Continuing on, two other teams mentioned in regards to the whole Melo trade speculation thing have been the Bulls and Rockets. Here's what I think it will boil down to...
Chicago Bulls send Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah, and James Johnson to Denver for Melo.
Frankly if this ever gets proposed and this does end up happening Ujiri will look like a genius and Paxson an idiot. It's not that I don't like Melo, but the Bulls are getting fleeced for this deal, unless a third team gets involved and Chicago gets more out of this, this is the only way Chicago can even muster up enough salary to match Melo, short of trading Derrick Rose. While a core of Rose, Melo, and Carlos Boozer is quite formidable, the Bulls essentially have gutted their entire frontcourt. Chicago is now relegated to once again searching free agency, since their C slot is relegated to Omer Asik and Kurt Thomas, leaving no one really to backup Carlos Boozer. I don't mind a 3 big rotation, but only if the three bigs are of high caliber. Not to knock on Asik and Thomas, but frankly, Asik is completely unproven and Thomas, well, at best he'd be the third big.
As for Denver, well, they get an amazingly solid lineup. The presence of Noah will slide Nene back to PF, where he is more comfortable, and then Deng can take Melo's starting spot. While perhaps not as offensively polished as Melo, Deng can hold his own and is a defensive force to be reckoned with. Tack on the hustle and rebounding of Taj Gibson, plus scoring off the bench of Al Harrington (provided the rotations work out) and the Nuggets actually get better by getting rid of their best player.
Houston Rockets send Kevin Martin and Shane Battier to Denver for Melo.
Ultimately I really see this to be something of a wash, since it involves how well Melo meshes with a very team oriented system on Rick Adelman's Rockets. This certainly allows Courtney Lee to get his chance as a starter on the Rockets next to a formidable lineup of Aaron Brooks, Melo, Luis Scola, and Yao Ming (if healthy). While they don't have a number of big name players, Jared Jeffries can spot minutes as a defensive specialist, and Kyle Korver and Brad Miller off the bench is still a pretty good system roster wise. Melo definitely is a step up from Kevin Martin scoring wise and should take a lot of that load off of Yao, providing a very balanced offense with Scola's hustle and Brooks's shooting.
On the flip side, Kevin Martin and Shane Battier slide into the Nuggets' starting lineup quite well. However, the question is, how well will a platoon of J.R. Smith and Arron Afflalo for minutes work behind Martin in the depth charts. Again, it's muuch more of a horizontal movement than any improvement given Martin's peaking game and Battier's decline due to age.
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