The Chicago Bulls are coming into free agency looking to make major moves and with Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James as the main targets, players like Greg Monroe, Lance Stephenson, Pau Gasol and Spencer Hawes could be secondary names on the free agent market if the team misses on Melo and the Bulls also could look at trades with Carlos Boozer or Taj Gibson to clear cap space to support Derrick Rose.
The Bulls are the main team chasing Anthony along with the Houston Rockets and they are planning to try and sign him hard, as they feel he is the missing piece to a championship puzzle. According to ESPN.com, the Bulls are the first team that Anthony will meet with in free agency and he is getting chased by the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers as well as the NY Knicks, who feel "optimistic" about his re-signing with the team.
The Knicks can offer Anthony the longest contract and the most money with $130 million over five years and that is one reason why they feel like he will stay in New York. According to ESPN.com, the team is also going after Pau Gasol as a way to convince Anthony to stay and if he does opt to leave, Phil Jackson has options on the market in Lance Stephenson, Eric Bledsoe and Kyle Lowry, although none of those players are the caliber of Anthony.
The Knicks traded away Raymond Felton and Tyson Chandler to the Mavericks and Chandler said that he will lobby Anthony and the move helped the Knicks clear up some cap space to help sign more players. The Knicks feel that Anthony is the main piece of their core and while they should be fine even if he leaves, Jackson wants to retain his services for the long term. The Bulls appear to be the top team for Anthony if he leaves the Knicks, as they have Joakim Noah and Rose already there and they likely will have to move Taj Gibson or Carlos Boozer to get the deal done.
The Bulls are coming into the offseason after dealing with another Derrick Rose injury last year and now Chicago feels it has a window that is closing to win a championship with Rose. The team knows that Rose has years ahead of him, but after two serious injuries in as many years, he could be a different player now and he needs more support if he doesn't have that explosiveness that helped him win an MVP award a few years ago. That feels like another era now and the Bulls see Anthony or LeBron James as the main scoring threat they need after being the top defensive team in basketball last season.
The Knicks went 37-45 last season and opened 3-13 and Anthony missed the playoffs for the first time in his career. Now Anthony has the chance to make one last major move and could end up leaving NY just a few years after getting traded there from Denver. Anthony is a prime scorer and one of the best players in the league and now he is looking to get another big contract to set him up for the last stage.
