Citing health reasons, Jerry Krause has announced his resignation from his post of general manager of the Chicago Bulls.

“The rigors and stress of the job have caused me some minor physical problems in the past few years,” Krause said in a Bulls news release. “Those problems can be eliminated if I lessen my load for a while and concentrate on overcoming them.”

ChicagoSports.com

His resignation opens one of the few genuinely attractive NBA general manager’s jobs. What wannabe GM wouldn’t want to step in and take over a team loaded with young talent like Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Jamal Crawford and Jay Williams? Not only that, but you have a lottery pick in this year’s draft and tradable veterans like Jalen Rose and Eddie Robinson. Plus, a little thing like 20,000 moronic fans every night, six championship banners and America’s premiere sports city.

OK, OK, you twisted my arm. I’ll take it.

Who benefits the least from the change at the top?

Bill Cartwright. Even with Krause around, Cartwright’s hold on the coaching job seemed tenuous. He was the perfect interim coach when Tim Floyd finally went insane and had to leave. But Bill is not a top notch NBA head coach, and this is clearly a team in need of one. A team that’s well coached doesn’t play ten games over .500 at home and thirty-three games under .500 on the road.

When you look at the improvements that Tyson Chandler (huge), Eddy Curry (huger), Jamal Crawford (kind of huge) and Jay Williams (slightly huge) have made since the All-Star break you wonder just what their ceilings would be with a real coaching staff.

Nothing against Cartwright, Pete Myers, Bob Thornton, and Mike Wilhelm, but Bill Berry is the only NBA caliber coach on the staff. That’s one of five! That’s like Jay Williams at the free throw line!

If the new GM is tempted to trade Jalen Rose for a small forward who can actually guard somebody andmake a jump shot; trade Eddie Robinson for any shooting guard better than Trenton Hassell; fire Bill Cartwright and bring in a bona fide NBA head coach like Jeff Van Gundy (egads, did I really say that?) or anyone of that ilk; and then find a taker for that lottery pick (unless its yield was LaBron, Darko or Carmelo–and even then, maybe). The Bulls are not just a playoff contender in 2004, but in the East, they’re a legitimate threat.

Really.