If you can't get excited about basketball at this point of the year; then you simply can't get excited about basketball.  It's March!  Not only is the Madness about to start in the Collegiate ranks, but the Western Conference is home of the most exciting Playoff run in recent history; and everyone is trying to make that final push.  In Fantasyland, the final playoff pushes are underway as well; and maybe, just maybe "that" player is still out there for you on the scrap heap.  So, let's do some trash picking and see if we can find something useful to your Fantasy team.

Point Guards 

Nate Robinson - PG/SG - New York Knicks - *Warning* This Player is a New York Knick *Warning*.  With that disclaimer out of the way; Robinson has been in and around the Waiver Wire radar all season, more or less.  Robinson continues to get playing time and he continues to produce. He scored a career-high 45 points for the injury-depleted Knicks this past Saturday, and has averaged 19 points on 51% FG, 1.4 3-pts, 4.1 reb, 3.4 asst and 0.9 stl over the past eight games.  Over the last month; Robinson has been the 94th ranked player in Overall Fantasy Rank, and of late, with the Crawford injury, has essentially been the Knicks' number one scoring option. Robinson is owned in 44.1% of Fantasy Leagues.

Luther Head - PG/SG - Houston Rockets - The Yao Ming trickledown effect continues, as it seems every player on the Rockets has become a superstar since he got hurt.  Head is no example, and over the last month he has really stepped things up.  Over the last month, he's averaged 9.1 pts, 2.1 reb, 2.5 asst against 0.6 turn/game, 0.9 stl, 0.6 blk and shot 49.3% FG, 71.4% FT and made 1.9 3-pt/game at 62 ... yes ... 62.5%.  At first blush there's not a lot there, but if you dig a little deeper, the turnover and the 3-point shooting; you can see how he's rated just behind Nate Robinson in Fantasy Rank.  He also seems to be getting more and more time each game, and is ... yup ... trending upward.  Head is owned by just 0.2% of owners in Fantasy Leagues.

Shooting Guards

J.R. Smith - SG - Denver Nuggets - He's maybe the quietest big story of the past month.  J.R. Smith, overshadowed by Iverson, Camby, Martin, Melo and even Linas Kleiza; has been one of the more productive Nuggets over the last month.  His scoring ability, and more importantly, his 3-point shooting off the bench has been big-time clutch as the Nuggets continue to push toward the playoffs in this Historic Western Conference playoff push.  Smith's numbers for the past month: 17.6 pts, 2.4 reb, 1.3 asst against 1.7 turn/game, 1.2 stl and shot 51.4% FG, 52.9% FT and made 3.6 3-pt/game at 53.9%.  That's some good scoring, cheap if you need it; and he's available, for now, at 41.3% of Fantasy league ownership.

Desmond Mason - SG/SF - Milwaukee Bucks - Mason has had a big-time month for the rudderless Bucks, as some of the role players on the Bucks have performed pretty well with extended playing time.  Mason's number's for the month: 12.3 pts, 5.6 reb, 2.8 asst against 1.3 turn/game, and shot 59.8% FG and 76.2% FT.  If you have some bricklayers on your team (or if you have any Dallas Mavericks except Nowitzki), Mason may be a good fit for you.  Mason is widely available; currently just 2.4% of Fantasy leagues contain an owner that has him.

Small Forwards

Jared Dudley/Matt Carroll - Charlotte Bobcats - These two need a spot together, because they may lose playing time in the short term when Gerald Wallace comes back from injury, if Sam Vincent is true to his word.  However, I can't imagine Vincent is dumb enough to relegate these two to the deep bench, and I imagine they'll both continue to get some time.  Over the last month, Dudley averaged: 8.4 pts, 6.1 reb, 1.3 asst against 0.8 turn/game, 1.4 stl and shot 52.6% FG, 92% FT and made 0.5 3-pt/game at 44.4%.  Carroll averaged: 11.9 pts, 3.7 reb, 1.2 asst against 0.9 turn/game, 1.1 stl, 0.2 blk and shot 44.1% FG, 84.8% FT and made 2.1 3-pt/game at 57.1%.  Both players are widely available.

Luis Scola - SF/PF/C - Houston Rockets - After struggling most of the season; continuing the theme of "After Yao", Scola has really turned it on.  The Rockets moved Scola into the starting lineup on Jan. 27. They lost that game against Utah, but haven't lost since. Scola is averaging 11.7 pts and 6.4 reb while shooting 57.8% FG during the win streak, which has matched the third-longest in league history.  He's also got a big ole' up arrow next to his name, as he really seems to be improving game after game after game.  You've got to hurry on Scola.  He's owned in 82% of Fantasy leagues.

Power Forwards

No one here we haven't already looked at in previous Waiver Wires: Thaddeus Young (Phi) is really producing of late.  Dudley, we talked about in Small Forwards.  Joe Smith is getting some time in Cleveland with Ilgauskas and Wallace sidelined.  Eduardo Najera (Den) didn't completely suck in limited time this past month.  Beyond that, there's really not much more to work with; we'll see if this changes next week.

Centers

Dikembe Mutumbo - C- Houston Rockets - Yes, he's still alive and yes, he's about 153 years old, but as the theme of the Yao replacements continues, Mutumbo actually has some fantasy value.  He's doubled his points-per-game output for the season in the last month: 3.1 pts, 6.7 reb, 2.4 blk, 50% FG and 100% FT.  The fantasy value would, of course, be the blocks column, and the finger-waving Hoya can still get that done.  He had six blocks last night (Monday) alone.  Numbers like that can only be countered by Marcus Camby.  I would expect this to hold constant for the rest of the season, and if you NEED blocks, Dikembe is your guy.

Also receiving votes for Centers: Luis Scola (see Small Forwards)

That's it for this week; thanks for reading.