Andre' Snellings, Rotowire.com

There is hot. There is "on fire". And then, there is the zone that Dwyane Wade has been in for the last few weeks. Wade has been absolutely dominating the NBA, averaging 36.7 points, 10.9 assists, 6.1 boards, 2.8 steals, 2.2 treys, and 1.3 blocks while shooting 57 percent from the field and 85 percent from the line over his last nine games entering Wednesday. That is pretty close to NBASE perfection. Even when you factor in his lone negative of 4.2 TOs/game in that stretch, Wade is still operating on a level above even the other superstars.

To put it in perspective, the difference in NBASE scoring between Wade and LeBron James over the last week was larger than the gap between James and DeAndre Jordan, the 86th-highest NBASE scoring average over that period. Or to put it simpler, an NBASE owner would have gotten more points over the last week out of Wade alone than out of James and Kobe Bryantcombined. Now that, folks, is domination.

And the scary thing is that Wade seems to only be heating up, as his averages over the last five games are even higher than over the last nine. Wade almost has to keep playing at this level, as the Heat are only six games up on the 10th place team in the East and eight games up on the 13th place team. So if Wade slows down at all, it's still possible that the Heat could miss the playoffs. This is great for Wade's long-term NBASE appeal, as the stage is set for him to just continue to put up video game numbers for the foreseeable future.

Those who read this column regularly know that I generally recommend against buying the ultra high-priced player that cost well over $100, simply because you can usually find players at a third of that price that will give you similar production over a given week (see Team Building below). However, when you have a player operating at an absurd rate like Wade is right now, that logic goes out of the window. For as long as he is playing like this, Wade is actually under-priced even at almost $130, which is less than both Kobe and LeBron. If at all possible within your budget, you might seriously consider adding "The Flash" to your roster.

Team Building: Weekly scoring trends for bargain shoppers

As mentioned above, Wade's production has been so ridiculous of late that he has been worth even the elevated price tag. Chris Paul has also had a huge week, second only to Wade in points for the week. Even so, we were still able to put together a team of reasonably priced players (average price $47.64) that posted almost the same point total over the last week as the high priced crew (average price $128.81) for about a third of the cost. Troy Murphy and Devin Harris are back on this team for the third week in a row, and now that he is healthy Deron Williams has resumed his consistent spot on the low-price team as well. The fact that the names are so often the same is excellent for you the NBASE owner, as that should give you a group of low-priced players that you can confidently count on to produce like the big names week-in and week-out.

Beating the Market: the week ahead

Two short-term strategies have emerged to try to beat the market. One is to pick up players that are going to play a lot of games in a given week, to maximize short-term profit vs. production without having to worry much about player locks and rising commissions. The other is to schedule on a daily basis, paying attention to players that play back-to-back games and/or play on days with not very many games scheduled that might see daily spikes in price. Each strategy can be good for making money in a hurry, but you need to really stay on top of things for it to work. So in this space, I will give you the information that you need to adopt either strategy for the upcoming week.

Weekly prospectors (3/13 - 3/19): The Trailblazers are the team of the week with five games in this period, making Brandon Roy and possibly LaMarcus Aldridge value picks. Most of the rest of the league has four games (18 teams), and there are 11 squads with only three games. The Lakers (Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol), the Heat (Dwyane Wade), the Spurs (Tim Duncan, Tony Parker), the Raptors (Chris Bosh), and the Jazz (Deron Williams) are some of those teams that have only three games for the week.

Daily Prospectors: There are two days with fewer than six games this week:

  • Monday (3/16) five games: Raptors/Bobcats, Rockets/Hornets, Spurs/Thunder, Trailblazers/Grizzlies, Nets/Nuggets
  • Thursday (3/19) three games: Mavericks/Hawks, Trailblazers/Cavaliers, Warriors/Lakers

Back-to-back schedule:

Friday/Saturday
Two games: Bobcats, Bulls, Rockets, Timberwolves, Hornets
Zero games: Lakers

Saturday/Sunday
Two games: Clippers, Heat, Suns, Jazz
Zero games: None

Sunday/Monday
Two games: Grizzlies, Nets, Trailblazers, Raptors
Zero games: Bulls, Timberwolves

Monday/Tuesday
Two games: Spurs
Zero games: Pacers, Heat, Bucks, Knicks, Suns

Tuesday/Wednesday
Two games: Celtics, Bulls, Pistons, Clippers, Timberwolves, Magic, 76ers, Kings, Wizards
Zero games: Raptors

Wednesday/Thursday
Two games: Trailblazers
Zero games: Spurs, Raptors, Jazz

Thursday/Friday
Two games: Mavericks, Warriors
Zero games: Bulls, Bucks, Magic, Suns

Value stocks

The market moves so fast that by the time this article comes out many of the player values will have already changed. Nevertheless, these are some players worth keeping your eyes on.

Caron Butler ($33.05): Butler is back from his hamstring injury and has averaged 23.3 points, 7.3 boards, 6.0 assists and 1.3 steals over his last week and is a very solid option for the price.

Ben Gordon ($20.11) and John Salmons ($18.28): With Luol Deng injured and possibly out for the season, Gordon and Salmons have picked up the swingman production for the Bulls. Gordon has averaged 27 points, four assists, three boards and 1.7 steals while Salmons has scored 22.7 points with 6.7 boards and 1.3 steals over the past week.

Spencer Hawes ($17.22), Francisco Garcia ($12.90): The Kings are in a full-blown youth movement, especially now that Kevin Martin is gimpy. Hawes and Garcia have both had solid offensive weeks, and young guys like Rashad McCants also have the chance to come on strong down the stretch.

Eric Gordon ($10.56): Gordon is averaging 24.5 points, 4.5 assists, 3.5 boards, 2.0 steals and a blocked shot over the last week. Like the Kings, the Clippers should be in full-fledged youth removement any time now. That could make Gordon and rookies like D'Andre' Jordan more valuable down the stretch.

Larry Hughes ($10.35): Hughes seems to have found a home in the Mike D'Antoni offense, putting up solid numbers since he joined the Knicks rotation. Hughes is averaging 21.3 points, 3.8 assists, 3.5 boards, and 1.8 steals over the past week making him a deal at his current price tag.

Leon Powe ($10.10): With Kevin Garnett, Glen Davis and Brian Scalabrine all injured at the same time, Powe is left as the lone pure power forward in the rotation. In his first such game Thursday night, he exploded for , and he should continue to put up increased numbers for as long as Kevin Garnett is out. This logic holds true for Paul Pierce and Ray Allen as well, since they both have to pick up their offensive games in order for the Celtics to have a chance to win with both Garnett and Rajon Rondo injured.

Thabo Sefolosha ($6.74): Sefolosha is in this space for the second week in a row, as he continues to be a productive option for ultra cheap. He has averaged 13.3 points, 6.0 boards, 3.3 steals, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks over the last week and is a solid member of the rotation with Kevin Durant out.

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