The Chicago Bulls are coming into the offseason looking to make a big splash and the team could look at trades involving names like Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson or Jimmy Butler to clear enough cap space to sign Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James in free agency.
According to ESPN.com, the Bulls are the front runners for Anthony now that he opted out of his contract with the Knicks and teams like the Miami Heat, Houston Rockets and Mavericks are also in the mix. The Bulls will need to amnesty or trade Carlos Boozer to clear out enough space and they may have to make even more moves to get that done and they reportedly will consider trading Noah to get Kevin Love, LeBron or Melo.
The team has talent to move with Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson and they could be making their way to Love, Anthony or James through those moves. The Bulls need more scoring, as they ranked in the top of the league in defense, but last in points per game. Anthony wants to win and Chicago is one place to do that and it would be ironic with Phil Jackson taking over in New York that he would do that. Anthony supposedly is leaning towards leaving, but that could change over the next couple weeks and the Bulls will react accordingly.
Anthony is also the number on priority with the Knicks and he is being targeted by the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets as well. Anthony can sign the longest and highest money contract with New York and that could keep him in the Big Apple, but with endorsements and all he has made already, championships could be more important than money right now. The Heat reportedly are thinking about signing Anthony if they can make the cap work, but that will be very difficult.
ESPN.com worked out a realistic way that the Heat could sign him and it would require all of the Big 3 to opt out and then sign back for less money. Anthony could potentially leave up to $70 million on the table and that could be too much for a player to handle, even if he does want to win titles. Last season Anthony had another solid year with the Knicks and averaged over 25 points, but he missed the playoffs for the first time in his career and that could lead him to leaving New York because he knows the team is a year or two away from winning a title or even competing for one.
The Bulls are going to have to make a move with Carlos Boozer no matter what happens, as he is making over $16 million and the way he played last year does not justify that salary. The team will either trade him or use the amnesty clause on him and that is due to the fact that they need relief to get Melo or to get Love to sign an extension. Love averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds last season and factored into the MVP voting and now he would like to test the market after not making the playoffs in each of his first six seasons.