That's not a bad package, really. Maybe throw in some picks.... Mello, Boozer and Rose would be a really interesting trio. A less wealthy man's version of LeBron, Bosh and Wade.
If the bulls somehow land Melo (and he agrees to extend) I'll preorder my fuckin melo jersey. I agree that the trio would be very interesting, I wonder how it could work
Would any Bulls fan consider trading Noah in a deal to get Melo? I think I would. Noah is really good. Melo is one of the top few players in the league, likely 2nd best SF behind LeBron, and maybe he'd be considered the best player in the league if LeBron weren't playing.
I still dont know if i'd include noah because thomas isnt gonna be enough defensively behind boozer to help like Joakim would. I mean I love Melo, he's my fav player thats not Derrick Rose, but noah is essentially our ben wallace in his prime.
We've drafted two bigs in the mid/late 1st round who've been at least decent. We've drafted 3 guys since Jordan retired who made the all-star team. Melo is beyond those 3 guys (Brand, Artest, Rose) - a player who comes along once a decade and who's perennially one of the top few players in the league, let alone an all-star.
I love Noah, I love his hustle, I love his attitude, and I love his production. But if somebody could guarantee me that Melo would come in a be focused and in shape for the next five years and play like he did at the beginning of last season where he started off with something like 9 30 point games in his first 12, I trade Noah in a heartbeat. Melo was the MVP of the first month and a half last year, but how many votes did he end with at the end of the year. The risk is that we trade Deng and Noah and give a $100 million extension to a guy who turns out to be Amare Stoudemire and mails it in for significant parts of the next 3+ years. He'll get his 20-25 and hit a few shots, but won't win enough games to get a seed high enough to get to the conference finals. Because you have to remember that Deng gets you 20 and 8 almost every night and Noah gets you 10 and 10 every night, so to give that up, you have to get a guy who gets you 30/7/4 on 37% from 3 and 8 FTA/pg. Because to this point 25/6/3 isn't that much better than Deng, let alone Deng and Noah. Melo could be that guy, I'm just not sure there's a great chance.
Plus, you'd have to trade Taj for a starting C like Gortat and sign Amundsen as the backup PF/C. But I'd take Rose/Brewer/Melo/Boozer/Gortat over what Miami has.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ai73H_tujop9vMfwahQtaOe8vLYF?slug=aw-anthonynuggets082610 So Anthony wants his extension now. If Denver only trades Anthony along with Smith and Martin, then I don't see a chance for the Bulls.
I don't read that as Denver wanting to trade them in one package deal, just that if Melo's gone they want to rebuild.
No to dealing Noah. A big part of these deals is the team goals aspect of it. Melo wouldn't be happy here (or anywhere) if the team trades too much to get him. And you wouldn't trade for a guy that won't be happy here. I've not heard a single word about the Bulls offering anything for Melo, or him being interested in coming here. The one sort of surprising team I've heard mentioned is the Bobcats. When I started to think about it, it makes pretty good sense though, and I think they could offer more than we could. 1. Melo has a shoe deal with MJ 2. The Bobcats have Erick Dampier, who has a non guaranteed contract, so they could provide a lot of financial relief to the Nuggets just like a team under the cap could. 3. If the Bobcats were willing, they could make a credible offer. Suppose they wanted to expand the deal to include Billups. Billups/Melo/JR Smith for Damipier ($13M cash, basically), G. Wallace, Boris Diaw, DJ Augustin, and G. Henderson The Bobcats end up with Larry Brown coaching 1- Billups, Livingston 2- SJax, JR Smith 3- Melo 4- Tyrus, Najera 5- Nazr/Diop That seems like exactly the sort of team of knuckleheads that Larry Brown could do scary things with.
