After earning the best record in the NBA, again, and capturing home-court advantage throughout the playoffs for the second season in a row, Chicago was ready for a deep run in the playoffs in a year where the team had been living up to championship expectations. However, the heart of the city of Chicago tore along with Derrick Rose's ACL in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of Chicago's first round series. A season of high hopes were dashed in a moment when the Bulls' All-Star and reigning MVP, Derrick Rose, went down, and the eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers went on to eliminate the Rose-less Bulls from this season's NBA playoffs. It was something truly out of a tragedy.
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| WHAT IF... Derrick Rose had not torn his ACL this post season? Would the Bulls have been crowned 2012 NBA Champions? Every Chicago Bulls fan will be spending the long summer, wondering. |
Bulls' fans must now watch a hobbled and aged Boston Celtics team facing the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals and asking themselves "What if Derrick Rose had not torn his ACL?" After the near triple-double that Rose was putting up against the Sixers in Game 1, it was a forgone conclusion that the Bulls would have easily bounced the Sixers in Round 1. And while the Celtics would have posed a tougher challenge, Thibodeau and the Bulls have proven they can handle them, setting up a rematch with Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals. With the "Big Three" down to two with Chris Bosh sidelined with an abdominal strain, the smart money would have been on a healthy Chicago Bulls team to come out of the East.
Instead, Bulls' fans must look forward to a long, Chicago Bulls basketball-free summer mulling over what to do with the 29th Overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, among other ways to keep or improve this already proven team.
Keeping will be a challenge; Omer Asik is a restricted free agent this summer, which means that the Bulls can choose to match any free agent offer made to him (or allow him to walk), and C.J. Watson, who filled in for an injured Derrick Rose admirably all season long, will return only if Bulls management exercises their team option on his contract. The Bulls will be over the salary cap starting next season, and as a result, there will be limited opportunities to improve through free agency.
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| Rumors are again surfacing that Pau Gasol wants to join the Chicago Bulls. Would you trade for Gasol? |
However, following the Los Angeles Lakers second round exit from the 2012 NBA Playoffs, rumors have once again surfaced regarding Pau Gasol having interest in being traded to the Chicago Bulls. The numbers say that Carlos Boozer (who would have to be included to make the money work) is as efficient a player as Gasol (who is also older and more expensive than Boozer), but can some of that be due to Gasol playing with selfish players like Bryant and Bynum? A trade would be one of the only ways the Bulls can improve this summer while looking towards next season where Derrick Rose may miss a large chunk of the season rehabbing from his knee injury, and the argument can be made that Gasol is needed to weather that storm.
Anyway, Chicago Bulls basketball fans will be spending this difficult summer of disappointment considering such questions.
