There has been rampant speculation for the better part of this year that Carmelo Anthony will be leaving the New York Knicks and signing elsewhere. It’s only been recently that the Chicago Bulls have become frontrunners to land him and the closer we get to the moment he opts out the more the Bulls are mentioned as a likely landing spot.
One thing helping the speculation is Joakim Noah’s continued recruiting of Carmelo Anthony. The main reason that folks are against the idea is that there doesn’t seem to be enough money for the Bulls to stay under the tax, sign Melo and keep their roster intact.
According to Joe Cowley of The Chiago Sun-Times, Noah is in favor of the Bulls signing Melo but doesn’t want to sacrifice forward Taj Gibson in the process.
It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Bulls get Melo and keep Taj Gibson but it’s possible. The Bulls would need to gut everyone else and possibly even ask Nikola Mirotic to stay overseas for another season but having a starting lineup of Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Carmelo Anthony, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah may be worth all the sacrifices it would require.