May 15, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls small forward Jimmy Butler (21) is pressured by Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) during the second half in game five of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Miami Heat won 94-91. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

One year ago, the Chicago Bulls faced an offseason full of questions. Derrick Rose was down and people wondered how to approach the next season. Should the Bulls keep the band together in anticipation of his return and hope to compete immediately? Or should they regard the season as lost and try to position themselves for 2013-14 and beyond?

As you doubtless know, they publicly professed to trying to split the difference, although it seems clear in retrospect they were much more concerned with saving money than anything else. Of course, the retooled Bulls did about as well as they could have hoped for, even amid countless injuries and with Rose sitting out the entire season.

This year, the questions heading into the offseason are more about the micro than the macro. Derrick Rose will almost certainly be back at the start of next season, and he figures to start along with Jimmy Butler, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah. Taj Gibson will also be back, having signed a four-year extension at the beginning of the season, as will Kirk Hinrich and Marquis Teague. The rest of the roster is less clear.

Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up. Vladimir Radmanovic and Daequan Cook will almost certainly not be back for reasons pertaining to their utter suckitude. Both were brought in to shoot threes and do little else, but given that neither showed any particular ability to actually make the threes they shot, methinks they’ll be elsewhere next year.

Apr 9, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls power forward Malcolm Thomas (3) shoots the ball against Toronto Raptors small forward Quincy Acy (4) during the second half at the United Center. Toronto defeats Chicago 101-98. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Malcolm Thomas signed a contract in April that will, in theory, keep him in Chicago for next year. However, it’s non-guaranteed for the time being, and his performance in the Las Vegas Summer League — where he was excellent last summer — and in training camp will likely determine his fate. I myself would like him to stick around, and would like to slot him in next to Gibson as the Bulls’ fourth big man. Keep an eye on this over the summer.

Nazr Mohammed’s a tough one to figure. He was downright awful for the first half of the season and more or less fell out of the rotation entirely until constant injuries forced Tom Thibodeau’s hand in February. From there, he was actually pretty decent, especially in the playoffs, where he averaged 14.5 points and 10 rebounds per 36 minutes on 51 percent shooting. I swear to god I’m not making that up. He’s also been in the league long enough to make Rip Hamilton look like a rookie by comparison, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hang it up this summer. Don’t be surprised to see him back, but probably as little more than a locker room presence/extreme emergency backup.

Rip Hamilton, playoff mini-renaissance aside, is almost certainly on his way out. The Bulls have a $1 million buyout option which they will presumably exercise rather than pay the aging Hamilton $5 million next year. Could they bring him back on the cheap afterward? They could, but I don’t see any reason why they would. Rip’s constant injuries and declining game make him hard to keep around.

May 15, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls point guard Nate Robinson (2) arrives before game five of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

We’ve reached Marco Belinelli and Nate Robinson now, and that’s where things start getting interesting. One aspect of last year’s purge that was almost entirely overlooked was that in signing players to one-year deals, the Bulls do not own Belinelli or Robinson’s Bird Rights. For those of you who are not CBA scholars, that means those two players — both of whom were starters in the playoffs — cannot be resigned while the Bulls are over the salary cap without using one of their exceptions. This summer, Chicago will have their $3 million mini mid-level exception and … that’s it.

So, the choice is pretty simple, albeit somewhat unfortunate. The Bulls can pay one player $3 million per year — or split it between them — and forfeit any ability to sign other free agents to non-minimum deals, or they can try to convince one or both players to take minimum-salary deals. Or they can say to heck with it and let them walk. This last seems most likely.

Marquis Teague plays the same position as Robinson and already is under contract for next year. It seems unlikely that noted cheapskate Jerry Reinsdorf would be on board with paying two guys to play backup point guard, especially when he’s already paying Rose and Hinrich more than $20 million combined next season. If Nate wants to come back on a minimum deal, that might work, but it seems likely that he’ll get quite a bit more than that on the open market. Same goes for Belinelli, although there isn’t a ready-made replacement already on the roster. But I think it makes more sense to let Belinelli walk and explore other options in the draft and free agency. Kyle Korver comes to mind, for instance.

Now, obviously there’s a lot more to the offseason than this. There are trade rumors to explore, there’s the draft, free agency and a whole summer to discuss everything remotely related to the Bulls roster. If you have any bright ideas, feel free to comment with your own take on the Bulls offseason.

May 15, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) is pressured by Chicago Bulls small forward Jimmy Butler (21) during the first half in game five of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bulls fought it tooth and nail, but on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, their season officially ended when the Miami Heat blew an early double-digit lead and then rallied back from a double-digit deficit to escape with the 94-91 win. The Heat will move on to face the winner of the series between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The game felt, in more than a few ways, like a microcosm of the Bulls’ season. The Heat jumped out to an 18-2 lead as Chicago seemed mired in the same funk they’d shown in game four. Big picture-wise, that matches up with the Bulls being under .500 in late November after blowing a 27-point lead to the Milwaukee Bucks, unless you prefer their late-December malaise, when they lost consecutive games in blowouts, had a game cancelled due to snow and then lost at home to the Charlotte Bobcats. The surge to take a double-digit lead of their own toward the end of the first quarter and into the second was their January hot streak, when they went 12-4 and sat just games behind the Heat for the best record in the East.

Of course, the Heat would eventually respond and retake the lead. The Bulls’ offense disappeared, much as it did in February, March and April, when Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Kirk Hinrich, Rip Hamilton and Marco Belinelli all missed time with various injuries and the Bulls went 17-2o as they limped into the playoffs.

Chicago didn’t go down quietly, however, even after Miami regained control. Nate Robinson hit a three to make it a three-point game, and the Bulls got the stop they needed. This would be when Chicago fought through injuries and the flu to beat the Brooklyn Nets on their home floor in game seven and then took their talents to South Beach and shocked the Heat.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Nate, only on the floor because of injuries to Hinrich and Derrick Rose, forced up a three that would have tied the game and missed. The Bulls got the rebound, but Hamilton — only on the floor because Luol Deng was out — couldn’t do anything with it. The ball wound up with Jimmy Butler, who played all 48 minutes in five of the Bulls last seven games after Deng went down and only got his chance to start because Hamilton and Belinelli got hurt, and he had to put up a three at the buzzer. Alas, he missed.

And so begins an offseason that figures to be much more palatable than last. Barring a move to amnesty Carlos Boozer — which is extremely unlikely — the Bulls’ starting five is set for next year. Rose, Deng and Hinrich should all be healthy by then. Daequan Cook, Vladimir Radmanovic, Nazr Mohammed and Rip Hamilton will all most likely be gone. Robinson and Belinelli are undetermined. But more on that tomorrow.

For now, I leave you with this: The 2012-13 Chicago Bulls may not have been the most talented bunch, but they left it all out on the floor. So we salute them, and bid them a restful summer. May they come back even stronger in the fall.