Tex Winter Wants Peace Between Phil Jackson and Jerry Krause

Despite winning six NBA titles together, and forging perhaps the greatest dynasty in League history in Chicago, former Bulls head coach Phil Jackson and general manager Jerry Krause became mortal enemies. Tex Winter — the legendary assistant coach, heading into the Hall of Fame at long last — wants both men to reach a truce. From Yahoo! Sports: “Finally, Winter, the architect of the triangle offense, goes into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this week as a contributor to the game. He’s 89 years old, failing and unable to give his own acceptance speech on Friday night. Nevertheless, Winter did express to Krause one wish for enshrinement weekend. Winter wants the two men to whom he’s most indebted – Krause and Phil Jackson – to rise above years of acrimony and simply shake hands. It’s been a long time, too long, and Krause will grudgingly do it for a simple reason. ‘For Tex, I would jump off a building,’ Krause said. ‘I’ve seen Phil walking down the opposite side of the hallway, and I’ve kept right on going past him. I’ve never stopped. But for Tex, yeah … I’ll do it.’ … Krause and Jackson had a solid relationship for most of a decade together, but eventually contract snags and ego created tension that turned into downright spite. Even after Krause remade the Bulls after Jordan’s comeback with Toni Kukoc, Dennis Rodman and Steve Kerr, Jackson and Jordan still treated him like a punching bag. Jordan had nicknamed him ‘Crumbs’ and viciously rode him in public and private. Jackson and Krause started to clash on money, and eventually Jackson used Krause as an enemy for the Bulls to rally against.”