Aa we head closer and closer to the end of the season, two things become more and more important for players’ fantasy value.  One is one that we’ve talked about plenty this year - their motivation at the end of the year.  We can’t remind you enough of how many guys just shut it down last year in their teams’ last few games because they had nothing to play for.  The other thing that is going to have serious effect on a player’s value is how many games his team has remaining.

Unlike the other major sports (hockey, by the way, is NOT a major sport), basketball teams vary greatly in how their schedules are put together.  Some will play tons of games early in the year and then have a fairly light schedule towards spring.  For others, it’s the other way around.  For most of the year, things are just about even enough across the board that it’s best not to worry about the schedule imbalance.  Right around now, though, is where it starts to come in to play.  A guy with 20 games left to play is going to have way more value than a guy with just 17 left of his schedule.  And as we try and fill out our maximum games across our lineups, every game counts.

With this in mind, let’s look at how many games each team has left as of today:

21 - Detroit
20 - Denver, Washington, Dallas.
19 - Boston, Indiana, Miami, Utah, Minnesota, Portland, LA Clippers, New York, Seattle, Phoenix.
18 - Toronto, Milwaukee, Charlotte, LA Lakers, Houston.
17 - New Jersey, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Orlando, Memphis.
16 - Chicago, Atlanta, Golden State.

Things are looking pretty good for you Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton owners right about now, huh?  Now factor in motivation.  Still good for Billups, Hamilton & co, because they’ll be fighting for home court until (probably) the last week of the year.  Meanwhile, things get even worse for the Grizzlies and 76ers, who not only have fewer games left, but also have fewer games that mean anything.  Of course, things get even better for the Nuggets, who are fighting for playoff position in the West, the Wizards, who are attempting to pretend to fight off Miami, and Dallas, who is battling for home court in the West.

These are things that you absolutely have to take in mind when you’re going through the waiver wires.  I may run another one of these in a couple of weeks because things will continue to shift around.  But as you debate between, say, Matt Barnes and Jerry Stackhouse, this should be a major factor in your decision-making.