‘The Last Dance’ documentary will forever be remembered as one of the finest ever and the man who directed it was Jason Hehir. Hehir recently appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast, where he shared that dealing with Michael Jordan’s team wasn’t as hard as he expected and that they only ever asked for one scene to be taken out of the series.
“The only time we ever got pushback that I had to take something out was there was a clip of Scottie [Pippen] in the training room with Michael and, I think, Ron Harper,” Hehir said. “… He was saying something to the effect that when they win the championship, he’s going to take a cattle prod and stick it up Jerry Krause’s a** and give him a heart attack. And everyone laughed and they were like, ‘Woah, you gotta take that out.'”
Hehir revealed he desperately tried to keep the scene in the series, as he wanted to show just how much stick the former Chicago Bulls GM was getting from the players.
“I was trying to show people all of the hazing that this poor guy endured and the way that audiences took it when it came out, was, ‘Oh, he’s s****ing on Jerry Krauss and making Michael the hero.’ that was never my intent,” Hehir continued. “My intent was to show what this guy went through to keep that team together. But that was the only time and it was Michael’s people who led the charge, saying, ‘You can’t do that. He’s got a wife who’s alive and it’s enough, we get it. They hazed him, they bullied him.'”
(starts at 3:36 mark):
I do think Jordan’s camp was right in saying that the clip should be removed. Krause’s wife, Thelma, is still alive and it would have been quite hurtful for her to hear something like that, even if it was said jokingly. While that part was cut out, what wasn’t were all the other times that the likes of Jordan and Pippen disrespected Krause.
Whether Hehir’s intent was to put down Krause or not, the documentary certainly ended up portraying him as somewhat of an antagonist. It did not enhance his reputation in really any way shape or form.
Some might even argue that the documentary played a role in Krause being booed during the Bulls Ring of Honor ceremony. Thelma was in attendance in his stead and the poor old lady was reduced to tears.
While Krause wasn’t a perfect individual by any means, the disrespect that has come his way over the years has been a bit much. He was the one who traded for Pippen on draft night in 1987 and was responsible for bringing on Phil Jackson as an assistant coach the same year.
Would Jordan and the Bulls have gone on to win six titles in the 1990s without Jackson and Pippen? Most certainly not. Krause also drafted Horace Grant and Toni Kukoc who played significant roles in the success the team had in the decade.
Sure, Krause played a big role in ending that Bulls dynasty and he deserves to be criticized for that. It’s also important, though, to acknowledge the role he played in laying the foundations for one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history.
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