Well, those of you out there who were hoping for a Chris Paul trade are probably going to be disappointed. The initial rumors of a CP3 trade said that the deal with the Blazers was squashed because owner George Shinn wasn't ready to get rid of his franchise player. And now today, it was announced that Jeff Bower has come to a mutual agreement with the team to leave his job as general manager. Now, I can't say that I think Bower did a good job in New Orleans, but he's making the right move here. The odds of Shinn, one of league's most frugal owners, spending money to build a legit contender around Paul are slim and they get even slimmer once you remember that the Hornets will have to give Paul a max deal to keep in in the Bayou. The Hornets need to rebuild and deal Paul for prospects or else they'll just end up like Cleveland or Toronto, watching their franchise player walk away, leaving them with almost nothing in return.

In other NBA offseason news (aka the NBA crazy season), the Charlotte Bobcats managed to avoid one bad trade but then turned around and made a worse one. As I wrote before, I didn't love their deal with Toronto since I don't think that Jose Calderon and Larry Brown would mesh well. Michael Jordan nixed that deal but then turned around and traded Tyson Chandler (who he was giving away for nothing in the Toronto deal) for Erick Dampier's non-guaranteed deal and the horrific contract of Matt Carroll. While I'm not sure if Jose Calderon would fit in Charlotte, I know for a fact that Carroll won't because he was on the Bobcats a couple of years ago and they dumped him for the terrible contract of DeSagana Diop. This is one of those short term deals that only makes sense to NBA GM's (and it's the second time that Tyson Chandler's been involved in one.) Just like when Toronto dumped Chandler for Emeka Okafor's long term deal, the Dallas/Charlotte trade saves some money in the short run but leaves the Bobcats with a contract that nobody really wants and will clog their cap.

But what about the Trade of the Day?! I know, I know. I can't keep you waiting. (And by you, I really mean YOU because there's probably only one person reading this. So, uh, hey, how ya doing?)
In honor of all of the recent moves that haven't made much sense to me, I'll conjure up a deal that I wouldn't necessarily OK but that I think might fly for the teams involved.

The 76ers get Caron Butler, Rodrigue Beaubois, DeShawn Stevenson, and Rasheed Wallace
The Celtics get Shawn Marion
The Mavericks get Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand

Now, I think the Sixers need to get more than a bunch of expiring deals (one that will be off the books this year once 'Sheed retires) and a backup point guard (I like Roddy Buckets but I think Holiday is better.) But the rumor at the trade deadline was that the Sixers were willing to dump Iggy in order to clear Sam Dalembert's two year deal off of the books so I'd have to imagine that Ed Stefanski would be more than happy cut ties with his best player in order to get rid of Brand's monster contract.
The Celtics, meanwhile, dump Rasheed Wallace's free money and get Shawn Marion who I don't really love but makes sense as a bench player on the Celtics. The reason that the Sixers wouldn't want him is because his deal is actually longer than Brand's and they don't really need another swingman who can't knock down threes (Marion's 3pt% has plummeted the last couple of years.)
The Mavericks eat Brand's shit contract but they get a great player in Iguodala, a player who could help them take out the Lakers. With Chandler/Dirk/Brand/Haywood, the Mavericks can match the Lakers' size and Iggy's defense could slow down Kobe a bit.

Again, I wouldn't make this deal if I was the Celtics nor would I do it if I were the Sixers but I do think that it's possible. A different third team might pop into the deal and send something to Philly but I could see Stefanski pulling the trigger and, personally, I think the Mavericks probably won't get a better offer for what they have left to deal.