The Detroit Pistons have agreed to terms with Cavaliers assistant coach John Kuester to be their new head coach, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told SI.com.

Another league source said the contract was for two seasons with a team option for a third year.

Kuester has been with the team since 2007, when he replaced Kenny Natt on Mike Brown's staff.

Kuester has been credited in revamping the team's lowly offense and turning it into a much improved unit. He served as the de facto "offensive coordinator" on Mike Brown's staff and handled a lot of the offensive duties last year.

LeBron Denies Commitment To Ariza

The 2010 circus continues to grow.

After Trevor Ariza claimed that LeBron told him he was staying past the 2010 season, LeBron's camp came out and denied that.

According to a source close to LeBron James, the current NBA Most Valuable Player did not tell free agent Trevor Ariza that he was for sure going to be with the Cavaliers past 2010.

So what's the real story here?

My best guess is that what Ariza said is probably true and LeBron's camp is trying to cover this up and act like nothing happened. Ariza has nothing to gain from putting this out in the press so why would he make this stuff up? It's not likely he did.

So why did LeBron's camp deny this if he's staying? This just seems like LeBron trying to keep things close to the vest and keep the media guessing, which he seems to love to do.

So even though the Cavs missed out on Ariza, more good news came from this than any other "loss" the Cavs have had this off-season.

(P.S. - the secret meeting in Los Angeles that Ferry and Brown went to, was supposedly to meet with Ariza to sway him to coming to the Cavs. Ariza supposedly considered signing with the Cavs, after agreeing with the Rockets, but decided to stay with Houston.)

Marion To Mavs, Not Cavs

The Cavs were supposedly interested in adding Shawn Marion but not it appears he'll be heading to Texas.

The Mavericks and Toronto Raptors, according to NBA front-office sources, are in advanced discussions on a sign-and-trade deal that would bring Marion to Dallas.

Shawn Marion and his agent, Dan Fegan, have been looking for a deal somewhere in the range of $10 million per year and they're not going to get that on the open market so the only way to get that money is through a sign-and-trade.

The most the Cavs could have offered for Marion was their full MLE (around $5.8 million). The Cavs weren't also likely to offer him long-term security, which could have been another sticking point.

While Marion could have added some much needed talent to the Cavs lineup, the fit would be questionable. Marion is best suited in an up-tempo offense where his size and shooting ability are disguised and his athletic ability is highlighted. Putting him in a half-court offense would highlight and disguise all the wrong things.

Ferry Is After Frye

With the "stretch" power forward market starting to thin out, the Cavs have started to set their sights on a long time Danny Ferry favorite in Channing Frye.

After making a free-agent scouting trip to Los Angeles on Sunday, Cavs GM Danny Ferry came home and hosted free-agent power forward Channing Frye on Monday at the team's practice facility in Independence. Frye is the type of "stretch" forward the Cavs are interested in during the free-agent period as they look to find big men who can hit jumpers when teams collapse on LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.

While Frye may not be the name that most fans would want to see in connection with the Cavs, the PF options are starting to slim out and it's looking like if the Cavs want a decent, well-priced, stretch PF, then this is likely to be their best bet.

After having a breakout rookie season in New York, Frye was shipped off to Portland where he struggled to play and produce behind guys like LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla.

Frye is a guy that Ferry has been very high on for a long time, similarly too Delonte West, and could be a guy that the Cavs may ultimately end up with.

The Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns are also supposedly in the running, with the Suns being the rumored favorites to land Frye's services.

McDyess Would Be Nice

Another one of the Cavs top PF targets is former Detroit Piston, Antonio McDyess.

McDyess is reportedly waiting until the Pistons have a new head coach to make a decision on whether or not he wants to re-sign with the Pistons.

In addition to the Pistons being interested, the Cavs (supposedly have offered their full MLE over two years), Magic and Spurs have McDyess in their sights, with the Spurs being the favorites as of now.

Hey LeBron! Your Boy J-Kidd Even Rejected The Knicks!

Yep, LeBron's "boy", Jason Kidd, turned down the Mecca of Basketball and the best city in the whole wide world (sarcasm) to stay in Dallas, Texas.

The free agent point guard has agreed to sign a three-year contract for more than $25 million to remain with Dirk Nowitzki and the rest of the Mavericks. The New York Knicks were among Kidd's suitors.

The Knicks were supposedly offering Kidd a similar deal, which was seemingly in opposition of their plan to clear as much cap space for the 2010 off-season as possible. The Knicks probably saw this as an opportunity to get one of LeBron's friends in New York, so they could make it easier for him to leave Cleveland.

So let's hope LeBron takes a page of his buddies book and does the same thing as J-Kidd: turn down NY to stay with his current team.

Wade 'I'll Stay If They Contend'

Looks like Dwyane Wade is taking a stand about his future in Miami.

"I'm going to listen. I owe the Miami Heat that much. I'm going to listen to what they have to say and I'm going to think about it," Wade told The Associated Press. "But right now, the way I feel, I want to make sure that we're on track to where I want us to be on track to before I sign back."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I'm good with that," Wade said, "for one year."

Another season around .500, though, won't be as enticing.

"That's not enough for me," said Wade.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I've told Coach Riley this: All my life, all I've ever wanted to do is win and be put in a position where I can win and succeed," Wade said. "Build me a team. Put the pressure on me to win a championship. Give me a team and say, 'All right, you've got to go do it,' and I'll take that pressure. Give me guys that we feel can compete every year to win a championship. I don't want to go anywhere else."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"I want to make sure that we stay competitive and we have an opportunity to win championships, like I've done before," Wade said. "I don't want to be content with winning games. I don't want to win games. I want to win championships. That's what I'm all about."

DrewGooden The teams I wouldn't mind going to, Spurs, Cav's, Magic, and Golden St! What do you guys think?

The Boston Globe reported Wallace will sign for two years at the midlevel exception.

LeBron James will be spending some time with friend Warren Buffett at the prestigious Allen & Company media industry conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

But it wasn't Buffett who got James and LRMR Marketing CEO Maverick Carter the invite to the ultra-elite five-day conference that has been labeled as "summer camp for billionaires." It is a place for executives and movers and shakers in the media industry to share ideas and sometimes strike major deals.

According to a source, James got his extremely hard-to-secure invite with help from Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert, who will be attending the event for the seventh consecutive year. Gilbert has been pushing for James to be included for the last couple years.

James and Gilbert are among about 260 guests and their families on the guest list, which is expected to include Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, NBA Commissioner David Stern, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmen.

That pretty much wraps up what has been a crazy free agency period to start and there's going to be a lot more of that still to come.

...Boston Celtics associate head coach Tom Thibodeau is the only other known candidate, but sources say Dumars was always planning to move quickly to Kuester if no deal with Johnson could be reached.

"Yipee!" will be shoutout from many fans of the Raptors, I believe. But I believe there is no point "Yipee-ing," because the Raptors are NOT going to have success next year coming into the 2009-10 season.

Why? I'll tell you why.

This is the talk, the NBA talk that is.

"Portland did everything we asked them to do, and they would be justified if they feel aggrieved. He [Hedo Turkoglu] simply decided Toronto was a better fit," said Turkoglu's agent, Len Bobby.

ESPN.com said that Turk looks to make $53M on a five-year contract.

Although he would have made more money if he had signed Portlant, but however, Turkoglu had more people that were...well Turkish...in Toronto. Turkoglu also had wanted to play in the Eastern Conference still as he'd love to play against his former team, who just added Vince Carter via trade.

It was also reported that Turkoglu always wanted to play in a city of Toronto with a larger population, like I said, of Turkish people. It is exciting to see the move but there won't be success in the 2009-10 season.

Although you may say they can be successful with the players they have but I believe a very positive chance of Anthony Parker and Shawn Marion that they'll not be coming back to play for the Raptors.

A source at ESPN.com shows a story that Toronto are moving farther away from a deal with Shawn Marion. And as I was looking at ESPN's Anthony Parker profile, it showed in the status note that with Turkoglu in, Parker may not be coming back as well.

Probably the only person that maybe coming back that ESPN mentioned out of these three players (which would be Parker, Marion, and the next person that'll be named is coming up) is Carlos Defino who averaged nine points per game last year with Toronto.

Carlo Defino looks to start shooting guard maybe which probably makes Hedo Turkoglu coming in at small forward probably. Here's what the depth chart may probably look like coming into next year in the 2009-10 season:

PG: Jose Calderon

SG: Carlos Defino/DeMar DeRozan

SF: Hedo Turkoglu

PF: Chris Bosh

C: Andrea Bargnani

It looks pretty good but I just don't expect Toronto be successful. Sure, it's a good lineup but the rotation isn't very strong as the backups may not be aggressive at all. It is a nice one-two punch with Turk and Bosh, but seriously, this may Bosh's last year or a trade might coming this off-season maybe.

The backups on Toronto's roster average no more than about five points per game. It's not very strong at you'll be seeing Turk and Bosh playing a lot more minutes than you'll see as usual.

Sure, the stats will probably be much higher as Turkoglu may be the face of the team now that Bosh probably might not claim the title anymore. But here's the thing, Toronto probably may just end up like the Cavs last year if they make the playoffs.

They make the playoffs next year but that's it. They may not even pass the first round, or to put it in another way, there is no playoff title for next year at all. With the stars Toronto has had in the past, none of them have been successful to lead their team to post-season.

Sure, a little help from their first round draft pick, DeMar DeRozan, can help but for this year?

Hell no.

And look at the teams they'll have to face next year in their division: Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, and New York Knicks. If Toronto was only one game better than New York this year, and the Knicks probably might be a better team this year as well, how can Toronto pass any of the other teams in the conference.

They'll suffer some painful losses from the Boston Celtics, I can tell you that, because they'll destroy the Raptors. It'll just be Turkoglu and Bosh against all. And with the some solid players they had last year, there was no success.

How can they have success this year with not as many solid players (count that two)?

It'll just be impossible to have success next year. And there won't be. The 2010-11 season may be worse as Bosh will be gone I bet. The Raptors looking at a long road...towards unsuccess.

And Hedo Turkoglu is just the start with the hell in making.

Several league executives don't believe Kidd wants to go to New York and are convinced that Kidd is using the Knicks in order to get a big pay day from Dallas. But close friends think Kidd is intrigued by the chance to be the savior for the Knicks' franchise, a task he would try to take on by luring LeBron James to the Big Apple. Good luck with that.

For what it's worth, there is at least one former teammate who really thinks this deal could happen for Kidd. Former Net Richard Jefferson said on The Dan Patrick Show that Kidd's "gonna be a Knick."

The only way Kidd shoudl take the New York deal is if LeBron signs a contract in blood saying he will come to New York. The Mavs finally got a decent big man in Marcin Gortat and look to at least be able to go to the second round of the Playoffs. The Knicks will be lucky to get to the Playoffs in general next season.

Rubio Staying in Spain?

You can say many things about the Minnesota Timberwolves, and we all have, but one thing you can't accuse them of is being afraid to take risks. Their draft pick of Ricky Rubio now looks like a risk that has blown up in their face, whether they will admit it or not.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "The Minnesota Timberwolves' top draft pick, Ricky Rubio, 18, will remain in Spain to play for his DKV Joventut basketball team for the remaining two years of his contract rather than try to move to the NBA this season." The Barcelona newspaper El periodico also reports that Rubio,  plans to withdraw his contract lawsuit against DKV Joventut.

At least they have Johnny Flynn, right? Rubio's decision only makes it obvious that Minnesota should have traded him to a team like the New York Knicks.

Suns Look for Size after Trading Shaq

The Phoenix Suns helped free up some cap room by giving up Shaquille O'Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but now they have a huge hole in the center of their roster. The Arizona Republic reports that the Suns General Manager Steve Kerr spent a few hours with Grant Hill at his Orlando house Wednesday in an attempt to lure the resurrected Sun back to Phoenix.

In the meantime team personnel put in calls to Antonio McDyess, Channing Frye, Sean May, Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. If Kerr is interested I will be happy to play for Phoenix for a much lower price than any of those guys will, and here's the thing. None of the listed players are going to make a big impact in Phoenix. So why waste the money?

The Suns better make something happen if they plan to keep Steve Nash. They seem to be in rebuilding mode, a bad sign for a player who doesn't have many more years to make a championship run.

Several league executives don't believe Kidd wants to go to New York and are convinced that Kidd is using the Knicks in order to get a big pay day from Dallas. But close friends think Kidd is intrigued by the chance to be the savior for the Knicks' franchise, a task he would try to take on by luring LeBron James to the Big Apple. Good luck with that.

For what it's worth, there is at least one former teammate who really thinks this deal could happen for Kidd. Former Net Richard Jefferson said on The Dan Patrick Show that Kidd's "gonna be a Knick."

The only way Kidd should take the New York deal is if LeBron signs a contract in blood saying he will come to New York. The Mavs finally got a decent big man in Marcin Gortat and look to at least be able to go to the second round of the Playoffs. The Knicks will be lucky to get to the Playoffs in general next season.

Rubio Staying in Spain?

You can say many things about the Minnesota Timberwolves, and we all have, but one thing you can't accuse them of is being afraid to take risks. Their draft pick of Ricky Rubio now looks like a risk that has blown up in their face, whether they will admit it or not.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "The Minnesota Timberwolves' top draft pick, Ricky Rubio, 18, will remain in Spain to play for his DKV Joventut basketball team for the remaining two years of his contract rather than try to move to the NBA this season." The Barcelona newspaper El periodico also reports that Rubio,  plans to withdraw his contract lawsuit against DKV Joventut.

At least they have Johnny Flynn, right? Rubio's decision only makes it obvious that Minnesota should have traded him to a team like the New York Knicks.

Suns Look for Size after Trading Shaq

The Phoenix Suns helped free up some cap room by giving up Shaquille O'Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but now they have a huge hole in the center of their roster. The Arizona Republic reports that the Suns General Manager Steve Kerr spent a few hours with Grant Hill at his Orlando house Wednesday in an attempt to lure the resurrected Sun back to Phoenix.

In the meantime team personnel put in calls to Antonio McDyess, Channing Frye, Sean May, Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. If Kerr is interested I will be happy to play for Phoenix for a much lower price than any of those guys will, and here's the thing. None of the listed players are going to make a big impact in Phoenix. So why waste the money?

The Suns better make something happen if they plan to keep Steve Nash. They seem to be in rebuilding mode, a bad sign for a player who doesn't have many more years to make a championship run.