Due to some computer issues mentioned below, I wasn’t able to do a TR on Friday, so here’s a brief look at some players picked up lately. Except more of these types of columns in the season’s final month, since waiver wire scrounging is about all that’s to be done now.

Randy Foye
Sunday’s Timberwolves game was a pretty good encapsulation of how the team’s PG situation has been all year. After a couple of very solid games off the bench in which he averaged 18/3.5/4.5 with 1 3 and 1 steal in 32.5 mpg, he earned his spot in the starting lineup. So then what happens? He puts up a 3/2/1 stinker in 15 minutes while Mike James scores 18 with 11 assists in 32 minutes off the bench. Both players have been better when coming off the bench, but neither have really been that great at any point in the season. The Wolves aren’t going to drop out of the playoff race until at least the last few games of the season, so there won’t be any “playing for the future.” Coach Randy Wittman will just be looking for the best lineup that can help his team earn the honor of getting humiliated by the Mavs on four consecutive evenings in April. As we near the end of Foye’s rookie year, it’s hard to be too impressed. The team was hoping he’d be a legitimate star, but Foye’s no youngster, at least in NBA terms. He’ll be 24 when next season starts; he’s the same age as Ben Gordon, for example. Gordon put up 15.1 ppg in less than 25 mpg in his rookie year; Foye’s working on 9.2 ppg in just about 22 mpg. The two players are similarly built with similar games, so I’m just throwing that out there. If he’s really the reason why the Wolves didn’t go after Allen Iverson, or some other stars … well, just another reason Forbes might have been a bit off.

Tim Thomas
At this point in the season teams start to make pickups based on needs, and Thomas is so locked in from 3-point land right now that he makes a fine pick up. He’s averaging a very solid 30 mpg so far in March and has been under 25 minutes just once since the all-star break. He’s knocked down 17 3s in his last five games after an uncharacteristic cold spell which saw him hit just a single three-ball in the previous four contests. That sort of hot and cold production obviously makes him a risky play, especially because, as always, he gives you little else besides those 3s. But in a tight race in roto leagues, he can be a difference maker.

Jorge Garbajosa
Last week I mentioned that it might be time to give Garbajosa a shot based on his unique ability to fill games at center and help out in 3s. But in the two games since his 20-point, 4-3s performance he’s been back to the same Garbajosa that we’ve seen for most games since the all-star break. There’s still slight reason for encouragement, and that’s because the minutes seem to be there, but he certainly has a tenuous grasp on those right now. He played nearly 36 minutes on Friday, his most in almost a month, but was back down to 25 on Sunday. That was in a blow out to the Knicks, though, and only Chris Bosh and T.J. Ford saw more than 26 minutes for the Raps in that game, so it’s hard to tell too much there. The fact remains that Garbajosa’s had exactly one productive game in his past 8, so if you have him and he doesn’t come through next time out, it’s probably time to forget about him until next year.

Ime Udoka
Certainly one of the feel-good stories of the year, here. An undrafted free agent who probably would have been content to become a 10-day contract guy for a few years, instead he’s started every game this season for the Blazers. That doesn’t mean he’s had much in the way of fantasy value, as his 9.0/3.8/1.5 line will attest, but in the past few weeks he’s been unconscious from long range, connecting on 2.4 per game in March while shooting an absurd 68%. He’s actually playing fewer minutes in March than any other month this season, but with all those 3s finding their way through the net he’s fantasy relevant for the first time. Still, when you’re fantasy upside is that of Bruce Bowen, it’s hard to get too excited. As we saw with Luke Walton earlier this year, those great three-point percentages that come out of nowhere have a way of balancing out. He’s a legit #73 on the 15-day rater, so if you really want to give him a shot you can, but it certainly won’t get better.

Gerald Green
TR regular Green has been playing solid ball lately but this pick up was a spec pickup hoping that Paul Pierce might actually shut it down like he talked about a few days ago. If shutting it down means scoring 30 and beating the Spurs, then maybe more players should shut it down. It’s quite possible that Pierce sits out the last few games of the season, but I wouldn’t be too worried about him until that second week of April. Which means you probably don’t have to worry about Green until then. He’s still capable of exploding for a big game, but promises to be inconsistent. The big question with Green going forward is whether he can be a high percentage shooter or if he’s just another 42% gunner. The 48% he shot during his rookie year looked nice, but considering it was on not even 150 total shots we knew better than to expect that was his standard. His lack of boards for a player of his size is also a bit disappointing. He’s got many of the skills necessary to be an asset to both the Celtics and fantasy players, but he still needs plenty of consolidation. He won’t turn 22 until the middle of next season, so there’s still time.

Channing Frye
Man. So my home computer is fucked. I’ve been without it since Thursday morning. So Friday as I was leaving work, I knew it’d be my last time to do fantasy-related stuff until Monday morning. (Not the best situation to be in when trying to hold on to a tenuous lead and prepare for multiple fantasy baseball drafts.) I thought about picking up Channing Frye but for whatever reason I didn’t. Now I have no Frye, but still have goddamn Stromile Swift on my team. Fuck. Might Frye try to erase a season of disappointment in the final month? Back-to-back 20-point games while averaging 42 mpg is a damn fine way to start. Frye hasn’t been very productive at all this season, but just as important has been his rapid slip down the totem pole in Manhattan. But the Knicks are a depleted squad right now and need players who can score, especially with Eddy Curry going through his most prolonged slump in a while. The Jerome James/Malik Rose experiment at PF seems to be over and Frye looks to be the main until/if Quentin Richardson can go again. Frye’s had plenty of chances in the starting lineup this year, but without David Lee around to steal minutes, and without big scorers Jamal Crawford and Richardson, he not only has an opportunity but the Knicks actually need him to come through. I like the LaMarcus Aldridge comparison I made recently, because both a tall, center-eligibles who like taking jump shots and rarely get to the line. Frye blocks considerably fewer shots, but as long as he gets 17 attempts per game – he thrives on consistent looks – he’s a good bet.