How do you define the word success?  Some define it by the number of games won, the amount of money earned, the passing of a certain level or the completion of particular goals.  The Los Angeles Lakers are a successful team.  So too are the Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and the New Jersey Nets.  But would you call the Chicago Bulls season in 2001-02 successful?  Jerry Krause did.

You heard us correctly. Jerry Krause, the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls, considers this current season to be a successful one for his Bulls.  The team has won twenty games out of eighty played, 25% of their games played, and became the sixth team in NBA history that has lost 60+ games three years running since the NBA went to an 82 game season in 1967 according to a report by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.  The last time this happened was five years ago by the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies.

So on what basis could this season be considered a success?  Krause simply puts it all down to the experience gained by high school duo Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, both of whom seem miles ahead of fellow high schoolers Kwame Brown and DeSagana Diop due to the way they have been handled.

"Definitely," general manager Jerry Krause said. "I think they've been brought along very well. They've had the right amount of exposure. We talked about gradually doing it, and it's been gradually done. I'm very satisfied.

"And yet we know we have to do a big job this summer. We can't be slap-happy about what we have now. We have to get better. They know what they have to do too."

While Krause may be a little biased in his opinion, being the one who built this empire and also has the power to change its direction, he has a supporter in Pistons coach Rick Carlisle.

"They're doing things the right way," Carlisle said. "They've played the young kids a lot, and they're only going to get better."

Chandler has 1,337 minutes of experience while Curry has 1,091 minutes, the duo playing well enough half way through the year to start as a tandem at power forward and center.  In comparison Kwame Brown, the first overall pick of the 2001 NBA Draf by the Washington Wizards, has played 770 minutes and DeSagana Diop of the Cavaliers has played a total of 110 minutes.  Brown was held back as the Wizards made a push for the playoffs with superstar Michael Jordan, and now that they have not made that push Brown?s development may have been slowed for no reason.  Diop, however, was simply too raw to get any kind of minutes with the lottery-bound Cleveland Cavaliers and is certainly a project.

"If Michael [Jordan] didn't get hurt, they might've been in the playoffs," coach Bill Cartwright said of Brown and the Wizards. "Now it's an issue because they're not going to be in the playoffs and [Brown] didn't get a lot of minutes this year. He's a good player, but we're ahead of where he is right now."

"I'm more polished now," Curry said. "When I first came in, I really tried to force things. Now I let the game come to me and I try to rebound more. I'm not nearly as good a rebounder as I need to be, but I think I've made improvement."

So now the Bulls have their young nucleus set, a nucleus that grew and improved as the season got longer, and the key pieces are set.  Jalen Rose, the Bulls general for the second half of the season, hit the nail on the head on Saturday when he said the Bulls needed veteran help. It is expected that this will be Krause?s focus this off season, especially with the departure of Charles Oakley, the Bulls oldest and most expierieced player.

"I like what we're doing," coach Bill Cartwright said. "Besides our rookies, we have a good base of young players. But now it's a situation where we're looking to add older guys to them."