It has been 10 long years since the Bulls last title (and when your team wins six in the first 14 years of your life, 10 years seems like an eternity), and the Bulls have essentially made no progress towards their next one.

Sure, this team will win more than 30 games, something the Bulls teams from '99-'04 couldn't do, but in 10 years, I don't count that as an improvement. So where do they go from here? Betting on D-Rose to win every game by himself is not a legitimate option, so how can the Bulls improve this team and become a winner?

Hindsight is 20/20, and now I realize that the Bulls missed a huge opportunity by not trading for Gasol or Garnett. The Bulls are clearly missing a consistent scorer, especially one from down in the low post.

Even though they gave Luol Deng $70 million, he isn't the answer, and it's becoming more and more evident that recent draft picks Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah aren't viable solutions either (although LaMarcus Aldridge might have been).

Of the potential free agents in 2009, the one that makes the most sense for the Bulls, even though it pains me to add another Dukie, is Carlos Boozer. Boozer has a player option for '09, but will most likely opt to sign a long-term deal while he is still in the prime of his career. If he is a free agent, many teams will be making an effort to sign him, but I think he would definitely be the missing piece.

If not Boozer, the Bulls could go after veterans Shawn Marion, Lamar Odom, or Rasheed Wallace. Other alternatives include waiting for the fabled summer of 2010 and try to land Chris Bosh, or pray for the No. 1 pick again in 2009 and select Oklahoma F Blake Griffin.

Overall, while there are some options out there to fix the Bulls' hole in the frontcourt, not many are feasible and those that are aren't very enticing. However, any and all of them are better than what the Bulls have come up with; namely Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Aaron Gray, and Drew Gooden (don't forget 47-year old Michael Ruffin).

While the Bulls have holes in the frontcourt, they have a logjam in the backcourt. Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Larry Hughes, and Thabo Sefolosha all believe they deserve playing time when healthy. And no, I didn't forget Lindsay Hunter. So who stays and who goes?

We all know Derrick Rose isn't going anywhere, hopefully ever. Hinrich would have to leave via trade, as he still has another four years left on his five-year deal. I'd love to see Hughes go, but at $12.8 million this year and $13.6 million next year, I don't really see any takers.

They could get rid of Sefolosha, but I value his defense, which is improving. Gordon is the most likely candidate to leave, as he is on a one-year contract, but I'd personally like to see the Bulls keep him around as a sixth man where he thrived in 2006 and 2007.

So after all of this, the Bulls are only marginally in better shape than they were a decade ago. The playoffs look like a stretch this year, and even if the Bulls make it they'd have Cleveland or Boston waiting for them.

Looking ahead to next year isn't pretty, as holes up front won't be filled and logjams in the backcourt won't be cleared. If this is what the front office calls progress, as a Bulls fan, I'm pretty scared about what the next 10 years will hold, even with Derrick Rose at the helm.

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