Chicago Bulls a likely destination for Carmelo Anthony this summer

Happy Carmelo Anthony visits Chicago day.

This isn’t the 2010 NBA free agent summer of love, but it’s still a great “silly season.” I truly get into this aspect of the league way more than the actual games. I love the business/transaction part of the NBA. As predictable and boring as this year’s NBA Finals, and Conference Finals were, my feelings are in the opposite for this year’s free agency period.

Take us away Adrian Wojnarowski.

Now Carmelo Anthony has opted out of his contract with the early exit clause, let’s get this party started.

While many feel that he will stay in New York, the Chicago Bulls are the only other top options. Carmelo Anthony greatly respects head coach Tom Thibodeau and that playing with Derrick Rose would be a great thing since he is/was/might still be one of the best point guards in the NBA.

As you know, Melo is visiting the Berto Center in Deerfield (the Bulls practice facility) today. Anthony then will travel to Texas to meet with the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday morning and the Houston Rockets that same afternoon. He also has an offseason home in Los Angeles; and he’s expected to meet with the Lakers next week.

Although formal talks have now just opened last night; deals can’t be formalized until July 10th. So how does Carmelo Anthony land here?

First off Carlos Boozer gets amnestied. Any day now this will happen. So that clears out that cap space. Carmelo Anthony and the Bulls head coach have the same agent and while sometimes the media over-hypes these connections and reads too much into that, maybe this time it matters? Of course, what really matters is money and the Knicks have the rights to pay him more than any other team. So it’s probably down to the Knicks and the Bulls.

That’s what NBA executives are saying anyway.

Anthony and Bulls Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen have been in Paris together at a Nike event. And the wives of Anthony and Pippen are close. Does this mean he’s coming? No. We do know that the Miami heat are out of the running. With the entire big three opting out of their contracts it’s impossible for the Heat to land Anthony. In the end, it will probably be between the Bulls and the Knicks.

Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! The Postgame. He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, the History Channel and more. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)