Forget Michael Jordan making a return to Chicago as the man pulling the strings on the Bulls, because while he was playing in his career home finale in Washington Jerry Reinsdorf was announcing that his next general manager was John Paxson, Jordan's backcourt running mate of the team's first three-peat.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes: Paxson was officially introduced as the executive vice president of basketball operations at a news conference Monday. He replaces Jerry Krause, who resigned unexpectedly a week ago, citing health reasons.

"I'm tremendously excited about this opportunity," Paxson said. "To me, the only goal is to win. I don't have any expectations other than that."

Reinsdorf said Paxson's hiring was an easy one, and although certain individuals didn't know it he was interviewing in secret for some time.

?I knew for the last three years that this was going to be Jerry [Krause?s] last contract. Rather than wait until the last moment, for the last three years, knowing I had a couple to go, I have been interviewing people. They didn?t know that I was interviewing them, but I developed a list of potential candidates that I thought I was going to have to tap in 2004 (after Jerry Krause?s contract was up). When Jerry told me a week or so ago that he had to step down, I had my candidates listed already in my mind and I had my interviews with all of them. It was just a matter of refreshing my memory and having one or two conversations to come to the conclusion that I came to?and it was a very easy conclusion.?

Paxson, who has been a member of the organization for 17 of the last 18 years, knows the Bulls better than most.  He served this season as a radio analyst for the Bulls, allowing him to see every game and form an opinion of what areas the team needs to work on.

?There is no question this team has great talent. It?s young and it?s unharnessed in a lot of ways but it's terrific talent. I think about Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Jamal Crawford, Jay Williams and you think about Marcus Fizer if he had him for an entire year; there are a lot of positives that you can take out of this. The only thing I can really say is that we are going to do what we have to do to make the team better.?

There will also be expanded roles for former teammate B.J. Armstrong, Gar Foreman and Ivica Dukan. Armstrong and Forman were special assistants to Krause, while Dukan is the supervisor of international scouting.

"I think their jobs all became more important today because of how far behind I am," Paxson said. "We have a real solid staff, a very solid staff. People I'm comfortable with, people I'm excited about working with."

Though there was some thought Armstrong might be in line to replace Krause after being his assistant for three years, Armstrong said he has no problem with his role.

"I'm really excited and really looking forward to the opportunity to work with this man," Armstrong said. "This is about these kids, our organization, our willingness to do whatever is necessary to be terms a success."