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North: Should Jerry Krause be in the Hall of Fame?

OK, now is the time to fess up Chicago Bulls fans — not about the disappointing season or sputtering of the franchise. No, it's time to talk about a guy who had as prominent a role as anyone in the Bulls organization outside of Michael Jordan.

His name, that so many apparently have forgotten, is Jerry Krause, the former general manager.

I'm sure the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will survive, but if a general manager of a six-time NBA championship franchise isn't in, then there's something wrong.

When Krause came on different radio shows during the team's championship run, including my own, you would think he hadn't won a thing by the disdain he experienced. While I wasn't as mean-spirited as some in the media were to Krause, I didn't agree with him all the time either.

When Krause came on the air once with the “Monsters” (Dan Jiggetts and myself), he told us Jordan didn't win a title until Bill Cartwright became a Bull.

I quickly responded that he had things in reverse: that Cartwright didn't win a championship until he played with Jordan.

But guess what? We were both right!

I asked Rod Higgins, who once served as the president of Jordan's Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets, on my Fox Sports radio show about the players' treatment of Krause. Higgins, a former Bulls player and MJ confidant, thought Jordan, after his experiences as the primary owner of the Hornets, would view Krause and his accomplishments differently today.

There is no denying Krause helped the Bulls and Jordan win six titles with some of his acquisitions, from Scottie Pippen to Tony Kukoc to Ron Harper to Dennis Rodman, and the list goes on. In fairness, people have to admit Krause left a huge footprint in the Bulls' history books.

Now congratulations go out again to Jerry Reinsdorf for making basketball's Hall of Fame because he was the guy who paid big money to Jordan and others and kept the winning train going.

Still, some players and media members treated Krause poorly. Once Michael left, Krause hired Tim Floyd and the Bulls went south pretty fast.

Yet as the GM of the Bulls, Krause still won six championship titles, and if you Google the HOF, you will see many inductees who don't come close to matching his resume.

Krause deserves to be in, and I know how to make it happen. MJ has to know he doesn't have Krause's skills when it comes to running a franchise, but if Jordan would be straight up and say Krause deserves to be in, then I believe Krause would be in the next year.

It can't be Pippen — it has to come from Jordan. Hey Mike, it's your move!

Program notes:

Follow me on Twitter@ north2north, and listen to Fox Sports Daybreak with Andy Furman and myself from 5-8 a.m. Monday through Friday on Fox Sports radio, and check me out on iHeart radio or Foxsportsradio.com.

• North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.

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