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.