Kobe is a shooting guard...his ability to play like a point guard is immaterial. That is like saying Carmelo can play like a 2 guard...I guess he could in certain situations...but he is a small forward.
The Stephen Curry argument was based on one thing...Curry's ability to shoot the basketball. Deron Williams has spent too many years as a point guard in the NBA and Chris Paul is the best pure point guard in the league in my opinion. Neither of them is the answer to what the Bulls need with Carmelo as a possible option.
If you think Kobe has 5 years left at the level he is at now...you are delusional. You can't compare Kobe to Jordan because Kobe has logged a LOT more minutes on his body than Jordan did at the same point. He is already declining. I doubt he is even in the league 5 years from now, let alone playing at the same level.
I wouldn't take Nowitzki over Melo going forward because of age. Dirk is at the end of his prime years also. But its interesting that your list of players you would take ahead of Melo is full of MVP candidates and future HOFers, but Melo is not considered elite so you say.
Kobe Bryant has point guard / play-making skills that Melo does not have. It is much more beneficial to have 2 stars who can create for himself and others. If Rose and Anthony were on the same team, both players wouldn't be able to do both of those things.
I just believe it is more beneficial that way because when you have 2 players who are able to feed off of each other, it is very hard to stop. There are teams like Dallas who managed to win with 4 guys feeding off of each other and Dirk, but the Bulls don't seem to be built like that.
And Bryant will still be in the league in 5 years if he wants to be. He could definitely step into a lesser scoring role and be an effective player barring further injury. I understand that he is not the old Kobe, but he is still going to be a smart and pretty athletic player for a number of more years.
I could see the Anthony over Nowitzki argument (on the Bulls) although I think Nowitzki is a better defensive player than Anthony and works in a screen-and-roll/pop much better than Melo. And Dirk's fade away is better than any single weapon Anthony has in his scoring arsenal.
I agree that I would not take Paul or Williams over Rose in all likelihood, but the only reason Curry would be a better fit is because he wouldn't demand as high of a price. He is a somewhat better shooter, but both Williams and Paul are great shooters anyway.
Whether or not Anthony is "elite" depends on how you define the word. Anthony doesn't fall within a certain group of players who happen to be at the top of the league right now, but he is a borderline top 10 player and a top 2, 3, or 4 scorer in the NBA. So it really all depends on point of view. Anthony is a perennial all-star and a dominant scorer. However, can you really put him on a level that is far and beyond a guy like Gasol or Griffin who are not even in the elite category of players by any stretch of the imagination? That is why I consider him the best of the non-elite about as much as I would consider him the worst of the elite.