It's the Final Countdown folks, and guess what??? Not a damn thing is new. Go about your business and stop by every so often. I'll keep my eyes peeled for you.

HOLY CRAP.....RIGHT AT 3.....GUESS WHO GOT TRADED?!?!?!?!

No one.

Yep, that's right. All of those supposed rumors, and the only players involved are Juan Dixon (your mouth), Fred Jones, Anthony Johnson, and a 2nd Round Pick (I'm betting on Ekene Ibekwe). I think FOX, CBSSportsline, and Yahoo actually played it perfectly. Let ESPN waste all of their time and resources hunting this crap down, and talk about it later if it even happens at all.

I'm sick of trade deadlines......next time remind me NOT to do this.

(P.S.- Some trades always come through the wire after 3pm, so I reserve the right to take all of that back.)

Trade #2- Fred Jones to Portland, Juan Dixon to the Raptors- Rotoworld 1:04pm

Exciting stuff we've got going on here. Rotoworld reports it, but credits ESPN. Chad Ford has yet to say anything about it.

Ahhh figured it out. Ric Bucher reported it....making Chad Ford's chat pretty irrelevant.

That's it for Chad. He's off to call Bryan Collangelo and beg him for a scoop. Sorry for ignoring the rumors, but I really thought Chad was going to bring us more than just Anthony Johnson.
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More ESPN Rumors:

Rumor: Carter to the Magic for Darko, Hedo Turkoglu, and JJ Redick

Rumor: Jason Richardson to the Nets

Rumor: Kings trying to make a play for Kidd

Rumor: Etan Thomas to the Bulls

Rumor: Adonal Foyle to the Blazers, Jamaal Magloire to the Warriors
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Interesting story I came across in the Arizona Republic. Mike D'Antoni is firing back at comments made about the Suns using a short rotation. Who made the comments? Sir Charles of course.

D'Antoni said he wasn't sure he should take basketball advice from someone who "choked" away championships and had his own playoff conditioning questioned.

So your first rumor of the day is in from Contra Costa Times.....

Michael Pietrus to Portland for Juan Dixon (Denied by the Warriors)- Via Rotoworld 10:55am

Good move on their part. Looks like Pietrus is available though. I'm a big fan of his actually....I think he would thrive away from G-State. You would have thought with the Dunleavy Trade that he would get some PT, but not when you trade Forwards for Forwards.

Rumor: Minnesota's Mike James to Houston (Hinges on Eddie Griffin inclusion)- Houston Chronicle.

Not likely to happen, and the article doesn't even say who the the Timberwolves would get.
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Here comes the ESPN Hype Machine......from Chris Sheridan (Insider) come these "possible" deals.

Rumor: Kidd to the Lakers for a combination of Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, Aaron McKie, Jordan Farmar, and a 1st Round Pick.

Not a chance in hell. The Nets are said to want Odom or Bynum in any deal.

Rumor: Vince Carter to the Clippers for Shaun Livingston and Corey Maggette

Rumor: Mike James to the Kings, Drew Gooden to the Timberwolves, Bibby to the Cavs

Rumor: Marcus Banks to Cleveland, Damon Jones to the Suns

Rumor: Bonzi Wells to Chicago, Michael Sweetney to the Rockets

Rumor: Wells to Detroit for Flip Murray and Dale Davis

Rumor: PJ Brown to the Mavs for ???

Rumor: Fred Jones to Portland, Juan Dixon to Toronto

Rumor: Jackie Butler from the Spurs to the 76ers

Again....all ESPN Hype, but we'll see what transpires. Chad Ford is on at noon (SportsNation), so he'll be pimping one of those 4-team 17 player deals that never happens.
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ESPN is now saying that Scottie Pippen's most likely destination is Cleveland. They are reporting that he had an interview recently and that the Cavs are interested
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Rumors from Ben Maller at FoxSports........

Rumor: Carter to the Knicks for Channing Frye, Jammal Crawford, and Malik Rose (Riiiiiiight)

Rumor: Kidd to the Suns?!?!?! for Raja Bell, Kurt Thomas, and the Hawks 1st Rounder acquired in the Joe Johnson trade.

Rumor: Corey Maggette to the Jazz, Gordon Giricek and Rafael Araujo's expiring contract to the Clippers.

None of which are going to happen......
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Chad Ford: (12:02 PM ET ) Aloha everyone. Whoa ... this room is crowded already. Give me one sec, just finishing up a call with a GM ... I'll be right back. Keep sending in your questions ...

Hahahaha. Of course you are Chad....or course you are. Chad also says that Jason Kidd is staying in New Jersey....

(Side Note: I know that you can just go and read the chat yourself, so I'll try not to freak out everytime Chad says something like....."Kidd to Wizards for Arenas and Calvin Booth")

This trade deadline is going to suck (like it does every year)....Chad just commented that Bibby and Mike James aren't looking like their moving. If you're keeping count that's 3 so far.
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Rumor from Memphis Commercial Appeal: Chucky Atkins, Stromile Swift, Dahntay Jones, and Damon Stoudemire are on the block.
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First trade of the day.......Anthony Johnson to the Hawks, 2nd Round Pick to the Mavs (Blockbuster Deal!!!!)- Reported by Chad Ford at 12:18 (No one else has it yet)
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Ford says Abdur-Rahim to the Bulls is unlikely. How funny would it be if only Anthony Johnson got traded?

Chadwick also has to see his numbers dwindling in the chat because he just threw out this Rumor: Drew Gooden to the Suns for Marcus Banks, Kurt Thomas, and some draft Picks. Cause getting a slow as Drew Gooden would fit in that offense.

I'm seriously falling asleep now. I would take anyone going to anywhere at this point. Chad is answering Kevin Garnett questions now, and the Wolves aren't going to trade him (which is retarded on McHale's part).
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Players Chad thinks are getting traded: Jamaal Magloire, and........umm, that's it. YEAAA!

The Atlanta Constitution Journal gets wind of the Anthony Johnson deal. Way to make up for passing on Chris Paul, Hawks!- 12:41pm

Chad Ford Rumor: Toronto wants Darko

From The NJ Star Ledger......Nets cutting off all talk of Kidd to Lakers unless they include Bynum.
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One Hour Down.....2 to go. New Thread coming......

If you're like me you probably forgot that the trade deadline was today. So are you ready for mediocre players and contracts to be moved?!?!?!?!?! I sure the hell am. Let's take a look at the rumored (kinda like the departed). I've scoured the sites and papers, and this is who I've got.

Pau Gasol, Luol Deng, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Corey Maggette, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni, Zach Randolph, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Luther Head, Bonzi Wells, Mike Bibby, Mike James, Michael Pietrus, Andrew Bynum, Salim Stoudamire, Etan Thomas, Brenda Haywood, Jamaal Magloire, Luke Ridnour, Beno Udrih, Nazr Mohammed, Anthony Johnson, Marcus Banks, and.....as always.....Kevin Garnett.

So how many of those players are actually going? Well according to ESPN all of them. The rumors will be thrown around all day, but my guess is about 15% of those folks will actually move (you can check my math later today). So do your best to stay away from the ESPN hype-machine, and stick to the real reporters, and more informative sites.

Keep your eye on David Aldridge of the Philly Inquirer. Saw him on TNT the other night and he had the bluetooth hands free sitting on the desk ready to go. Even though he's gone from ESPN he still has a TON of contacts.

Also, head to Rotoworld. They scour the papers and have info up within minutes.

And finally, you can head back here. I'm going to have an open thread for the day breaking down all of the trades. I know it's not Announcing, but I'm going to try and get all Big Lead on this deadline and see how many trades ESPN will poach by saying they broke the story. Should be fun.....I did this last year (in the early days of AA) for the Baseball deadline, and it turned out great.
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One team that may be looking is the Heat. If you missed it.....D-Wade's shoulder got pretty jacked up last night and he could miss up to six weeks. Here are the photos.











































Okay.....seriously....I know shoulder separations hurt like a mother (I've had one), but did you really need to be taken off in a wheel chair.

GET KNOCKED DOWN 7 TIMES GET CARTED OFF ONCE