NBA Free Agency: Signings of our dreams
Hey, Let’s Make The Chicago Bulls Watchable Again, Carmelo Anthony
by Scott Rafferty (@crabdribbles)
It’s amazing what the Chicago Bulls achieved this season considering they were without Derrick Rose for all but 10 games and Luol Deng from the turn of the New Year onwards. Being in an inferior conference helped them in a big way, sure — their 48-34 record wouldn’t have been good enough to make the playoffs in the West — but those are the perks of being situated where they are. And even though they were bounced in the first round at the hands of the Washington Wizards in five games, they have a lot of things going for them next season, namely, a healthy Derrick Rose and enough cap space to lure some highly coveted free agent to the Windy City.
The Bulls are a defensive juggernaut, we know that. They ranked second in defensive efficiency this season, only slightly behind the Indiana Pacers, and it’s where their bread is buttered. Offensively, though, they were a mess. So much so that only two teams were less efficient on that end of the court: the woeful Orlando Magic and the even more woeful Philadelphia 76ers.
Having Derrick Rose back on the court will solve some of those problems, but they still need a facelift there, which is why they traded two first-round draft picks for the National Player of the Year and 2014 NCAA scoring champion, Doug McDermott. He can’t play a lick of defense, but that’s the sacrifice they are willing to make if he can provide them with what they need — an injection of offense.
Obviously there’s only so much they can expect from a rookie, and that’s why they’ll need much more if they hope to build upon last season’s unlikely success. Their work isn’t done yet — that’s if they want to stop the Miami Heat from becoming the Eastern Conference champions for the fifth time in as many years — and they’ve made it known that their number one option this off-season is to bring in a seven-time All-Star and a two-time member of the All-NBA Second Team by the name of Carmelo Anthony.
Carmelo Anthony is too good to waste his prime on a team that has no way of competing for a championship. At age 29, in what was a dumpster-fire of a season for the New York Knicks, Carmelo put together some of the best body of work of his career: 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists on 45.2 percent shooting from the field and 40.2 percent from three. He needs a change of scenery, and that’s why he’d be best suited playing alongside Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson from here on out.
Carmelo is an iso-heavy, one-man wrecking crew offensively, which is what the Bulls desperately need. He can be a sieve defensively, but like McDermott, it’s something they can overlook if it means he’s bringing in a shade under 30 points to the table every single night. (It also helps that he’d be surrounded by players who are known for what they do on the defensive end.)
It won’t be easy; in fact, it would take a lot of sacrifice on behalf of Carmelo. Even if the Bulls were to amnesty Carlos Boozer and package players like Mike Dunleavy, Tony Snell and Nikola Mirotic in a trade, Anthony would have to likely accept something along the lines of $15 million a year, which, when compared to the $129 million over five years that the Knicks could offer him, is a painful pill to swallow. But if Carmelo Anthony really wants to win, like he says he does, taking a paycut to play for the Chicago Bulls in an inferior conference is the way for him to go. Not only that, it would make the Bulls watchable again — something we all need in our lives.