The problem might be in a 3 team trade it would now give hope back to the Bulls who have no real shot since Denver will not take back Deng's contract which is needed to make a deal between the two teams work.
If Chi. could get a 3rd team to trade for Deng for an expiring contract then Chi. is in buisness.....now the catch is that no team is going to just help Chicago out like that with out a nice compensation for it (Taj Gibson or at least a couple unprotected number 1 picks) thus taking away from how much they could offer Denver.
Problem for Chi. also is that Deng is an expendable player making a lot of money, even if a team is thirsty for a SF there are plenty of cheaper options that are just as good. Heck you could make a case that we have 3 players just as good as Deng each making 9 million less than him this year.
Now in a 3 team scenerio we are a bit of a mystery in terms of what we could swap out and with who.
I mean instantly I think of Indy wanting Randolph for a first rounder earlier this summer. So say we do that and then we re-rout that pick along with a young player or two, Curry's contract and probably our 2014 first rounder and the couple second rounders we got from G-State for Melo.
The make or break is who the young players we include are. If we give up Randolph selling Knick fans on us parting ways w/ Gallo too is going to be difficult (I'm not one of those such fans).
Also is this enough for Denver? On paper it seems like everything they are asking for; young players, draft picks and cap relief, but bitterness towards letting him go to his desired location is what could prompt them to demand more.
This also stinks of the same situation that brang Curry to NY. Remember how Curry forced his way out and made Paxson trade him to The Bulls and now think of the karma that carries to this day!
But of course Melo is no Curry! He is an established player not a player who has the potential to do something, an All Star not a should be All Star.
What it may boil down to is Denver just dealing him to us for our best offer! Because the numbers don't work unless Deng is included in the deal and losing Melo and taking a cap hit would be just dumb and finding a team to take back Deng for an expiring contract is going to be difficult!
And Denver can say what they want about not being in a rush to move him, they know that he is gone next summer so they better take what they can get. Curry's expiring contract + Gallo+Chandler+a 2014 first rounder is much much better than what Tor. got for Bosh and what Clev. got for Lebron
Think about it.