Chapter 813 - 28 General

The last day of January, evening, an hour and a half before the start of the Chicago Bulls’ game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Michael Jordan sat in the cramped visiting team locker room, in front of his own locker, and he seemed a bit down.

He wore headphones, connected to the latest Sony CD player, and appeared to be sleeping, but it was hard to tell because he was wearing dark sunglasses.

Usually at this time, Jordan would be out on the court warming up with some shooting practice, instead of sitting in the locker room listening to music and feigning sleep.

"What’s up with the General?" Hodges asked Horace Grant, as they both watched Jordan from a distance, "He’s been sulking all day long."

"God knows, maybe there is some trouble at home, or perhaps he got humiliated by Ah Gan again. In the All-Star voting, Ah Gan’s votes exceeded his," said Grant.

"Gossiping is wrong, boys. We’re not a women’s team," Buck-Williams, who was changing nearby, said.

Since Williams joined the Bulls, he set a good example for the younger players. He has the qualifications, plays selflessly, and unlike Bill Cartwright, Jordan appreciates him.

Horace Grant learned a lot from Williams, but it couldn’t change the competitive relationship between the two.

With the arrival of Williams, Grant’s playing time decreased significantly, and Grant believed he was no worse than Williams.

He was younger, faster, and taller than Williams; had the advantage in speed and endurance; the only lack was experience, which could be compensated for through games and training.

Grant worked harder than ever, but his playing time was getting shorter and shorter. Phil Jackson and Jordan trusted the veterans more.

The reason why Jordan seemed unhappy was also related to the veterans issue: Jordan believed there was room for further strengthening the team, and he hoped management could sign Walter Davis.

Jordan’s idea was simple; he thought the team needed to bring in a scorer who could partially replace his role and maintain the Bulls’ firepower when he was off the court.

The Bulls had consistently faced a problem in recent games, which was scoring droughts when Jordan sat out and the second unit played.

Especially when entering the fourth quarter, without Jordan at the start, they often got outscored continuously by the opponents, leading to Jordan having to go back in with the good lead nearly vanished, where he had to go all-out to attack the basket for victory.

Apart from Jordan, the Bulls did not have a second truly competent outside ball-handling soloist. Jordan believed that bringing in Davis could well solve this issue.

Jerry Krause did not think the same; the issues with Davis’ drugs and health made him wary, and Krause believed that acquiring Buck-Williams in the summer had already been a good trade for the team, providing age and experience, and there was no reason to go after a washed-up veteran.

Jordan thought just the opposite; he felt he had long wanted Buck, and now that Buck had arrived, it proved he was right. So why not let Walter Davis come as well?

Jordan always admired Walter Davis. Davis was a predecessor at the University of North Carolina; Jordan played with Davis at school during the summer, and they had faced off in the courts in the 80s. Jordan was very eager to play with Davis.

Regarding Davis’ drug and age issues, Jordan always said, "Trail Blazers could get Bill Walton and Gilmore for Ah Gan, and pick Sabonis, while I never had even one reliable substitute, an excellent veteran! Everything will get better if we play together. Hasn’t the Bulls had players with drug issues in the past?"

Jordan’s words had some merit, but Krause didn’t believe Jordan’s vision was correct. The strong-willed Krause disliked being dictated by players on trades or drafts.

He had his own ideas; he believed that building a team was the manager’s job, and players should just play and not make uncalled-for remarks.

Now, their relationship had deteriorated to the point where they would pass each other face-to-face without a greeting; Jordan thought Krause should step down.

"I think I’ll try to pressure the boss to do something about Krause. It’s not over between us; I’m still going to make that guy step down," Jordan said when the team returned from New Jersey State at the end of January, his declaration to the media was cold and resolute, almost a declaration of war against Jerry Krause.

Very few players would declare war on the management like this, so openly and bluntly informing the media of their thoughts.

In this respect, Jordan was not a politically savvy person; if Ah Gan wanted to kick out the management, he would never do so openly.

He had thousands of ways to make a general manager leave, certainly, Gan Guoyang was better at silently controlling and influencing the management; now most of the Trail Blazers’ trades and drafts had to be approved by Ah Gan.

Bulls owner Reinsdorf, however, did not side with Michael Jordan.

He valued Jordan greatly but that didn’t mean he would obey him at every turn, much less fire his own handpicked general manager for him.

Jordan’s attempt to pressure the boss to fire Krause was quite naive because Krause was the boss’s man.

He had chosen Krause as the manager, one of the reasons was to play bad cop, suppress the players, with himself as the good cop, facilitating better bargaining and control over the team.