Feb. 17 - I’m not going to lie to you – I had a big intro planned for this bad boy. It came to me as if I was holding the pen of God, and I went with it. I was bashing the Olympics, talking about how it was cool to see the Jamaican bobsled team (that’s not a stereotype, honest) hit 84 in an ice tunnel, but nobody really cared if the Cambodians trumped the New Zealanders in the ice fishing competition. But then, a funny thing happened. I got caught up in it. And I don’t know if it was the joy of seeing Michelle Kwan bow out, or the compelling thriller that was the Bode Miller saga, but I’d be lying if I stood here and told you (yeah, I stand when I type) that I couldn’t bring myself to watch the Olympics.

As we speak, it’s getting cold here in Texas. By cold, I don’t mean East Coast cold; that’s just too much. I am, however, talking sub-freezing temperatures for a high. Here’s some context: It was 70-something Christmas day. I know. So, it goes without saying that 20’s are considered cold here, be it the summer or the winter – and, quite frankly, it had to be mentioned so the Cates Files Nation could rejoice with me. Here’s to cold weather in Texas.

To the files we go….

This week, we’ll start with a comment from Edward in LA, who showed me some e-mail love.

Chris, Love your column's comedic writing style, it surely keeps me laughing. Thanks for the tips on Pietrus and Jaric, I will adjust my Fantasy teams accordingly. Additionally, appreciate you looking out and I hope you set that all time e-mail mark for your column.

Very Respectfully,

Edward (Los Angeles, CA)

Edward, I appreciate the love. Unfortunately, I did not set the all time e-mail mark this week. And while I’ve been sobbing uncontrollably for the better part of the last three days, I’m finally over it and I look forward to setting it next week. We’ll see what happens.

In all seriousness, though, I really appreciate the kind words. It means so much more than I could ever portray it to mean, and I’m just glad you laugh at all. Keep on laughing, Edward, keep on laughing.

I am in a Rotisserie League. I have made a few trades recently (Duncan, R. Lewis, Murphy, Jaric for Cassel, Peja, Yao, P.J. Brown, Boozer) not all from one person but it is what it is. I needed this for assts FG%, FT% and 3PM. I need your advice on who to keep and who do I drop, please elaborate on why I should drop anyone from my team and why I should pick up anyone from waivers. My Team S. Cassell, M. James, J. Richardson, C. Mobley, C. Atkins, R. Jefferson,P. Stojakovic, C. Webber, A. Harrington, J. Rose, Y. Ming, E. Curry, M. Ely, P. Brown, M. Miller, A. Kirilenko, C. Boozer, J. Stackhouse, T. Hassell, D. Granger

Who’s available?

Duhon, Childress, Bonner, Buckner, Najera, Bowen, Jasikevicius, Harris, Evans, Songaila, Vujacic, Collison,S. Stoudamire, J. Collins, E. Watson, Nesterovic, George, C. Robinson, D. Williams, McDyess, Elson, Van Horn, Lue, Harpring, R. Butler

First of all, anyone who says “it is what it is” is a hero of mine. When you can work a spectacular phrase like that into an e-mail, you get serious props from me – so, consider yourself propped. As a matter of fact, I’ll give Bonus Points to anyone who can work “it is what it is” into their question. What the bonus points are, I’m not going to say at this time, but give it a try if you’re interested, or just like using the phrase.

As for your question – despite the absurd length of your “available” list, I’d stay put. There are a couple of intriguing options out there (Nick Collison, Matt Harpring, Keith Van Horn), but your guys are simply better. While Trenton Hassell jumped out at me as a weak spot immediately, it can’t be denied that he’s starting and putting up terrific all around numbers – and, as such, should remain on your roster for the time being. I just don’t see enough upside on the wire for you to make a move, as nothing would be an upgrade at this time.

Looking at your roster, you seemed to be covered everywhere, and it would be silly to tweak that right now. Having said that, you should watch all the waiver options closely, especially the ones I mentioned above, as they are on the verge of seeing an increase in value. Although your team may not be at the top of the standings right now, from the look of things you’re well on your way – so don’t lose faith just because things started bad. Stay put and stay happy.

And finally, a question from a Chris Cates – who also lives in Texas – which I think will be of more help to people than any e-mail I did or didn’t get.

Chris,

You’re a good looking guy and the advice is always top of the line. I’ll get right into it since I know you’re on a word count and are, as of this word (counting what will follow this, of course), over 1800. Darko Milicic was recently traded to the Orlando Magic. Will he make a roster-worthy impact there, or will he pull a “Darko”? Thanks, you excessively-good-looking, knowledge-filled, fan-favorite genius.

-Chris Cates (not to be confused with Chris Cates)

Chris, I’ve gotta say – I find your writing style to be eerily familiar. So much so, that I would think it was me if I didn’t know any better….

Let me start by saying that Darko Milicic can’t be any worse in Orlando than he was in Detroit – it’s just not possible. Unfortunately, he never got minutes for the defending champs, and was simply rotting away as a “project” at the end of the bench. With the trade to the Magic, Darko instantly jumps into the limelight as he’s currently projected as the backup to two shaky-at-best backups – Pat Garrity at power forward, and Mario Kasun at center. Both Garrity and Kasun have struggled to find playing and production this season, especially Kasun, who has only played in about half of Orlando’s games. In my opinion, Darko will be ahead of Kasun on the depth chart by this time next week. What does that mean minutes-wise? Thanks for asking. He would be the main backup to starter Tony Battie – The Human Water Faucet – and could easily see 20-25 minutes per game spelling both Battie and Dwight Howard at the center and power forward positions.

It’s hard to gauge Darko’s talent since he’s never seen minutes, but we know this much: the guy has obvious potential. You don’t go second overall in the draft without it. And while it seems like he’s been around for quite some time, Darko’s just 20 years old and he’s still got a few years to develop before his window of opportunity closes. We also know that Darko can block shots – he had 11 of them in the first month of the season, despite logging over 10 minutes just twice.

Overall, I believe Darko can be a solid but inconsistent contributor before year’s end. I can definitely see him logging minutes in the mid-20’s, but it would be unreasonable to expect too much at this point. If he takes over for Kasun as the backup center, his value sees an obvious increase, and he could hold some serious value – especially in block leagues – if he could even play 20 minutes per game. His season high is 15 minutes at the moment. Deep-leaguers, consider taking a chance on him right now just to see where it goes. Shallow-leaguers, stay away for now, but with intentions of watching him closely and jumping on him if he starts to see good minutes.

The newest feature of The Cates Files returns with a bang, as my idea for self-appreciation paid off better than I could ever have expected. Mwahaha. To those of you who weren’t around to read it last week – first of all, hang your head in shame. Now that you’ve been properly chastised, I’ll explain the format of this puppy: Essentially, it’s a way to review advice given in previous columns and present it in light of all new data. So, now that you are in the know, let’s find out where I was (queue “Wheel of Fortune” voice) On… the… Money!

In my February 3rd column, I was asked to pick one guy out of a large pool of players, based on who would help more in the points-based scoring system used in his league. I responded with the following:

Josh Smith is the clear choice here. Marvin Williams’ minutes and production are far too inconsistent to make much of an impact on your team. As long as he’s playing behind Adonal Foyle, Andris Biedrins has little to no value. Ruben Patterson scores, but that’s about it. He’ll give you a decent amount of points from week to week, but not enough to warrant a roster spot. Anderson Varejao is simply an energy man that comes off the bench and rebounds….(Sasha) Pavlovic’s specialty is the three ball – a category that is not used in this format, essentially rendering Pavlovic worthless. He does score and rebound, but not with enough frequency to garner your attention. (Melvin) Ely is averaging 11.3 points and 5.3 rebounds since returning from his injury six games ago. In your format, he’d be a nice waiver wire addition, but he simply doesn’t match what Josh Smith brings to the table.

Since my writing that, Smith has gone on to average 9.2 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in six games. Aside from Melvin Ely, nobody has been remotely close to Smith. Ely, however, has played just as well, if not better, than Josh Smith. In this format, Smith has averaged 23.3 fantasy points per game since I answered this question, while Ely has averaged 24.9 fantasy points per game. While Ely – whom I did claim was a “nice waiver wire addition” – has the slight edge in that period of time, it’s clear that both he and Smith are well ahead of the rest of the pack, and I’m confident that Smith will still become the best option in time. That’s this week’s On the Money….

And that’s all the time we have this week, as I want to go perform studies on the incoming cold front – we don’t get many this cold down here. As always, I demand that you hit me up at CatesFiles@talentedmrroto.com if any questions or comments, no matter how crazy they may sound. Hey, a wise man once said that crazy questions make for good humor in a mailbag column – or, something like that – and humor is this column’s middle name, so send away. Until next week, The Cates H. Files are officially closed.

Chris Cates is a fantasy expert for NBA.com. His column The Cates Files runs every Friday as part of the NBA.com Premium Scouting Report. Contact him at CatesFiles@TalentedMrRoto.com.

The views expressed by the TalentedMrRoto.com represent only the views of the writers; they do not represent the views of the NBA or any NBA team.