Chicago Bulls Offseason Moves

As we all know the Bulls season was cut short this year due to the devastating ACL injury to Derrick Rose. The Bulls were ousted in the opening round against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers team. The Bulls lost Rose in the opening game to an ACL tear with a little over a minute to go in the fourth quarter. Then, Joakim Noah went down with an ankle injury in game three which put the dagger in the Bulls' hearts. The Bulls lost in game six and were eliminated from playoff contention. The 76ers went to the second round and lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games. Just watching that series showed me how easily the Bulls would have gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals at full strength. The Bulls should be playing the Heat and not Boston. The Bulls are now in off season mode and they can begin making trades at any point, although it is unlikely until around the draft and beyond. The Bulls have a lot of situations to address. The first thing that I think should be done is picking up head coach Tom Thibodeau's contract for next season and giving him an extended contract. He has led the Bulls to the best record in the NBA for two straight years and he has only been a head coach those two years. The Bulls are a great team under his tutelage and he should remain the coach for at least a few more years. In those two seasons the Bulls have had injuries to Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, C.J. Watson, Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Richard "Rip" Hamilton. The Bulls have rarely been at full strength in these past two seasons due to all of their various injuries. Even with these injuries the Bulls were the number one seed in the East both seasons and they had the best record in the NBA both seasons. It is scary what this team could do at full strength for an entire season. The next thing to address is the contracts of Mike James, Brian Scalabrine, John Lucas III, C.J. Watson, Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer and Omer Asik. Asik is a restricted free agent and the Bulls are expected to match any competitors contract so the Bulls can keep Asik. Brewer, Korver and Watson all have player options and all of them may not get picked up. I believe out of that group, the one that would be picked up would be Korver as he provides a spark off the bench. Let's say Lucas III, Watson, Brewer, Scalabrine and James all leave the team. The Bulls would not have a point guard as Derrick Rose will miss a lot of time next season. Luol Deng may miss time as well if he elects to have surgery on his left wrist after the Olympics. The Bulls may also move on from Hamilton as well who missed over half of last season with a list of injuries. If I was the GM, here is what I would do:

-Give Thibodeau a contract extension
-Decline the options of Watson and Brewer
-Pick up the option on Kyle Korver
-Let Lucas III, Scalabrine and James all go
-Make a trade that nets Pau Gasol from the Lakers
-Sign Chauncey Billups
-Sign O.J. Mayo
-Release or trade Richard Hamilton

The Bulls would either have to trade Deng or Boozer to get Pau Gasol from the Lakers. Everyone would love to see the Bulls trade Boozer or release him, but I do not think the Bulls will do that. Although I would hate to see him go, the Bulls may trade Luol Deng to get Pau Gasol. The Bulls lineup with my additions would be Billups, Mayo, Gasol, Boozer and Noah. Seems pretty solid to me until Rose comes back and replaces Billups. The Bulls are very close to the salary cap limit as their core players are making a lot of money. This gives the Bulls little room to sign anyone without releasing or trading away some of their larger contracts. This will be an interesting off season for the Bulls as they will have a lot of decisions to make. Let's hope the Bulls can improve this team and maybe swing a blockbuster trade that brings the Bulls another superstar player.