By Zack Cimini

 notjustagame23@gmail.com

The patience to maintain a fantasy basketball rotisserie team may have reached an all time high this year. Constant trades, mediocre players in and out of lineups, and inconsistent play from young emerging stars. Call it a yearly occurrence, but it was scaled a bit higher this year. If you saw your team move up and down more than the typical stock market, you can use that as a reason to blame.

Conquering the top three to four spots in your rotisserie league is going to take full commitment to this last NBA stretch. A few weeks ago, I delivered with some young talent that has been playing even better since. Greg Monroe and Tyler Hansborough have been performing stellar.

If you’ve solidified your proper rotisserie balance than you have no need to worry. Here are some players though that can help push your team in crucial categories, to finish out the year.

PG- Leandro Barbosa- Adjusting to a new team, strong distance of location, and battling injuries has kept Barbosa under ropes most of the year. He came back in mid-February, and once his legs were back under him it has led to a solid March. He has scored over double digits in seven games in March. When on the floor he is looking to score. He still possesses great speed, and a decent three point shot.

PG- Marcus Thornton- In Yahoo leagues he is now owned by 75% of owners. He should be over the 90% range. Since being traded, Thornton is showing off the same skill set he did last year when given free reign with the Hornets. He didn’t mesh with the Hornets new coach and team philosophy in Monty Williams. Putting up points is what Thornton does.

PG- Aaron Brooks- The reason Brooks is only owned by 59% of Yahoo owners is for the reason mentioned in the first paragraph of this article. Brooks dealt with injuries and being traded this year. He still only has a handful of games as a Sun under his resume. Playing behind Steve Nash isn’t a fantasy friendly attribute either. As Phoenix gets closer and closer to the end of their season, they’ll experiment a little bit. It looks like they’re losing the battle on the eighth seed. With that in mind, look for Brooks to get more playing time so Phoenix can analyze a bit what direction they’re headed.

SG- Gary Neal- Neal is a deep league filler, widely available in over 93% of Yahoo leagues. Neal is the classic Popovich late season manuever. Pop tends to decrease his star veterans minutes to gear them up for the playoffs. Neal has been a pleasant surprise being a deadly three point shooter. Carrying that over in the post-season will be crucial for the Spurs bench. Just in the month of March, Neal has drained twenty threes. In fact he is getting over ten shots a game in March. Making six threes in his last game is a category all could use help in.

PF- Chuck Hayes- An undersized athlete that just brings effort to the table every night. He has a decent low post game. Hayes can hit the mid range jumper or beat opponents off the dribble with a quick move. Most of his points come from put backs though, off offensive rebounds. Hayes tallies his fantasy numbers probably seventy percent based off his rebounding. His recent triple double though shows he can be even more of an asset to the Rockets lineup.

C- Darrel Arthur- Arthur came out probably a year too early. Working with NBA coaches and developing in practice has paid off. Arthur is now contributing in a major way for the Grizzlies. They have an underrated tandem with Randolph/Gasol, but Arthur is coming in and filling their roles well. He has been a strong defensive presence, and in the month of March has scored over double figures eight times. Two of those games he scored over twenty. Additionally he has swatted three blocks or more in four contests.