Happy Hour 02/22: The NBA Trading Dud-line

Hey, would you like to make a trade just so we can say we made one?

Oh, you bet. And this way, my boss will think I'm actually working.

I'm betting such an exchange took place between two NBA general managers at least once today. But most everyone else appears to have been playing Solitaire, clearing out their e-mail, or out of the office to catch up on errands. They sure didn't seem to be working on making any deals or trying to improve their teams. What did we get today?

• Atlanta acquired Anthony Johnson from Dallas for... a second-round draft pick. Johnson is surely thrilled that he gets to join the Hawks for the third time in his career. And how excited are they in Atlanta? The Journal-Constitution's "Hawks Hack" blog has a post titled "Trade brings ANOTHER backup point guard."
  


• Portland shipped Juan Dixon (whom Detroit was reportedly interested in) to Toronto for Fred Jones (who I think won a dunk contest once). The Toronto Star's Raptors beat writer, Doug Smith, brings the sizzle by calling this transaction "a financial thing," and goes into some contract and salary cap stuff. I bet they almost went over the two minutes on "PTI" breaking down that deal.
  


• And Philadelphia dumped Alan Henderson (who hasn't done anything of significance in the league for about six years) on Utah for "the rights to swap 2007 second-round draft picks." They're not even trying to sugarcoat this deal. Stephen A. Smith can't even raise his eyebrows for this one.
  

We'll probably hear about some of the trades that almost got through, only to fall apart at the last minute. Here in Detroit, we're a little disappointed Joe Dumars didn't pick up one more shooter to bolster what looks like the Beast of the East right now. But that will be only the smallest of consolation prizes to anyone anticipating a big, power-shifting deal at the NBA's trading deadline.

And really, hoping for such a deal was probably expecting too much. Very few teams are willing to significantly alter their roster during the season. And with the NBA standings essentially one big cluster#@$%, teams don't want to give up on a playoff run or help a competitor get better. Ultimately, all the fuss is probably just meant to keep ESPN.com's NBA page constantly refreshed. It's a good thing I DVR'ed SportsCenter.