Why Aren't The Bulls In The Hunt For Melo?

All this speculation about a Tayshaun-and-Billups for Melo deal got me thinking: If Denver's actually serious about dealing him, shouldn't the Bulls try to get involved and see if they could swing a Hinrich-and-Deng for Melo trade?

It seems to me Melo would be a huge offensive upgrade over Deng, seeing as how he's not only a low-post scorer that you can run your offense through but also a semi-legit threat from three point land (a career high 35 percent last year) who stretches the D. Deng, of course, does neither, which I'm starting to think is a real problem, as his man can go and double down on our (already pretty meager) post players and still get back in time to the 15-20 ft range where Deng likes to hover for his jumpers. I'm well aware Melo brings certain "character" issues with him, but by all means picture me rolling my eyes while sitting jackknifed and repeatedly pumping my fist over my lower torso area.

Now, at first blush, it would appear that faced with those two prospective deals, Denver would obviously go for Detroit's offer: Billups is clearly better than Hinrich (23.6 PER last year to Kirk's shockingly low 13.1), while Deng and Tayshaun are probably a wash when you factor in Tayshaun's far superior defense (Deng's 17.0 PER was marginally better than Tayshaun's 15.6). But, in a couple ways, the Bulls' offer could be more appealing.

For starters, Deng (22) is five years younger than Tayshaun. At 27, Tayshaun is playing in the prime of his career, and yet he isn't putting up any better offensive numbers than Deng, who is almost certain to improve. In other words, with Prince you have a player who has reached the pinnacle of his talent, yet that pinnacle isn't noticeably higher than Deng, whose game is still on the upswing. Meanwhile, Hinrich (27) is four years younger than Chauncey. Now I'm sure that certainly for next season, you would rather have Chauncey Billups lead your team than Kirk. But how about after that, when Chauncey turns 33? At that point, I'd say all bets are off. (See also: Wallace, Ben.)

Which leads to the other reason the Bulls' offer might be more appealing than Detroit's: After next year, Billups has two more years left on his deal for $25 mil.; Kirk also has three years left on his deal, but his last two years only cost $18.5 mil. To a team with major luxury tax issues that's already locked into paying Nene and Kenyon Martin a combined $26 mil and $28 mil. over those two seasons, that savings could be awfully tempting, particularly since Deng (who presumably could be signed and traded with a 5-year, $55 mil. deal) would be making roughly the same that's due to Tayshaun ($31 mil. over the next 3 years).

I can't see this deal happening for a million reasons--from Pax's infatuation with "character" guys to the Bulls' overestimation of Deng (about which I might be writing more later). But I do think it would make a lot of sense.