Chicago Bulls: 10 Things to Do This Summer to Return to Championship Form

With the news that Derrick Rose could miss 8-10 months, if not the entire year next season, there are some questions about what the Chicago Bulls can do to become a championship contender again.

Looking at things honestly, it's pretty much impossible for the Bulls to win next year if Rose doesn't come back. Barring something completely unforeseen, the Bulls won't even be likely to win their division next year without Rose, much less contend for a title. 

If Rose comes back for the second half, though, Chicago could still contend depending on how well it can play without him and what sort of moves the Bulls make to make up for his loss. In fact, if they play their cards right, they could be even better entering next year's postseason than they were this year. 

Here are 10 things the Bulls can do to contend for a future championship. 

Keep Omer Asik

The biggest strengths of the Bulls are their interior defense and rebounding, and a big part of that is Omer Asik. 

Asik will get offers, likely form the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors as a minimum, but the Bulls should match any offers he gets, which are likely to be around $5 million. 

The bottom line is they aren't going to be able to replace Asik with anyone. There's no one close to being able to do what he can do on defense. While some are going to argue it's too much to pay for what Asik can do, that's somewhat true, but overall it's not. 

You always are going to pay too much for what a seven-footer can do. It's the way of the game. DeAndre Jordan is getting $12 million; Asik is worth $5 million. 

Not Amnesty Carlos Boozer...Yet

I know there's a huge outcry to amnesty Carlos Boozer, but fans who are pushing for that are usually not looking at the full picture. 

Next year, the Bulls are at $75 million if they don't make any roster changes. That's right at the luxury cap threshold. The salary cap, though, is around $58 million. (The actual figure hasn't yet been announced.)

Boozer will be making $15 million. If the Bulls amnesty him, they'd be at $60 million, which means they would still be over the cap, and they would have $5 million to spend—the mid-level exception.

That's exactly how much they'll be able to spend if they don't amnesty Boozer. 

In other words, amnestying Boozer does not give the Bulls a single extra dollar to spend unless they also cut C.J. Watson, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer. If they do all of that they'll be down to about $50 million, and they'd have about $13 million to spend, but they would have to sign six players with that money. 

You might argue that Boozer's 15 points and 8.5 rebounds a game is insufficient for what he's getting paid, but you're not going to find that for $5 million off of free agency this year.

Amnestying Boozer accomplishes nothing. 

Don't Let Kyle Korver Go

The Bulls have the freedom to waive Kyle Korver and free themselves of his $5 million contract this year. If they did, they would only be on the hook for $500,000 of that. 

Korver showed tremendous improvement on defense last year, and while he might never develop into an All-Defense player or a starting shooting guard, he's giving the Bulls their $5 million's worth. He's come up short sometimes in big moments, but Korver has come up huge as well.

He is worth holding on to. Korver is Chicago's best three-point shooter, and he's a key piece of the puzzle going forward.

The Bulls must determine to hold onto him. 

Let C.J. Watson Go

C.J. Watson has been one of my favorite Bulls over the last two years, but he's also established that he's he's not a starting-caliber point guard. As Watson started for the Bulls he often struggled, and the further the season progressed, the more he struggled. 

In the postseason, Watson was just bad, with a PER of 7.4. That's enough to make you shudder. The Bulls effectively will need a backup point guard who can start the season as the starting point guard, and Watson is not a starting point guard. 

John Lucas has his share of flaws, too, but he's cheaper and would be a better backup option than Watson for half a season. The Bulls' best option is to sign a new starting point guard (stay tuned for that) and let Watson go. 

Tell Luol Deng to Have Surgery and Skip the Olympics

Luol Deng toughed out the bulk of the season with a torn ligament in his wrist. He was admirably strong in doing so, and I'm certain the pain he was in had more than a little to do with the struggles he had in the postseason. 

Deng was never a great ball-handler who could cut to the rim at will, but it was pretty clear for the second half of the season, when he never went to his left once, that it was affecting him. 

Deng needs to let the Olympics go and get the surgery on his wrist so he'll be ready to start on time. 

Have Jimmy Butler Play in the Summer League

Bulls rookie Jimmy Butler got limited playing time, and at times he looked outright impressive.

At other times, he looked outright inexperienced. 

Normally there would have been a summer league, and Butler would have had a great opportunity to develop. This year he'll get that chance, and the Bulls need to utilize that chance. 

Butler's defensive instincts are impressive, and he's very much like a young Luol Deng. However, he needs to learn and develop more on the offensive end. While he's shown an ability to get to the line, Butler needs to develop more of an offensive and complete acumen. 

Developing games is the whole point of the summer leagues, and Butler needs to be in them. Developing him will allow the Bulls to waive Ronnie Brewer, free up money to sign another free agent and keep Omer Asik. 

Draft Athleticism

The Chicago Bulls are short of athleticism outside of Derrick Rose. In fact, probably the second-most athletic player on their team is Joakim Noah, and when your second-most athletic player is your center, it's a bit of a problem. 

The Bulls wings are like chicken wings. By that I mean chickens don't fly, and neither do the Bulls. They struggle in converting fast-break points, especially when Rose isn't there. Hamilton is fast, but he's only fast when he's on the court. 

They need a kind of wing who can come off the bench and be an explosive offensive threat. They need a player who can put the ball on the floor and either get to the rim or hit a pull-up jumper; it doesn't matter if he can't play a lick of defense. 

The Bulls have plenty of players who meet the "high-character, solid defense, hard-hat, lunch-pail" description. What they need is a high-flying scorer, especially with Rose potentially out for the bulk of the season. 

Sign Michael Redd

The Bulls also need to add another shooting guard. Richard Hamilton was, at times, very effective while he was in the game; at other times, he wasn't.

Most of the time, he just wasn't in. 

Redd averaged 19 points per 36 minutes last year with Phoenix and showed he's doing better with his knees than anyone thought he would do. He had an effective field goal percentage of .458, and he had about 37 percent of his shots unassisted. 

Redd demonstrated abilities to create shots for himself, catch and shoot. He would also be obtainable for the veteran's minimum. 

Let Taj Gibson Compete for the Starting Spot

There are those who argue that Taj Gibson should be the starting power forward.

With Carlos Boozer making nearly eight times as much money, that's unlikely; however, it's not impossible. 

Gibson showed a better offensive game during the postseason than he's shown in the past. He was probably the most productive player for the Bulls in the Sixers series, but a lot of what he did wasn't the type of thing that shows up in the box score. 

Those who watched the local broadcasts will understand why I call him "Facebook." When Gibson dunks on someone, Stacey King likes to ask, "Does anyone know how to post videos to Facebook?" 

"Facebook" has really had some highlight plays to the rim. However, Gibson doesn't have the kind of pick-and-pop game that Boozer has, which is very important to the team's success. Boozer by far had the best field goal percentage for the Bulls last year at .532. 

Boozer's high-arcing shot on the pick and pop is pretty lethal. Only five players in the NBA (Steve Nash, Steve Novak, Brandon Bass, Kevin Garnett and Elton Brand) with at least 300 attempts had a better field goal percentage on their jump shot than Boozer's .445, and none of them made more shots.

Gibson was nearly 100 points worse on his jump shot, hitting just .349 on the jumper, so that pick-and-pop play is crucial for the Bulls' success. If Gibson can improve his jumper, he should be given the chance to start. 

That would certainly give the Bulls the luxury of bringing Boozer off the bench where he could dominate teams, and his defense would be less crucial since he'd be playing against inferior competition and alongside Omer Asik. 

Sign Steve Nash

The last—and, perhaps to many, most shocking—suggestion I have for the Bulls is for the team to offer Steve Nash the full mid-level exception.

There are several reasons for this. 

First, with the kind of shooters the Bulls have on their team, the addition of Nash would make them a very competitive team right away, even without Rose. Certainly they would still be in contention for the best team in the Central Division and a top four seed. 

Second, there's still a chance that Rose could be back for the second half of the season. If he is, then that would present some very intriguing offenses the Bulls could run with Rose playing off of Nash. Imagine trying to defend both of them!

Third, Rose would be able to spend the first part of the season watching Nash and learning the way he runs an offense. Nash is similar to Rose in the sense that he breaks down defenses with his penetration, but he's a better passer out of the middle. He's also better at using that skill to set up a jump shot for himself instead of going to the rim. 

Things like keeping his head up, keeping his dribble and bringing the ball back out are all things Rose could learn from Nash. He is going to need calibrate his game a bit if he's going to have an extended career, and who is there better for him to learn from?

Signing Nash would give the Bulls a chance to compete this year and would give Rose a mentor for the future.