Per Yahoo! Sports…

Free-agent forward Leon Powe will sign a two-year contract for the league minimum with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday if the team’s doctors are satisfied with the progress of his injured left knee, a league source said.

Powe tore his anterior cruciate ligament and cartilage in his knee during Game 2 of the Boston Celtics’ first-round series against the Chicago Bulls. He had reconstructive surgery on May 5 – his third major knee surgery – and has been rehabilitating in Los Angeles. Powe hopes to be back on the court by this season’s All-Star break, and the Cavaliers are willing to take a low-risk gamble on him pending the results of his physical.

Over the past two seasons with the Celtics, Powe has been highly productive in the limited minutes he’s received. He had a PER of 21.04 in the 2007-08 season and 17.25 in 2008-09. (15.00 is average.) He’s an energy guy with a great nose for the ball and a limited offensive game. Sound familiar? That’s exactly how I’d describe Anderson Varejao.

Which brings me back to the problems I have with the Cavs’ offseason. I don’t mind the addition of Shaquille O’Neal, but if he and Varejao (or Powe, if he signs) are on the court at the same time, LeBron is going to find that it’s going to be tougher to get to the hoop. Other than Zydrunas Ilgauskas, none of the Cavs’ bigs can shoot the ball effectively from outside the lane.

This wouldn’t be much of a concern if Cleveland didn’t depend so much on LeBron’s one-on-one game. If he can’t get to the rim as easily, he’ll be settling for jumpers, and the Cavs’ offensive efficiency will go down.

Olympiakos has plucked another young NBA player in his prime. Denver’s Linas Kleiza is headed to Greece.

Per Yahoo Sports…

Denver Nuggets restricted free-agent forward Linas Kleiza(notes) has agreed to a two-year, $12.2 million contract with Greek team Olympiakos, his agent Bill Duffy told Yahoo! Sports on Monday.

The contract has an opt-out clause, which allows Kleiza to again become a restricted free agent next summer.

Duffy said that while Kleiza attracted interest from other NBA teams, his client’s restricted free-agency status limited his options.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — the NBA needs to do away with restricted free agency. Most RFAs are left in limbo for a year, and instead of playing the season for peanuts, guys like Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza are bolting for Europe. If they were unrestricted, they would have probably stayed in the NBA.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Celtics have re-signed Glen “Big Baby” Davis to a two-year deal.

Davis had a PER of 10.77 for the season, which is well below average. But without Kevin Garnett in the lineup, he raised his game in the playoffs, averaging 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in 36.4 minutes per game.

ESPN is reporting that the deal is worth $6.3 million over two seasons.

Over the years, there have been more than a few players who have been able to parlay a strong playoff performance into a bloated contract — just ask Knicks fans about Jerome James — but it looks like teams showed restraint given Davis’ mediocre regular season performance. This contract seems reasonable, though minutes are going to be hard to come by with Garnett’s return and the C’s decision to sign Rasheed Wallace and Shelden Williams.

ESPN’s Chad Ford lists nine teams that will have significant cap space next summer. [Insider subscription required.]

1. Nets ($25-$27 million)
2. Knicks ($24 million, assuming they don’t sign anyone for longer than a year)
3. Heat ($20-$22 million)
4. Timberwolves ($16-$18 million)
5. Bulls ($13-$15 million minus whatever they give Tyrus Thomas)
6. Thunder ($14-$15 million)
7. Rockets ($12-$14 million minus whatever they give to Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes)
8. Clippers ($10-$11 million)
9. Kings ($9-$10 million)

This assumes a cap of $53.6 million, which is an optimistic view. The cap could drop below $50 million.

It takes about $14 million of space to sign a max-contract player, so even under these optimistic circumstances, there really are only five teams — the Nets, Knicks, Heat, T-Wolves and Thunder — that will have that kind of space. (The Bulls are likely to keep Thomas and the Rockets are likely to retain Landry and Hayes, though they could make another move here or there to put them in position to add a superstar.)

Of these five teams, the Heat look to be in the best overall shape. Their projected payroll already includes Dwyane Wade, so they have enough to woo another superstar (LeBron, Bosh, Amare, Boozer?) to Miami. They also have a few good young players (Michael Beasley, Daequan Cook and Mario Chalmers) under contract, and the city boasts a great climate and nightlife. But the real draw is playing with Wade, who has already proven that he can win a championship if he has a little help.

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It was kind of a pipe dream anyway, but LeBron isn’t going to sign the extension that the Cavs have offered, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“I signed a contract in 2006 with an option,” he said. “It would make no sense for me to sign that contract if I didn’t keep my options open. I’ll let you fill in the blanks.”

James is playing this one the right way. If he re-ups now, then he loses the leverage necessary to keep GM Danny Ferry’s feet to the fire in terms of bringing in some long-term help. Shaquille O’Neal is fine for a year or two, but he’s most definitely a short-term fix.

The bad news is that with the long-term commitment the team made to Anderson Varejao, the Cavs aren’t projected to have any cap space next summer if they’re lucky enough to re-sign LeBron. It looks like Ferry sees the writing on the wall — with the salary cap likely dropping to $50-$51 million next season, he wasn’t going to have enough money to sign LeBron and another superstar, so he re-signed Varejao to make this year’s Cavs team as good as possible in the hopes that a Finals appearance or a championship would be enough to keep LeBron in Cleveland.