It’s Looking as if This Is Last Bull Run

Chicago Bull General Manager Jerry Krause wants Michael Jordan to return next season. But there’s a catch--Jordan will have to play for a new coach.

“We want him back. We are not driving anybody out. We’re not driving Michael out of here--that’s bull,” Krause said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.

The Bulls, five-time champions in the 1990s, are expected to start rebuilding next season. And one person who won’t be a part of that is Coach Phil Jackson, who has already said he’s not coming back.

Jordan has said repeatedly he won’t play for any coach other than Jackson.

“If Michael chooses to leave because there is another coach here, then it is his choice and not ours,” Krause said.

At a morning practice before playing the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night, Jordan said it again. If Jackson goes, so does he.

“This is it. I’m done,” he said. “That statement really validates what my beliefs are and what my decision is going to be at the end of the season.”

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P.J. Carlesimo and Latrell Sprewell met face-to-face at the player’s arbitration hearing in New York, but this time the coach got to tell his side of the story.

Carlesimo, who sat through several hours of testimony in Portland, Ore., last week but did not have a chance to speak, rushed to the airport in San Francisco on Tuesday night and took an overnight flight after the Golden State Warriors played their final game before the All-Star break.

Before leaving the Oakland Coliseum Arena, he had said: “Given the choice, I’d rather be rested. But all I’m going to do is answer questions. I can be tired and do that.”