Chicago Bulls: How Many Games Can They Win Without Derrick Rose Next Season?

There is much uncertainty surrounding the Chicago Bulls next season after Derrick Rose's torn ACL. Some estimates have him back after the All-Star break, but some have him missing the entirety of next season with his knee injury. However, whether Rose is back or not, the Chicago Bulls will play the 2012-2013 season. Without their superstar, how many games can they win? 

Well the first order of business is to set the scenario. With Rose out, moves will have to be made to complete the team. For projection's sake, I'm going to work under my "best-case scenario" outlook. In this scenario, the Bulls will pick up the options on Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver, turn down the option on C.J Watson and let John Lucas III go, amnesty Carlos Boozer, sign Omer Asik to a contract, sign Steve Nash for the mid-level exception and sign Kirk Hinrich and Antawn Jamison on minimum-level contracts.

This leaves the Bulls with a 13-man roster of Nash, Rip Hamilton, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah, Kirk Hinrich, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Jamison, Asik, Jimmy Butler, Brian Scalabrine and Derrick Rose on injured reserve, as well as maybe one more big to fill out the roster. In this scenario, Derrick Rose comes back around mid-March, and Luol Deng returns mid-December. 

When next season comes, the Bulls will not have a true scorer on the roster that can replace Derrick Rose's production. Instead, they will have to replace Rose's production with a team offensive effort.

There are few players in the whole NBA who are more skilled at crafting a team offense than Steve Nash. Kirk Hinrich is also a player who can run an offense at a decent level, even if he is unspectacular. Jamison has shown the ability to be the focus of an offense too at times, so hopefully the team will be able to score by committee. I would project that just that will happen. 

Defensively, the team will be up and down. For everything that Steve Nash brings offensively, he is just as bad defensively. Even though the Bulls will have cut Boozer, they will still have to deal with the inconsistent defense of Antawn Jamison. Hopefully the introduction of Taj Gibson into the starting lineup will be an adjustment that benefits the defensive identity of the team. 

Overall, this team will be a relatively complete team, but it's doubtful that they will be able to be contenders until Rose returns to at least 90 percent, which is unlikely to be next season. However, this is still a team that can bring many different looks and should be able to be very competitive in the Eastern Conference.

Based on this projected team, I think that the Bulls will win approximately 50 games next season out of 82. I think that they will end up as the third overall seed in the Eastern Conference, behind only Indiana and Miami. This team reminds me of Indiana in a way. They will have a solid team all the way around, but they will not have a true star to build their team around with Rose out. However, the overall talent of the team without Rose will still likely be worse, so the team will likely perform worse. 

After having two seasons of being on top of the league, it's going to be an adjustment watching this team and not thinking of them as contenders. However, 50 wins still means that the Bulls are a respectable team in the Eastern Conference and gives Bulls fans hope for the playoffs.

If Derrick Rose can come back around 90 percent by the playoffs, the Bulls can be a team that no team wants to play in the playoffs. Chances are the Bulls are not going to truly compete for a title next season, but things could be much better than Bulls fans expect.