to Melo putting himself in a win-win situation. If he's smart he'd take the buyout and go join Lebron in whatever team he goes to.
I think Melo still has the skillset to be very effective in Bron ball. He might not be the same player he was but you can't go wrong with Melo wide open in the corner from a Lebron dime.
If LA can land Cousins or even Howard, you can hide whatever deficiencies Melo has on defense and Lebron would at least have a stretch 4 that could knock down shots.
If he aint gonna do that, then he should join D-Wade in Miami for a
03 super team and see if that can work.