DEERFIELD, Ill. -- This is the season when we find out whether Jerry Krause is a genius. Or maybe next season. Or maybe when we find out that Krause really doesn't know anything about building a team that doesn't have Michael Jordan.

The Chicago Bulls are at the crossroads, and Jerry Krause is in the crosshairs.

Either Krause has put together one of the great pro sports building projects of all time and created a model for future rebuilding, or he's buried what was becoming one of the elite franchises in American sports.

	Jerry Krause hopes the fountain of youth quenches his thirst for another NBA title.

Not that we're practicing hyperbole here, but this Bulls team, if not necessarily that exciting, is going to be worth watching. Because it's either a blueprint for success, or a recipe for disaster.

This is Year 5 of the Bulls' rebuilding. If we want to be charitable, it's Year 4 after the lockout season in which the Bulls played out the 50 games with a hodgepodge of talent leftover after Jordan finally did announce his second retirement when the labor dispute was settled.

The Bulls then got lottery lucky. They came up with the big pingpong ball, the No. 1 pick, and drafted Elton Brand from Duke. No one said this was the second coming of Jordan, but few doubted the selection, either. And Brand hasn't disappointed. He's become a consistent 20-point and 10-rebound player, an All-Star and member of the USA Basketball team -- though much of the latter has been with the Los Angeles Clippers.

That's because Krause didn't see greatness in Brand. Goodness, sure. So Krause decided to take the biggest risk since the Philadelphia 76ers traded Charles Barkley. The Bullls decided they'd never win. In capital letters, anyway, like they once did, with the champagne, parades and booing of Krause at the trophy presentation.

It's always been accepted in the NBA that you win with stars. Really big stars, as Ed Sullivan would have said. He had really big shows, and NBA teams need really big stars. Like Shaq, or Michael, Larry, Magic. Really short names, and really big talent.

The Bulls' consensus was this: Brand will be good, not great. He won't carry a team; he'll support a team.

The Bulls decided there was a star in the draft, which is how teams were built, from Bill Russell in 1956 to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas and Jordan. Sometimes you get them when someone else gets really stupid, like Orlando did with Shaquille O'Neal, and lets them go. So the Bulls gambled. They traded Brand to the Clippers for the rights to draft high school senior Tyson Chandler. They used their own pick for high school senior Eddy Curry. Both are near seven feet tall. The Eastern Conference has few 7-footers. And all the great centers were about to disappear, as they have with the retirement of Patrick Ewing, the unexpected illness of Alonzo Mourning, the upcoming retirement of Hakeen Olajuwon and David Robinson's retirement after this season. And how long can Shaq stay away from joining the Orlando sheriff's department? Before too long, when you say "big man," you'd think Bulls.

At least that was the big plan.

But it hasn't gone exactly according to schedule.

Krause's hand-picked coach, Tim Floyd, for young talent quit/was fired because he couldn't deal with kids. He didn't want them on his team and essentially declined to play them to pay Krause back for not bringing him veterans to give him a chance to win. Oops.

So Krause went to old hand Bill Cartwright, a center, who surely would understand young centers. We'll find out.

But it's been a slow process thus far. The kids went to summer school and will have to repeat it. The NBA summer leagues are, essentially, a place to show off. Most of the players are not NBA caliber amid a collection of free agent hopefuls and European futures. Curry and Chandler should have dominated. Instead, they deferred. Both were in constant foul trouble. Curry scored reasonably well, averaging 14 points, but managed fewer than five rebounds per game despite being one of the tallest players on the court. Chandler averaged about eight points per game and a foul every five minutes. Granted, they were still both 19. But they were cashing NBA paychecks for a year by then.

There were a bunch of excuses about learning the triangle offense and free agents in need of jobs playing harder because they were more desperate. What! Talent should have shown. It didn't. Though it's too soon to make any judgment.

Both are hard workers. Both went to the Pete Newell big-man camp, and rarely missed a day in the gym when they were back in Chicago. Of course, I didn't, either, and I still can't dunk.

Curry is exceptionally quick but not exceptionally motivated. Cartwright marvels at his speed and says he doesn't realize how good he is. The question is whether he ever will. Curry comes across as a kid who always had it easy, dominating the suburban league he played in and rarely being tested. He seems to struggle against taller players because he doesn't jump well. He is quicker, but he has been lost on defense and hasn't rebounded well.

	And it all rests on the kids ... They all have loads of talent. They run and jump like Olympians, but the NBA season is not a track meet -- it's a marathon. The sturdiest survive.

Chandler is the athlete that all the NBA executives drooled over. But he's no Kevin Garnett. Chandler has sort of the Bill Russell mentality without the smarts. He chases everything and wants to block every shot, often putting himself out of position. He doesn't like to shoot and gets rid of the ball like it's a grenade. He appears to have a soft touch, but doesn't like to try it much.

Then again, he just turned 20 and Curry won't for another two months. It remains an excuse. But how much time should we give them?

And now there's a point guard, although Jamal Crawford thought there was one two years ago. He really got on the wrong side of Floyd, whose Bulls doghouse was more like a shelter. Crawford was unused, then hurt. He got ready when the pingpong balls fell right again. The Bulls got Duke point guard Jay Williams, and they say they'll keep this Duke guy. Really.

Which makes all the pieces: a point guard, a center and a power forward. You can find twos and threes in your breakfast cereal boxes if you're an NBA executive. So there it is: Potential stars at point guard, center and power forward, maybe even two centers. So what else do you need?

Uh,wins? No one has been worse than the Bulls the last three years, at least this side of Oakland. Which isn't that bad. Unless you're coming off six championships in eight seasons. Six 60-loss seasons wipe that away quickly. The Bulls are hoping to avoid their fourth straight this season.

And it all rests on the kids. The Bulls made a nice veteran trade for Jalen Rose and picked up Donyell Marshall. Williams and Crawford are fighting it out at point guard, and Williams probably will win. No. 2 overall picks do that. Will that lead to dissension? Marcus Fizer, the team's top pick in 2000, keeps slipping farther and farther down the rotation. More dissension? Big money free agent pickup Eddie Robinson seems to be wrapped in Charmin'. Squeeze him and he seems to be creased. However, they all have loads of talent. They run and jump like Olympians, but the NBA season is not a track meet -- it's a marathon. The sturdiest survive.

And the greatest win. Krause is gambling he has acquired greatness. He's given up very goodness for it. Maybe too much of it. He says he has the pieces for a return to a championship. This season should go a long way toward determining whether he is right -- or should consider a new profession.

Sam Smith, who covers the NBA for the Chicago Tribune, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.