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Over the next few weeks, we'll take a closer look at each player on the Bulls roster and see where they fit in for the future.

C.J. Watson

Position: Point guard | Age: 28 | 2011-12 salary: $3,400,000

Season recap: Watson played well at times, but his year was marred by a constant stream of injuries that started in the first week of the season. He sustained a dislocated left elbow on Jan. 1, a concussion in February, a sprained ankle in March and other various ailments throughout. After the season he had a procedure on both feet to alleviate pain from plantar fasciitis. The veteran guard was consistently praised by coach Tom Thibodeau for the toughness he showed, but his play suffered towards the end of the season. After grinding his way through a productive year, Watson struggled badly in the playoffs in place of an injured Derrick Rose.

Season highlight: Even with an active Rose in place, it was Watson who helped deliver the Bulls one of their most impressive wins of the season on April 12 against the Miami Heat when he scored 16 points and hit several huge shots down the stretch. Thibodeau decided to bench Rose in the fourth quarter and overtime and rode Watson's hot hand to victory.

Season lowlight: The playoffs. After Rose went down in Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers with a torn ACL in his left knee, Watson went just 13-for-54 from the field in the last five games of the series, struggling to find any kind of offensive consistency.

Notes: Watson deserves a large amount of credit for the way he continually played through injuries and tried to stay in the lineup while Rose battled a laundry list of his own injuries. But when the Bulls needed Watson to step up the most he just couldn't find his shot. Watson earned continuous praise from his teammates, but his postseason performance left a lot to be desired, even if he was dealing with something as painful as plantar fasciitis in the end.

Quotes: "I think C.J.'s a warrior," Bulls center Joakim Noah said in March. "He's somebody who's still playing injured, but we need him to play. For him to come back like that just shows the sacrifice he's making for the team. Not playing for five, six games, coming back against Miami; throwing him in the fire and stepping up for us, controlling the game. Point guard is not an easy position to play and Speakington, as we call him, he was huge."

What's next?: Watson will begin to rehab his body from the wear and tear it took during the lockout-shortened season. He will likely begin training back in Las Vegas, his hometown, later this summer. The question for Watson and the Bulls becomes: Will the team pick up his $3.7 million option for next season? With Rose likely sidelined for at least the first 2-3 months of next season, he may be one of the best options the Bulls have for the price. Especially given that it's very unlikely Steve Nash will be coming to Chicago.

FINAL GRADES -- Regular Season: B-. Postseason: D.

Chicago Bulls guard C.J. Watson was "doing well" after procedures on both of his feet Thursday morning, according to his publicist.

Watson had been battling plantar fasciitis all season, and it grew progressively worse toward the end of the season.

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For once I just wanted him to speak the truth. Speak to what was really going on in his mind, speak to how he was really feeling in that moment. But to ask Tom Thibodeau -- or any coach not named Rex Ryan -- to do that, especially after having their season end would be like asking someone to make a hybrid car look like something you'd want to drive or be seen in.

Thibs, being the class act that he's always been, after the Bulls loss to the Sixers said all of the right things. PC to a fault. What I wanted him to say and what I wished he'd have said? Totally different than what came out of his mouth.

My wish is that he'd have said this:

"First off, we should be playing a Game 7. It's just that simple. You all know it, you all saw it. There's no way in hell I should be sitting up here talking to you about the end of our season tonight, we should be talking about what my game plan is for Saturday. Instead, here we are.

"Bottom-line, Philadelphia should have never gotten the ball back after Omer (Asik) missed those free throws. That foul was either an intentional or a flagrant. The guy wrapped both of his arms around Omer's neck. In every other NBA game, that's a call the ref has no choice but to make. It's in the rule book. It's an automatic call. Two free throws and possession. Game over. You all saw it! Anyway ... I'm not going to say anything further about it because I don't feel like getting fined, and I don't want to get a phone call from Stern's office telling me I'm right, but I should not have said anything about it. This is the NBA, I've been around this League long enough to know that I shouldn't expect anything different.

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DEERFIELD, Ill. -- The skies were blue, sun shining, temperature perfect and the day miserable in Chicago, Friday. At least for Chicago Bulls fans who, though not exactly optimistic about the team's playoff chances after Derrick Rose tore his ACL two weeks ago, were left with an aching void after the Bulls were eliminated in the first round by eighth-seed Philadelphia.

The only thing left now, other than the typically frustrating rhythms of Cubs and Sox baseball and football in shorts, is to dwell on the what if's and what-will-be's.

Here are 10 burning Bulls thoughts sure to bug us all summer:

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The Chicago Bulls' offensive set that ended their season Thursday night continued to have fingers of blame pointed at point guard C.J. Watson for passing to Omer Asik instead of holding onto the ball himself.

Watson is an 81-percent free-throw shooter and passed to Asik, who is a 45-percent free-throw shooter. Asik, who Bulls fans thought was the victim of a flagrant foul, missed both free throws with seven seconds left. Andre Iguodala grabbed the rebound, drove the length of the court and was fouled with two seconds left. He hit both to seal a 79-78 victory to clinch the series 4-2.

"C.J. Watson actually had a pretty good floor game, even though he didn't shoot the ball well (2-of-11)," Jalen Rose said Friday on "Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio." "He had 10 assists, zero turnovers and even threw it to Asik on a pick-and-roll play where Asik got a dunk going down the lane (with 25 seconds left).

"Late in a game, during the middle of a game, at the beginning of a game, when you're the point guard your job is to decipher every situation. So if I'm on a fastbreak I know who's on my right wing. Is he going to go to the basket for a layup or a dunk, is he going to flare off for a three-point shot? Is the guy on my left, is he a finisher, can he make free throws? You have to understand like a quarterback every player's strength and weaknesses."

Rose, a 16-year NBA veteran point guard, believes Asik's limitations at the line should have precluded Watson from making that pass.

"You're an 80 percent free throw shooter. ... he's a 45-percent free-throw shooter," Rose said. "You have to hold onto the basketball, you have to put yourself on the line. Don't put your center in that position ...."

Watson might have been influenced by Asik's effective play seconds earlier.

"I thought he had a clear dunk,” Watson said. "Spencer Hawes came up, I'd been giving it to O the whole night and he's been dunking it so I thought why not give it to him again? I thought it was a flagrant, but it didn't go that way."

ESPN analyst and former head coach Hubie Brown believes Watson didn't work the clock effectively.

"The easiest thing to do is to second-guess him at that time, but as he's coming over (half court) we all know he could have dribbled all the way to the right side of the floor, backed it out before a) he might have been fouled, or b) he makes the pass," Brown said on "Mike & Mike." "You always tell players in this situation anytime a player comes close to you, pass the ball. Remember, you do not want to stop the clock. Because if you stop the clock, you're putting pressure on the guy who has to make the foul shots. But if you pass the ball and you continue to pass it to the free people, the clock continues to run. The clock is your friend when you are ahead.

"In that situation, I think what he saw was the play before that when they called a timeout, set up the pick-and-roll and Asik rolled down the middle, they get it to him and he scores quickly. He probably thought he had the same situation. Unfortunately, he did not have enough space. When he made that play, the defender was able to recover. If he would have continued with one or two more dribbles, and then the defender came to him, then he could have passed the ball and Asik could have made the catch and made the dunk without putting him on the foul line. That was difficult for Asik, because without Asik they never would have been in that situation. He played a magnificent game."

The fact the Bulls' season was in the hands of back-ups Watson, Asik and Taj Gibson, who played for the benched Carlos Boozer, was not lost on Brown.

"And when you think about Chicago, just remember as they're going in the fourth quarter under all of that pressure, you have Gibson and Asik up front, Watson in the backcourt, three backups guys," Brown said. "And there was a lot of pressure on them to execute perfectly."

PHILADELPHIA -- Doug Collins is headed to the second round for the first time since 1989. He's just not sure why.

“I don’t know how we won,” he said after his Philadelphia 76ers’ 79-78 win over Chicago in Game 6 of the first-round series.

The Bulls season ended in a blur of bad decisions and bad luck.

Playing wonderfully, at that point, in relief of an injured Joakim Noah, Omer Asik gave the Bulls a 3-point lead on a surprising dunk off a pick-and-roll with C.J. Watson with 26 seconds left. The Sixers called their last timeout and scored on a Thaddeus Young layup with 12.8 seconds to make it 78-77.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Philadelphia's Jrue Holiday was trying to foul in the backcourt to stop the clock, but the referees missed it, so Watson pushed the ball and saw Asik in good position and passed to him. It was a brain cramp of epic proportions, but Asik had been having a near-perfect offensive game.

"I thought he had a clear dunk,” Watson said. “Spencer Hawes came up, I'd been giving it to O the whole night and he's been dunking it so I thought why not give it to him again? I thought it was a flagrant, but it didn't go that way."

Hawes practically wrestled Asik to the ground, but it wasn’t called a flagrant. Asik, dripping with sweat after playing the entire second half, missed both free throws. A flagrant would’ve given the Bulls the ball.

“I’ve got to get more clarity on what a flagrant foul is,” Thibodeau said. “Because I don’t understand that. But you know, sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

Thibodeau added: “I don’t want to put it on the officials. It wasn’t the officials. We didn’t do what we should’ve done, which is close out the game.”

The pass was a confusing decision by Watson, who should’ve kept his dribble. He’s an 81 percent free-throw shooter. Asik is a 45 percent free-throw shooter. He was 4-for-5 from the line at that point, but that just augured for a slip-up.

“It’s a bang-bang play,” Thibodeau said. “I thought there might have been a foul in the backcourt with Holliday. They were trying to take the foul, obviously they didn’t see it that way. You’re running the clock down, you can dribble the clock out, they have to foul. They’re out of timeouts, so they have to go the length of the court. It didn’t happen. Hopefully We learn from that. But sometimes that’s what happens in a game.”

Iguodala grabbed the rebound and the Bulls couldn't stop him. He wound up driving the lane on Asik, who put his hands straight-up but was still called for the foul with 2.2 seconds left. Iguodala made both free throws.

With no timeouts, Watson took off and tried a desperation have that hit back iron. That was how the Bulls season ended. No one could've written that script.

PHILADELPHIA -- After a season full of fighting through every obstacle in their path, a cold, hard truth hit Tom Thibodeau and his team square in the face Sunday afternoon. They no longer have more than enough to win with.

That's the message that came across loud and clear during the Bulls' 89-82 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers. All the bravado and positive energy in the world can't erase the fact that the Bulls don't have enough playmakers on the floor to scratch out a close victory.

Thibodeau wanted his team to believe it could win without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah on the floor, but their absence appears to be too big to overcome.

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PHILADELPHIA -- Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has never wavered in the confidence he's shown towards his team. His coaching mantra is, "We have more than enough to win with."

He said it again on Saturday afternoon just seconds after all but admitting that Joakim Noah wasn't going to play in Game 4. Thibodeau's philosophy is that no matter who steps on the floor, the Bulls can win. It goes beyond talent for the veteran coach. He believes that if he puts his team in the right position and the players follow his direction, they will find their way.

But at some point, no matter how well a team executes an offense or runs plays, talent must win out. Clutch players have to make tough shots in big situations and the Bulls found out the hard way during the fourth quarter in Game 3 that without Derrick Rose, and to a much lesser extent Noah, the Bulls have a team full of guys who are still learning how to come through with the game on the line.

The Bulls shot just 6-for-25 in the final 12 minutes and looked inept at times down the stretch. It wasn't so much that a 14-point lead evaporated, it was how it happened so quickly. The Bulls ran down the floor on certain sets and appeared to have no idea what they wanted to do. Whether it was John Lucas III dribbling around with no particular purpose or Kyle Korver missing the open looks that he did get, the Bulls had no rhythm to their game. Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer, two key offensive weapons the Bulls needed to step up in place of Rose, finished the quarter a combined 1-for-7, with Deng's only shot coming in the final seconds.

As Thibodeau watched the tape on Saturday, it's hard to believe he didn't get sick to his stomach.

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DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Derrick Rose's backups look forward to the challenge of replacing the injured MVP beginning Tuesday with Game 2 of the Chicago Bulls' first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers.

"We love challenges," backup point guard John Lucas III said Tuesday. "We've been a challenge all season. Everybody's been doubting us when [Rose] went down the first time, saying that we wasn't going to have a good season. We love challenges. We like proving people wrong. And it makes us become better basketball players because we have a challenge ahead of us that people think we can't fulfill."

C.J. Watson, now the starter at point guard in place of Rose, whose season ended when he tore the ACL in his left knee in Game 1 on Saturday, said the start of Game 2 will be critical.

"It's definitely critical for both teams," Watson said. "More so them because we lost our star player and we have a lot of passion and intensity to play and win the game for him."

That's the approach Lucas III is taking as well. He said he was happy to see Rose at the Berto Center Monday and is hopeful that his team will be able to rally in Rose's absence.

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CHICAGO -- The Philadelphia 76ers' confidence in their ability to defeat the Chicago Bulls in their first-round Eastern Conference quarterfinals playoff series didn’t grow overnight with the news of Derrick Rose's season-ending injury.

The 76ers said Sunday they know firsthand just how good the Bulls can still be without their best player. The 76ers lost to the Bulls 89-80 without Rose in Chicago on March 17. C.J. Watson started at point guard for the Bulls in that win and had a team-high 20 points.

Rose played in just 39 of the 66-regular season games due to a variety of injuries, and the Bulls were 32-7 with him and 18-9 without him.

“One of the things I shared with our guys is [Rose] missed 26 or 27 games this year,” 76ers coach Doug Collins said after Sunday’s practice. “They have played without him. It’s not going to be that he’s not missed any games, and all of a sudden now, ‘What are they going to do?’ They’ve won some games without him. They’ve won some big games without him.”

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10: The resurgence of Kyle Korver

He sat out Thursday's regular-season finale because of nagging injuries, but Korver has shot the ball a lot better recently. More importantly, his defense has improved this season, and if he knocks down open jumpers he will stretch the floor for Derrick Rose in crunch time.

9: The rise of Taj

Taj Gibson's defense has gotten even better this season, and he will be called upon to be a closer alongside Omer Asik late in games. He always seems to make one or two highlight plays each night, especially against the Miami Heat.

8. The Bench Mob is rolling

Tom Thibodeau may decide to cut his rotation down much the same way he did last postseason, but if he doesn't, Bulls fans should feel great because their team has the deepest bench in the NBA. C.J. Watson, Ronnie Brewer, Jimmy Butler, John Lucas III, Korver and Gibson have developed into a reliable group of reserves that Thibodeau has more confidence in this season.

7. Noah is primed for a title run

Joakim Noah had a lot of ups and downs this season, but he looks to be mentally ready for the grind that comes in the postseason. He was not happy with how last season finished, and he is motivated to create a different ending this time.

6. Thibs is in control

Now in his second year, Thibodeau knows what he wants from his team, and he learned a lot from the postseason last time. He wants to continue to prove to all the teams that passed him over for head-coaching positions that they made a mistake. The best revenge would be a title.

5. Bulls still feel like underdogs

Thibodeau's team had the best record in the NBA again this season, but he has the players buying into the idea that there are still a lot of people who don't believe they can win. That belief will permeate through the locker room as the postseason drags along and will push his players to play even harder.

4. A year wiser

As a group, the Bulls have matured a lot over the past year. They have gotten even more comfortable playing alongside each other, and they are even more confident when they are on the floor together. That maturity is something that has grown throughout the season, and they feel like it will carry them for the next few months.

3. Don't write off Boozer yet

Carlos Boozer knows that he didn't perform up to his capabilities last season during the playoffs. He heard all the criticism, and it pushed him to come back in even better shape this season. He is the only Bull who started and played in every game this season. He wants to have a big postseason run to prove to everybody who doubted him that he is not a bust.

2. Rip City

The Bulls' biggest flaw last season was that they didn't have a 2-guard who could knock down open shots and take some pressure off Rose. Now they feel like they have that guy with Richard Hamilton, a player who knows what it takes to win a title (having won one in Detroit) and can help show his teammates the way. If he can knock down big shots in the playoffs, nobody will care that he missed most of the season because of injuries.

1. Watching Derrick Rose

Bulls fans should be most excited by the fact that Rose is playing and desperately wants to win a title. He has been hurt, and he's still not close to 100 percent. But he's still the reigning MVP of the league, and he is still better than most of his peers, even when he's not at his best. Rose may not be able to make all the moves he made last season, but as long as he's on the floor the Bulls still have a chance to win a title.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Kyle Korver felt the same way most Chicago Bulls' fans did late Sunday night.

As the veteran sharpshooter slipped on his red and blue socks, he tried to process everything that just occurred late in his team's 100-94 overtime win over the Detroit Pistons, in which for the second game in a row the Bulls snatched a win from the jaws of defeat by making several key plays in the waning moments.

"I'm not sure how we won that game to be honest with you," Korver said. "I think it says a lot about [our team]. Every night it's someone else. C.J. [Watson] hits [the big shot] the other night, Derrick [Rose] hits it tonight, obviously. Lots of guys have hit big shots or made big plays for us. That says a lot about our team."

But, like his hard-charging coach, Tom Thibodeau, Korver is also a realist. He knows the Bulls have to start playing better, more consistent basketball in order to get ready for the playoff games that are quickly approaching at the end of the month.

"We don't want to keep putting ourselves in this position," Korver said. "Because the odds aren't really in your favor to keep pulling out the wins ... we're taking advantage of the opportunities given to us, but we've got to play a better 48-minute game."

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As it crazy as it sounds, there is a school of thought gaining some traction that the Chicago Bulls are better without Derrick Rose.

The Bulls are 16-7 in games Rose has missed with injury, and they're 1-0 -- Thursday's 96-86 OT win over the Miami Heat -- with Rose contributing next to nothing and being benched late in the game.

Summing up a response to that theory was Bulls guard C.J. Watson.

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CHICAGO -- The biggest shot of C.J. Watson's Chicago Bulls' career wasn't even meant for him.

With 11. 4 seconds left and the Bulls trailing the Miami Heat 84-81, Tom Thibodeau drew up a play for Kyle Korver to come off some screens and knock down a game-tying three-pointer. When the Heat double-teamed Korver, Watson ended up being the man who had the pressure to knock down the final shot. When he got the ball in his hands, he didn't miss. It was a broken play that turned beautiful for the Bulls and sent the game into overtime.

"It definitely wasn't for me," Watson said with a smile.

Watson finished the game with 16 points, nine assists and helped the Bulls pull out a victory. The fact that Watson did this in place of an ineffective Derrick Rose surprised everyone, including Watson.

"Yeah, because I tweaked my ankle too," Watson said. "And I didn't know if he was going to put me back in, so it was tit for tat I guess."

Rose wasn't surprised that Watson knocked down the all-important shot.

"It was great, man," Rose said. "C.J. is the luckiest guy on the team. In practice he always hits them shots. When he had the ball, we all knew that it was a chance that it was going to go in."

Watson's play, along with that of the Bench Mob, only reinforced what the Bulls already knew. They have one of the deepest benches in the league, and it could help them get past Miami if the two teams meet again in the Eastern Conference finals.

"Our bench is one of the reasons we have the record we have," Bulls forward Carlos Boozer said. "I think we have a group of guys that come off the bench that could start for other teams. We feel like we got two starting units."

On this night, it looked like the Bulls had two starting point guards as well.

C.J. Watson discusses his shot at the end of regulation that sent the Bulls into overtime against the Heat.