OK, so we’ve got one night left here in the fantasy basketball season and, just like last year, it’s a total crapshoot as to how well your team is going to do tonight.  For the last week or so it’s been pretty much impossible to guess who’s going to have value or who’s going to play from night to night.  At this point pretty much everyone’s first-round pick has been compromised (except for me - thanks Elton Brand!!)  and I’m going to be very curious to see how the NBA deals with this tanking thing in the offseason.  I mean, if they don’t change anything, it really will hurt the value of guys like Joe Johnson and Mike Miller, good players on bad teams, who can’t be countred on for the final few weeks of the season.

Anyhow, this is it for us here at FBB this year.  We’ll probably be back around the NBA Draft and be making various comments as big free-agents move around, and we’ll get started again for real in September with lots of babbling in our extensive season preview.  As always, big thanks to our commenters who keep this blog interesting and if there are any suggestions as to how we can improve next year, we’re happy to listen.  Thanks for reading…

OK, let’s have a little heart-to-heart here.  We love ourselves some fantasy basketball, obviously, because we waste so much of our lives doing this blog.  But this whole thing where guys just sit out the last few weeks of the season is just awful.  It totally kills the fantasy season, throwing teams that had been dominant all year long into complete disarray, and basically turning the final few weeks of the year into a total crapshoot.  I talked a lot before about risk vs. luck and while there is a certain amount of risk here, there is SO MUCH luck that it’s nearly impossible to make safe guesses about who’s playing and who’s not.  It really ruins the fantasy basketball season when it should be at it’s peak.

So when this happened last year, we did a little crossing of our fingers and hoped it was a one-time thing.  But now that it’s happened twice in a row, well, we’ve got a trend on our hands.  And unless David Stern steps up in the next year and somehow demands that teams play their best players unless they’re seriously hurt, we’ve got a problem on our hands.

So how do we fix this problem?  How do we take this into account and really make fantasy basketball worth playing?  A couple of thoughts:

1. Head-to-head with playoffs just might not be a viable option anymore.
Sorry, PR and H2H enthusiasts, but I’m really worried about head to head or any other system that places so much weight and importance on the last few weeks of the season.  Trust me, as a Wizards fan, I know what it’s like to have your team go into the post-season without it’s full lineup, and it stinks.  So one thing that might be worth thinking about for head to head leagues is to just get rid of the playoff system, and just have a race in the standings.  It’s not a perfect system and may not have the excitement of the playoffs, but does the current system really have the excitement of the playoffs?

The best comparison I can think of to what’s going on right now is like playing Texas Hold ‘em, but the flop comes at the end of the hand, not the beginning.  It would turn the game into so much MORE luck than it already is, and that’s what’s happening here.  Luck, to an extent, is exciting, because it makes the game unpredictable and interesting, but too much luck makes strategy just useless, and that’s no fun.  I think it’s worth thinking about getting rid of the playoff system in H2H.

2. End the season early.
This is probably the most obvious option.  There are a couple of issues here, though.  One, how early do you end the year?  I would say that April 1 is probably a good starting place, but I think you can make arguments for both before and after April Fool’s day.  Another issue is that regardless of where you end the season, with the unbalanced schedules in the NBA, teams will have played a different number of games regardless of when you place that end date.  Still, I think there’s a slightly different way of handling this.

Rather than ending the season early by DATE, why not end it early in terms of games played?  What if your league had a maximum games played of, say, 75 games rather than 82?  This way if your player shuts it down early, you’re not necessarily at a disadvantage.  And if he shuts it down WAY early, well then you can be a little picky in filling the missed games, rather than making total guesses as to who’s going to play and how much.  It also takes away part of the problem of guys who miss one or two games here or there, because in the end it doesn’t matter as long as they play 75 games or so.  Major injuries still have an effect, but you’re not stuck playing a second rate guy just because one of your studs has a stomach virus or something.  Granted, this isn’t a conventional approach but I think it could make the game more more exciting.  It also makes the last few weeks enjoyable as teams try to decide which games to use and when.

3. Have a supplemental draft and increase roster sizes for the final month of the season, and also change waiver rules.
This solves a couple of problems.  One, right now waivers are more of a hindrance than a help because it takes players out of commission for days at a time when their value can change drastically multiple times over the course of even one day.  Two, not being able to play a guy until the day AFTER you pick him up makes this problem even worse.  Getting rid of waivers and the day delay - which are useful earlier in the year to keep guys from just making a thousand moves all the time - might be worthwhile for the final month.  Meanwhile, the supplemental draft and increased roster size would allow for even more flexibility - guys could grab handcuffs for their players and not just give up on guys that may come back at some point.  For example, a guy who owned Paul Pierce could grab Gerald Green or Allan Ray in the supplemental draft, rather than having to decide to drop a player to ensure that they’ve got the C’s starting swingman on their roster, or risk Pierce’s status changing on gameday and being stuck with no options.

None of these are perfect options, but clearly somthing’s gotta change.  What do you think?

What, you mean you want me to guess who’s going to have value over the next few days?  Yeah, right.  I picked up Salim Stoudamire the other day and he promptly sat out his next game with no warning.  I picked up Tim Thomas and he played 9 minutes before sitting out the rest of his game.  So I’m not going to pretend that I know who’s going to have value over the next few days (I did recently grab Shelden Williams, so prepare for him to sit out a few).  Instead, let’s take this chance to do a little scouting and evaluating of some players who we don’t often get to see in a major role:

Rashad McCants
McCants had a somewhat-decent rookie year for the Timberwolves and then promptly sat out the first half of the season after having knee surgery.  He’s been coming back slowly, had a rough first few weeks and still probably isn’t back to 100%.  Still, and the Wolves start going to their youngsters (again), McCants has gotten some more PT and has been starting to produce.  He’s seen over 20 minutes in each of the last three games and peformed well in two of them.  McCants is working his way back into shape, and really this has just been a lost year for him.  It’s tough and probably unfair to judge his performance right now.  For all we know, he’ll come back next year with his explosiveness back and a more confident game.

But will that be enough?  sure he’s seen less minutes this year due to his injury, but the other problem for McCants is he’s in an impossibly crowded backcourt.  Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson, and Mike James are all on the books for another three years each (thanks Kevin!), and Randy Foye has earned himself the bulk of the “young rising star” minutes next to the veterans.  It might take a trade for McCants to have any value anytime soon, but for the next week or so we’ll get a good chance to see how his rehab has been coming.

Jarvis Hayes
Jarvis, like McCants, has had a rough time with the knees during his career.  However, he’s a restricted free agent after the year and he’s playing like he knows it.  His 43% since the All-Star break is a career-best, as is his 38% behind the arc.  He’s been on fire of late and exploded over the weekend to the tune of 29 points in an OT loss against New Jersey.  With Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas out, he’s not only got a chance to be a number 2 offensive option, but he’ll have a chance to do it on a national stage in the playoffs.

The knock on Jarvis throughout his career, aside from his being injury-prone, has been that he lives and dies on his jump shot.  Lately, though, he’s added a bit to his arsenal.  He doesn’t drive the lane very often but he’s developed a somewhat reliable runner.  He’s also started to play some pretty convincing defense, which is more than needed on the Wizards.  I don’t think Jarvis is going to be a 35-minute player at any point in his career but the way he performs over the next month will dictate how much a team will be willing to invest in him this summer.

Nate Robinson
You know, if it wasn’t for all the awful veterans that the Knicks have around, they might actually have a pretty promising team.  They’ve got a lot of good, young players - Robinson, David Lee, Renaldo Balkman, Channing Frye … if only Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and everyone else would ust get out of the way!  Now, I’m not saying that I’d trust Nate Robinson to run MY team, but for a fantasy player he’s got a lot of promise.  He’s not shy with the long ball, puts up over 18 points per 40 minutes, and is pretty effective in the steals department.  You’d like a guy who’s only 5-9 to pass the rock a bit more (his 1.5 apg is pretty atrocious), but he at least serves a role.

The problem for Robinson is that he’s got an uphill battle on the way to getting PT.  Stephon Marbury isn’t going anywhere, Steve Francis has a few years left as well, and Jamal Crawford is around for the long haul too.  Now, the Knicks have never been shy about pulling the trigger, but outside of buying out Francis’s contract in the offseason there’s not much of a chance that any of these guys won’t Knicks next year.  still, this is a good chance to scout Robinson a bit and see what he’s worth should he run into a starting gig in the future.

Happy Easter… to all of you who celebrate that sort of thing.  It’s been another great season and now it’s go time. If you’re still reading this column you’ve probably made it to your fantasy league finals.  Here’s a look at the final week and a half of the regular NBA season 4/9-4/18:

Seven Games: LA Clippers

Six Games: Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Utah, Washington.

Five Games: Atlanta, Golden State, Houston, LA Lakers, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, Seattle, Toronto.

Four Games: Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Memphis.

Plug ‘em in, Plug ‘em in:

Jarvis Hayes and Antonio Daniels, SF/PG: With Tough Juice and Agent Zero both sidelined, Hayes and Daniels are must starts in all leagues to finish off the year. In his three starts filling in for Gil, Antonio has averaged 14/4/13, meanwhile Jarvis erupted for 29 points (including 5 treys) last night at New Jersey.  Those are some nice free agent pickups at this point in the season.  Poor Poor Wizards.

Jason Hart, PG: Yes, for real.  The Clippers are the only team in the league with seven games left to play, and Hart is averaging a pretty decent 14/6/5 and 1.2 steals in 39 mpg over his last five. He won’t shoot from long range, but he’ll contribute elsewhere and should post good percentages (48/87% this season). Plus, it’s not like Sam Cassell is about to be raised from the dead… he’s ain’t Jesus you know. (Although the Clips are back in playoff contention somehow, so you never know).

Nate Robinson, G: Ok, so let’s make it three straight weeks with the Dunkin’ Munchkin.  Robinson was back in the Knicks’ SLU yesterday, and he delivered a career-high 34 points and a season-high 7 assists. Nate’s hit 10 treys in his last two games. The season started with 14 guards competing for playing time in New York’s backcourt, but it’s now been reduced to two: Lil’ Nate and Mardy Collins. The former Temple University star, btw, makes a good pickup if Marbury is to miss anymore time with turf toe (shouldn’t it be called “hardwood toe” in basketball?)

Allan Ray, G: No, I’m not dyslexic.  I’m talking about the undrafted rookie out of ‘Nova.  It’s that time of year again, and the Celts wanna see what they got.  In two starts Ray has scored 35 total points, including 6 rainmakers. With Pierce, Jefferson, and West all hurting someone’s gotta pick up the slack (see also: Gerald Green & Rajon Rondo).

Antonio McDyess, PF: The Dice Man got the start today over Rasheed Wallace because coach Saunders wants to limit Sheed’s minutes going into the playoffs.  McDyess responded with 18 points, a season-high 13 boards and 3 swats as Detroit continued to work toward home court advantage for the postseason.  Keep in mind, Rasheed is likely to get at least one more technical this season, which would mean another one-game suspension. 

So, go now and destroy your opponent for the league championship. When you brag be sure to mention that you were victorious despite being an avid FBB reader all year long.
As for everyone else, I hope you didn’t screw up your fantasy baseball draft… enjoy a long hot summer of hardball. Goodnight and Godspeed.

…Gilbert Arenas
Perhaps no team has tanked quite as effectively as the Wizards.  Get it?  Ugh.  Anyhow, first Brendan Haywood acts like a total puss and gets benched for it.  Then Caron Butler, already having missed time with a bad back and a bad knee, fractures his finger and is out for the year.  And now Gilbert Arenas, fresh off of showing up late for practice and getting replaced in the starting lineup, gets his knee banged by Gerald Wallace and will probably be out for awhile.  If you’re wondering if it’s possible for a starting lineup of Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, Jarvis Hayes, Antawn Jamison and Etan Thomas to show up in the playoffs, well, we might just find out.

Anyhow, the Wizards loss could very well be your gain.  Perhaps no player this side of Kobe Bryant dominates his team’s offense more than Gilbert, and this means plenty more shots for Jarvis Hayes and DeShawn Stevenson.  Antonio Daniels will also do his best to have value, but he’s not much of a long-range shooter nor does he do much defensively.  Still, teams looking for late help in FT% and/or assists will do well to grab Daniels right now.  It also looks like Etan Thomas will continue to have value while Haywood sulks, but it’s tough to gauge how long that will last.

…Zach Randolph (and LaMarcus Aldridge)
And maybe Jarrett Jack, depending on how the coach feels.  Oh, and maybe Ime Udoka, too, if he bangs his head again.  The Blazers could very well be starting a D-League team by the time this is all over.  The problem here is that there are so many marginal players who are going to split up these minutes that it’s tough to tell if anyone’s going to have actual value or if they’re all going to cancel each other out.  Guys like Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster, and Sergio Rodriguez all need 30-35 mpg if they’re going to have anything reselmbling consistent value.  Even then, they’re question marks. 

My favorite guy on the Blazers right now?  Don’t laugh - Raef Lafrentz.  He could very well be good for a three and a block over the last few games here for the Blazers.  I mean, who else is going to play?  At this point, LaFrentz actually looks like quality filler assuming he can get 25 mpg or so, which isn’t out of the question.  Guys like Outlaw or Webster could get 30 minutes and do next to nothing with it - LaFrentz will at least contribute if he’s on the court enough.  Last night both Udoka and Luke Schenscher got significant minutes and Outlaw played well so it didn’t work out for Raef, but I’d keep an eye on him as more guys sit.

…Al Jefferson
This one is pretty easy to diagnose - out goes Jefferson, in goes Kerndrick Perkins.  The thing to point out here is that you should be checking your preferred sports news page as often as possible over the coming weeks.  These things are going to come out of nowhere and the guys with the quickest trigger finger could be winners of your leagues.  Don’t believe me?  Gilbert Arenas hurt his knee around 7:45.  In our league, Antonio Daniels was snatched up by 8:08.  The lesson - act fast.  Now, excuse me while I go see if Marc Jackson has been grabbed yet.

If you think this sort of column looks familiar, it’s because I’ve been doing an assload of them lately.  And I’m doing an assload of them because it’s going to be the difference maker for fantasy teams as just about everyone still in contention is going to be looking for pickups.  I mean everybody.  Just the other day we saw Caron Butler, Michael Redd, and Paul Pierce join the list of studs who aren’t going to be reliable for the rest of the year, and all of them could/should be sitting for awhile.  So let’s take a look at who’s got a lot of games left and who’s got any reason to show up for them:

Most Games Remaining:
Milwaukee, Washington, Sacramento, and Denver - 10 games each.

Whaddya know - two of the guys who got hurt on Sunday are on teams that have a bunch of games left.  We discussed the Bucks last week after they shut down Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva, and now that Redd is out indefinitely guys like Mo Williams, Charlie Bell and Ruben Patterson will be leading the way in scoring for Milwaukee.  That won’t help you, though - those guys are probably already owned.  However, if you’ve got a hankering for Ersan Ilyasova, this may be the only time in your life that you will be able to start him on your fantasy team and not get laughed out of your league.

As for the Wizards, I picked up DeShawn Stevenson yesterday but I’m going to be keeping a much closer eye on Darius Songaila, who will be counted on for major minutes in the playoffs and could be a decent 15/7 guy with good percentages over the rest of the year.  Jarvis Hayes, if he gets hot, could be a factor, but we’ve been saying that about Jarvis for three years now.  Meanwhile, the incompetence and poor attitude of Brendan Haywood has unfortunately made the revolving center spot at the Wizards too unpredictable to use, for now.  That’s a development to watch, though, particularly with Calvin Booth.

Least Games Remaining
Memphis and Chicago - 7
Only 7 more games for Stromile Swift and his amazing fantasy sea…um, nevermind.

Motivation Update
On Friday I discussed three teams that were on the verge of shutting it down.  Sacramento had the worst weekend possible, losing both of their games while the Clippers won both of theirs, and the Kings are now 5.5 games out of the 8 spot in the West and it’s probably just a matter of days before Ron Artest and Mike Bibby call it quits.  Minnesota, meanwhile, got a last-second win against Orlando on Sunday, but got trampled by Miami on Friday and needed some hlp from the Clippers - but didn’t get it.  They, too, could start going into shut-down mode any day now.  Meanwhile, Indiana somehow beat San Antonio despite not playing Jermaine O’Neal, and that combined with Orlando’s aforementioned loss to Minnesota probably keeps them theoretically in the hunt for another couple of games.

Next up on the list of teams falling out of contention are the Knicks and Hornets, and also keep an eye on the standings as teams get locked into their playoff spots - of particular concern here is the Spurs, who may look to get some rest for their studs (particularly Tim Duncan) if they get locked into that 3 spot in the west, and Dallas, who has already all but locked up the top spot.

I’ve returned, if you even noticed I was gone. Many thanks to BV and PR for picking up all the slack while I had to be away; it wasn’t that I just got sick of basketball as baseball season neared, circumstances way out of my control. Anyway, we’re down to the final two weeks of the regular season and if you’re still paying attention it means that you are scouring the waiver wire for last second pickups or just going with what you’ve got. There’s not much advice we can give you from here on out – we will continue to do so, though, don’t worry – so I’m going to switch it up and start what might be the first of some “look back” columns. I always like to do so towards the end of the season because by the time it gets to next October’s draft prep we can still see the numbers, but maybe not how those numbers came to be, which can be very important when determining where to draft a guy. So today we’ll look at three PF/C who had big question marks coming into the season, and how they resoundingly answered those questions.

Carlos Boozer
Boozer was one of the more difficult players to peg coming into the season. After missing almost an entire season’s worth of games over the end of the 04-05 and beginning of 05-06 seasons, his durability was a major question mark, as was his production level. When he finally returned it looked as if he never missed a beat and put up the best rate statistics of his career. We had him and Mehmet Okur ranked right next to each other as late-fourth rounders, which could still be considered a risk for a player who didn’t seem to want to play for an entire year and had never averaged more than 18 ppg. Needless to say Boozer came through big time this season. The most impressive thing in my eyes is that he suffered a semi-serious injury but didn’t let it derail his entire season. He was expected to miss 4-to-5 weeks with a fractured leg and there were surely owners who were expecting the worst. But he ended up missing just over three weeks and only eight games and came back as strong as ever. His March numbers of 20.2/12.2/2.5 on 54% shooting are right in line with his season numbers and were an impressive bounceback from what could have been a devastating injury. If Boozer plays out the schedule he’ll appear in 74 games, which is the best you can reasonably hope for from just about any player. He currently sits at #27 on the average rater and has established himself as a realistic third round pick who can serve as an anchor in FG% and rebounds.

Amare Stoudemire
If Boozer was a tough read coming into the season, then Amare was near impossible. We basically admitted as much; I had him listed as one of the top candidates for comeback player of the year and also not-so comeback player of the year. Microfracture knee surgery is about as bad it gets, especially for an explosive player like Stoudemire, but there was a chance that his youth and general freakishness would allow him to overcome the many obstacles. Still, the season he’s turned in has defied all but the most outrageous of expectations. It certainly didn’t start that way, as Stoudemire came off the bench for the first four games and didn’t top 25 minutes in the first five. He looked tentative and unhappy but in retrospect the Suns braintrust must be given credit for knowing how to handle the big man. After averaging just 15.7/8.2 with 1.1 blocks in November, Stoudemire has been consistently excellent. No, he hasn’t quite been at the level of his 04-05 season, but all the skills he showed are still present. The Suns simply have a deeper team and have kept Stoudemire’s minutes down for precautionary reasons. The fact that Amare is one of the few players in the league to appear in every game this season is simply amazing. That’s a bet few people would have taken back in October. His FGA are down to 12.7 per game from 16.7 in 04-05, but he’s established a new career high with 59% shooting, 9.8 rebounds per game and a mighty impressive 79% from the line on 7 attempts per game, great numbers for a center. He ranks 11/23 on the player rater right now and has greatly rewarded owners that took a chance on him. We can’t completely rule out a recurrence of his injury but he’s done everything humanly possible to win back the trust of fantasy players. He was seen as a consensus top 10 pick after his 04-05 campaign and while it might be a bit too risky to have him as your first rounder, there’s no way he makes it out of the second round next year, and with good reason.

Al Jefferson
It’s only his third season, but it seems like Jefferson’s been a sleeper favorite for more years than that. In the past I had been skeptical of the big man, mostly due to his raw skills, inability to stay healthy, lack of clear opportunity and penchant for foul trouble. But fantasy is all about value and perceived value, so this was the year that Jefferson finally became a worthwhile target. He began the season coming off the bench and then missed a couple of weeks with an appendectomy, but we said he was worth grabbing and stashing if he was dropped because it was clear that the Celtics would have no choice but to loosen the reigns and let him go later in the season. He came off the bench for six games after returning from his injury but has been a fixture in the starting lineup since Dec. 9 and has been one of the great revelations of the fantasy season since then. Not only has he stayed completely healthy since then, but he’s been borderline dominant from the center position as a starter, averaging 16.8/11.6/1.4 with 1.6 blocks on 51% shooting in 35 mpg. Those are clear #1 center numbers and he’s only gotten better as the season goes on, averaging 19.5/11.6/1.8 with 1.1 steals, 1.7 blocks and 55% shooting since the all-star break. Had he put up that line before the all-star break he might not have had much of an all-star break. Young players putting up big numbers late in the season on a bad team can sometimes be a bit misleading, and Jefferson might not have quite the same opportunity to dominate at the beginning of next year when the Celtics are theoretically healthy and a bit reloaded, but as least we finally know for sure that he’s as talented as many people wanted him to be. He’s up to 56/53 on the player rater and is at #21 in the past 30 days. He’s not going to be a second round pick, but it’s not out of the question that you might have to spend a third rounder to make sure you get him next year.

In H2H leagues the semi-finals are here. Some of you have dominated your leagues all season long only to arrive without your big ballers (Allen, Pierce, Randolph, Johnson, etc.) when it really counts.  Well giving up is obviously not an option, so it will take some shrewd management to come away with that championship trophy.  Here’s a look at week 4/2-4/8:

Four Games: Charlotte, Cleveland, Denver, LA Lakers, Miami, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Phoenix, Sacramento, Seattle, Toronto, Washington.

Three Games: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Golden State, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Antonio, Utah.

Two Games: LA Clippers, Orlando.

Plug ‘em in, Plug ‘em in:

Nene Hilario, FC: He has turned himself into a serious fantasy force, averaging 19/12/2, 1.8 stls, 1.5 blks, and 64/76% over his last 4 games.  In his fifth year in the NBA, Nene has fully recovered from knee surgery and persevered to deliver his best season to date.  The Brazilian big man is still just 24 years old and should be a nice sleeper in next year’s fantasy drafts.  He’s an efficient athlete and he’s a great contributor in FG% and steals.  Denver is barely hanging on to their playoff lives, and should be playing to win until the very end.  Superstar Carmelo Anthony is day-to-day with an ankle sprain, so Nene will be expected to continue contributing in a big way.  The Nuggets tipoff four times this week, so Hilario should be one of the top fantasy centers.

James Posey, F: The eight-year veteran has been solid and helped the defending champs to their best month of the season, winning 11 of 15 games in March without D-Wade.  Posey won’t light up the scoreboard or the fantasy stat sheet, but he can give you consistency as Miami’s starting SF. He’s a valuable asset in threes and steals and he won’t hurt you anywhere.  JP has four good matchups this week (TOR, @CLE, @BOS, CHA) and can help your squad advance to the finals.

Nate Robinson, G: We talked about the Dunkin’ Munchkin’ last week.  He’s got ups and he’s got range.  Quentin Richardson is officially done, Stevie Francis is sitting with a sprained ankle, and Lil’ Nate is in the Knicks’ starting lineup for the first time this season. He’ll score and hit plenty of threes with the Knicks playing four times this week, so feel free to plug him in again.

Joey Graham, GF: Coach Sam Mitchell is obviously not a Mo-Pete fan.  Graham got the starting nod on Friday and posted 16/12/2 on 6 for 10 shooting, including 2 treys.  It was the first double-double of his career and should be enough to keep him in the starting lineup this week.  The Raptors are still playing hard and the second-year man out of Oklahoma State is a solid play with four games on tap.

Walter Herrman, F: I can’t offer much insight on the Argentinean national, but he’s been hot (18/6/2 with 1.5 threes over his last four) and dropped a career-high 23 points in a win over the Bucks on Friday.  As long as he remains in Charlotte’s starting lineup, I’d recommend keeping him in yours. 

Sasha Pavlovic, GF: The Serbian baller originally stepped up a couple months ago when King James missed a few games, but Pavlovic has started every game in March for the Cavs.  He continues to improve and has displayed his long range shooting with a career high 40.3% from the arc this season. Over his last 10 games, Pavlovic has averaged 16/3/2 with a nifty 2.2 treys, and 1.2 thefts.  He makes a nice utility start with Cleveland hitting the hardwood four times this fantasy playoff week.

Gerald Green, GF: If you feel like rolling the dice, or don’t have any better options you should go with G-Money.  Paul Pierce sat out the Celts’ last game and could shut it down any day now.

Desperation centers:
Jamaal Magloire: Blazers’ frontcourt is suddenly depleted.  Jam Master Mags will get plenty of action down the stretch.
Kwame Brown: Back in the Lakers’ starting lineup… 31.3 mpg in 7 starts.
Brian Skinner: Has seen close to 30 mpg since Valentine’s Day.