Surprise! Not everybody is spurning the NBA for Europe. Despite previously indicating he was going to stay in Europe, Slovenian point guard Goran Dragic has reversed course and is finishing up the details on a buyout that will allow him to sign with the Phoenix Suns, who acquired his rights in a draft-day trade with the Spurs.

It's been a long process, in part because his agents have had to negotiate two separate buyouts: as Sean Deveney of Sporting News explains, Dragic's rights are technically owned by a team in his hometown of Ljubljana, but he's been on loan to TAU Ceramica of Spain. The NBA allows teams to contribute only $500,000 toward a player's buyout, with the difference coming directly out of the player's pocket.

That said, the Suns are expected to circumvent that rule by putting a little extra something in Dragic's pocket -- he was a second-round pick, so his salary isn't restricted by the league's rookie scale, meaning the Suns are free to use a portion of their mid-level exception to make buying out his European contract worth his while. You don't usually see teams bend over backward to accomodate a second-round pick, but the Suns were so enamored with Dragic that they actually considered drafting him in the first round with the 15th overall pick.

New Suns coach Terry Porter told me a few weeks ago that he'd yet to settle on a backup point guard, but Steve Kerr made it clear yesterday that Dragic is expected to be that guy, telling HOOPSWORLD he hopes "Dragic will back up Nash, play 17 minutes a game and develop in that position to the point where one day he's our starter."

Over the past few days, a rumor which would traditionally drive the world mad has slipped by under the cover of the Olympics. Mo Williams, a dynamic second-tier point guard who signed with Milwaukee for big money last summer, would head to Cleveland to augment LeBron James' single-headed offensive attack while OKC's Luke Ridnour would transfer to Milwaukee and the Cavs would give the Thunder something or other (probably some expiring contracts -- fancy that). BrewHoop sums up the situation flawlessly.

There are two competing questions in such a deal. The first, which we won't address fully in this post: is Ramon Sessions so good he makes Milwaukee's third- or fourth-best player (Williams) expendable? (Because Ridnour sure as spam ain't a sure-fire building block at this point. He'll start, but you'd think the goal would be to promote Sessions soon.) The question which actually matters to the league as a whole: can Williams push Cleveland over the top?

Cleveland was simply awful at the point last year -- 82games.com reports the positional PER was only 13. That includes minutes for Larry Hughes, Daniel Gibson, Delonte West and Damon Jones -- players substantially inferior to Williams. Mo offered a career-high PER of 17 last season, with good scoring, shooting and turnover numbers to go with a decent usage rate. (Usage measures the shot creation ability and offensive role of a player.) Williams would figure to be the second or third option in Cleveland, behind LeBron and perhaps Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Cleveland won 45 games and took the eventual champs to seven games. Philadelphia and Toronto have improved by some measure, and another summer of seasoning for Dwight Howard might make Orlando better. On the surface, it wouldn't seem Williams' production is the difference between 45 and 50 games. But when you consider what he'd be replacing, I think it'd be as big an acquisition as Jermaine O'Neal for the Raps. If the trade goes through and Cleveland gives up little, it could help snatch a top-4 seed for the Cavs and give LeBron a better shot at getting back to the top of the heap.

People, in the heat of clamoring for more money, say crazy things all the time. Ben Gordon for instance, recently demanded $100 billion* for his future services as a Bull and even threatened to head towards Europe.

Now he's been quoted in USA Today as preferring a root canal to his contract negotiations with the Bulls.

"Right now, I think it's contract negotiations." -- Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon when asked by USA TODAY's Jim Halley which was more painful, a recent root canal or battling with Bulls management to work out a new contract. Gordon is currently trying to raise $950,000 for his high school in Mount Vernon, N.Y., where sports budgets have been slashed.

Benjamin, sir, my advice to you: try some, any or all couth when talking with the Bulls. Not that I think Gordon swearing up and down and being a total priss about this whole thing, but, well, actually he kind of is.

I might think I'm the smartest person at my office. And maybe I am (reality: I am not). But that doesn't mean I can walk into my boss' office and say, "You know what, screw 'most talented' and 'best future' or 'budget' ... I make with the funny at the water cooler all day, so either you pay me the most money of any employee here or I'm going to work in Europe."

Result = me fired. Gordon's field is a little more specialized but that doesn't make him, as Ziller noted previously, any less delusional -- the Bulls, and most everyone else, know that's he's a one dimensional scorer and not the best player on his team. Of course, maybe Gordon knows that too.

*May not be the actual number he requested.