What will Bulls do in the offseason?
At the start of training camp in December, Bulls general manager Gar Forman talked about how the team made few changes during the off-season because he wanted to give the current group of players a chance to blend together.
When the season began, Richard Hamilton and rookie Jimmy Butler were the only newcomers to the roster.
Obviously, the Bulls never got a fair chance to see what this group could do, thanks to an avalanche of injuries. So do they bring everyone back to try again or make some changes before next season?
A couple of things to remember — don’t be influenced by the Bulls’ first-round playoff loss. If Derrick Rose didn’t suffer a serious knee injury, they would have cruised past Philadelphia, in all likelihood, and there would be no problems right now.
The prevailing question all along was whether this group was good enough to get past Miami and into the NBA Finals. That one remains unanswered.
Here’s another significant issue: Economics will help determine whether the Bulls continue to be one of the league’s deepest teams.
This year they managed to stay just under the luxury-tax threshold of $70.3 million. But next season Rose’s maximum-salary contract kicks in, and the Bulls will have roughly $56 million committed to Rose, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah.
Add guaranteed deals for Richard Hamilton, Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler and the payroll grows to about $64 million.
The tax threshold probably will rise this summer, but if the Bulls stay committed to being a non taxpaying team, there’s not much room to fill five remaining roster spots.
Kyle Korver, Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Watson all have contract options for next season.
The Bulls are planning to re-sign restricted free agent Omer Asik but won’t know the cost until bidding begins this summer. John Lucas III, Brian Scalabrine and Mike James are unrestricted free agents.
Long before the early playoff exit, the Bulls weren’t expecting to make major changes this summer.
Things will get complicated in 2013 when Gibson becomes a restricted free agent and there’s a realistic chance 2011 draft pick Nikola Mirotic will be able to escape his deal with Real Madrid.
If the Bulls use the amnesty clause to remove a salary from cap and tax consideration, it’s more likely to happen next year.
With this in mind, here’s a look at where people stand heading into this earlier-than-expected off-season:
Omer Asik: Forget those missed free throws. Games 5 and 6 of the first-round series were a display of Asik’s impressive defensive presence.
It used to be possible for teams with cap room to make offers to second-year players that their current teams couldn’t match — the Bulls did that with Eddie Robinson — but that loophole was eliminated in 2005.
Exact details of the latest collective-bargaining agreement are tough to track down, but the Bulls should be able to keep Asik, at a price between $3 million and $5 million next season.
Ronnie Brewer: If anyone is let go to save money, Brewer is a prime candidate. He’s due to make $4.4 million next season but can be let loose with a small buyout this summer.
Brewer’s role was reduced when Hamilton was healthy late in the season. But he also started 43 games when Hamilton was hurt, and he’s clearly the team’s best perimeter defender.
The Bulls might be able to fill his defensive role with a less expensive option. Would free agent Kirk Hinrich be cheaper? Tough to tell. Indiana’s Dahntay Jones would be cheaper.
Needless to say, this one is a tough call.
C.J. Watson: Filling in for Rose, Watson had a rough series against Philadelphia, shooting just 24 percent from the field while averaging 5.5 assists.
He’s due to make $3.7 million next year and obviously coach Tom Thibodeau has faith in Watson. He showed plenty of it while Watson hit 4 of 21 shots in the last two games against the Sixers.
Again, a cheaper option for the same role could save the Bulls some money. They have two candidates already in house with Lucas and James.
Kyle Korver: He’s less likely to leave, because accurate 3-point shooters are tougher to find than defensive specialists or backup point guards. At the same time, he will make $5 million next year, creating significant tax creep.
Taj Gibson: He earned even more respect with a strong performance in the playoffs. Still on his rookie-scale salary at $2.2 million, Gibson is going nowhere.
Jimmy Butler: He will get another year to prove whether he’s the guy to lighten Deng’s minutes load.
Derrick Rose: He should return to game action in December or January after recovering from a torn ACL. Do not, repeat, do not let him play 39 minutes in his first game back.
Carlos Boozer: Keep in mind, the Bulls have posted the league’s best record twice in a row with Boozer a key player, so he’s nowhere near as bad as he’s sometimes portrayed.
Does he make more money than he’s worth ($15 million next season)? That one is hard to argue.
Joakim Noah, Luol Deng: Unless the Bulls get a chance to trade these two for Dwight Howard, they aren’t going anywhere.
Richard Hamilton: He showed flashes of what he could bring during the playoffs. At 34, is there a chance he will be healthier next year? Maybe not.
He’s locked in for another season, though, so the Bulls have little choice but to give Hamilton another chance.
John Lucas, Brian Scalabrine: These guys have the trust of the coaching staff and could easily return. Lucas might have a chance to become the No. 2 point guard. He usually was a more reliable shooter than Watson but needs to run the offense with less one-man dribbling.
Tom Thibodeau: Negotiations probably will last longer than they need to, but expect Thibodeau to sign an extension this summer.
There was a reason the Bulls waited on that extension. If he won a championship, his price would have soared. But he didn’t.
Jerry Reinsdorf: He always has said he’d gladly pay the luxury tax for a championship-caliber team. All we know right now, though, is the Bulls are very good. Still no trips to the Finals since 1998.
So how much will the team pay to keep the current group together? They’ll probably go into the luxury tax, at least for this season, with major changes in store for 2013 if the team doesn’t deliver.
There doesn’t seem to be much chance, though, that the Bulls will keep everyone listed above.
mmcgraw@dailyherald.com