free agency, resting on the laurels of the Bulls' six championships in eight years.
Via HoopsHype:
“I had Arn Tellem as an agent and Arn represented a lot of star players. The Bulls were trying to sign free agents. I hosted Tracy McGrady, Tim Thomas and Jermaine O’Neal when we brought them in. I was there personally for those [meetings] because we were all represented by the same agent (Arn),” Benjamin recalled. “I remember Jerry Krause told me, ‘If you can get them to sign, I’ll renew your contract.’
“I don’t remember Tim Duncan coming in, but I know we wanted Duncan. But we weren’t offering them the money that other teams were offering. I remember Tracy and Jermaine telling me, ‘They’re offering me peanuts.’ They weren’t trying to max these guys out; they were trying to give these guys smaller contracts.”
If Benjamin is right about this assertion, this is the same Jerry Krause who wanted credit for assembling six championship rosters low-balling would-be All-Stars by making use of the Bulls' success.
Former beat writer Kent McDill confirmed as much:
“That sounds right,” he said. “The Bulls organization – whether it be Krause or Reinsdorf – thought that you would take a pay cut in order to be a member of the Chicago Bulls, that being associated with a franchise this successful is worth more than the money you can make elsewhere. Nobody, nobody, was buying that argument.”
Instead of offering top dollar, Krause and Reinsdorf tried to sell the Bulls as a championship-winning organization, even after trading Scottie Pippen and Steve Kerr, releasing Dennis Rodman, and letting the greatest player to come through their franchise retire after winning a second three-peat. Needless to say, the strategy didn't work out too well.
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