Trade rumors getting ugly

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With good ones, you can verify that not only are the teams talking, but there's actual interest in getting a deal done.

The bad ones are when there might have been a phone call and a discussion of a player, but at least one team, for whatever reason, never really seriously considered doing the deal.

The ugly ones not only aren't happening, but never were discussed and make no sense for at least one of the teams allegedly involved. In short, they look a lot like the "reports" out of L.A. and New York over the weekend that the Jazz had agreed to send Carlos Boozer to the Lakers for Caron Butler, Devean George and Vlade Divac.

That scenario, reported both by Fox Sports' Jack Haley and the New York Post's Peter Vecsey, reeks of all three "ugly rumor" criteria.

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Chad Ford | email

Senior Writer, NBA Insider

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• Senior NBA Writer for ESPN.com
• ESPN Insider NBA Draft Analyst since 2002
• Writes ESPN's NBA Draft Top 100 and Lottery Mock Draft