The Chicago Bulls are going hard after Carmelo Anthony and he is visiting with the team this week and along with Melo, LeBron James, Luol Deng and Lance Stephenson are free agent targets and some of those deals could get done soon if the Bulls trade Carlos Boozer to free up salary cap space.
The Bulls have been one of the main teams going after Anthony this entire offseason and now that he is opted out and on the market, they are going to make a hard push for him. According to ESPN.com, the Knicks still feel they have the best shot at him and Phil Jackson is planning on recruiting Pau Gasol to join the fun in NY and this comes as they can offer him the most money of anyone else and the longest contract at five years and nearly $130 million. The Houston Rockets, LA Lakers and Dallas Mavericks are also going after him, but the Mavs have said they are not giving max deals.
The Miami Heat is also reportedly interested and they could try and sign LeBron James and Anthony, which is something the Bulls and Rockets have also explored. Stephenson and Deng are also free agent options for those teams and the Bulls could look at those names if they miss out on Anthony or James. The Knicks will need to make other moves if they lose Anthony and the team already got rid of Tyson Chandler by trading him to the Mavericks and he said he would lobby Anthony to sign there.
Chicago is trying to make a Big 3 with Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah and they see Love or Carmelo Anthony as top targets this offseason to do it. The Bulls will need to clear some cap space to get anything done with Anthony or Love and they likely will look to trade Carlos Boozer or amnesty to get one of those deal done. The Rockets are also trying to make moves this offseason and they may try and get Love as well and they are in the mix for Anthony too. 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.
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 Kevin 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.
According to SI.com, the Rockets and the Bulls are the two main teams going for Anthony and Houston will need to make some trades to get that deal done. Houston has both Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik on the last years of their contracts and with the money they are making they have no choice but to try and move them.
