“The Anderson Varejao contract stalemate remains more stale (and stinky) than ever,” writes the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Terry Pluto, “with many in the NBA wondering what the 25-year-old with the 6.3 career-scoring average hopes to achieve by sitting out.” Beats me, but if he’s waitng for Chris Webber to set the market, it’s probably not a good idea.

Varejao’s agent is betting the free-spending Gilbert will buckle if the Cavs start slow, trash his salary cap and hand the backup big man a deal worth about $9 million annually for five years. Guard Sasha Pavlovic’s agent thought the same, but then the agent and player came to their senses and signed a three-year, $11 million (guaranteed) deal before the opener.

Dan Gilbert must continue to trust his basketball people, as he has since putting Mike Brown and Danny Ferry in place.

Ferry’s challenge: The Cavs need another big man. That was true before forward Donyell Marshall (wrist) went down for a month, and the need is acute. Yes, they have young guys Dwayne Jones and Cedric Simmons, but please — bring in a veteran.

With one phone call, they can have center Vitaly Potapenko here today. Because of injuries and weight problems (he swelled to 330 at one point), the former Cavs center played only 12 games in the previous two seasons. He now supposedly is in decent shape (under 300) and at a bulky 6-10, the 32-year-old would bring some experience and beef to a front court that is too lean. He also might be willing to play on an nonguaranteed contract, so if he fails, cut him.

While the Daily News’ Frank Isola and Mitch Lawrence offer the faint hope of former Suns architect Jerry Colangelo heading east to save the Knicks (link swiped from the Fanhouse), the Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Aldrige is unflinching in his criticism of the NBA’s self-proclaimed no.1 point guard.

Stephon Marbury is next to untradeable. He was shooting just 40 percent from the floor at the time of his benching. And at the other end of the floor? Let’s let a veteran pro scout who recently watched the Knicks sum it up.

“Jameer Nelson just embarrassed him,” the scout said of the Orlando and former St. Joseph’s guard. “Jameer went by him five straight times on the same move – juke left, go right.”

Why the Knicks continue enabling Marbury is a mystery. They have some talent and a young core that includes David Lee, Renaldo Balkman and Jamal Crawford. Zach Randolph hasn’t caused them any off-court trouble yet.

And they’ve never been shy about buying out people of late, having paid Larry Johnson, Shandon Anderson, Luc Longley, Mo Taylor, Jalen Rose and Brown to go away the last few years.

In fairness (for a change) to the Straight Shot’s JD, Johnson retired in 2001.