Join Salary Cap Challenge Season 2! Play For: Chance to appear on NBA TV as fantasy expert $100 NBA.com Store gift certificate Personalized Authentic NBA Jersey PLAY NOW!!

Mar. 15 -- I take it from the slowing trickle of emails that the following has/is occurring:

1. You hated the Current Mrs. Cregan's guest column. Look, we all can't be Mrs. Kirilenko. Give her some slack. And that's by order of my therapist.

2. Your league's trade deadline has passed.

3. You have March Madness! Incidentally, do you have any idea how hard it is to get a NIT pool going in your office?

4. You're more concerned with baseball at this point.

Don't be! Look, fantasy baseball isn't like fantasy football, insomuch that it requires actual skill. Just keep in mind: universal leagues are for sissies.

There's still plenty of time for your woebegone hoops team to make a move. And I’m not even talking about in the next six weeks.

Roto is luck. And sometimes it is hard to reconcile all of that time spent -- the pouring over of draft guides, the checking of box scores, the eating up of your office's network capacity -- with the fact that sometimes things just aren't going to work out. It's one of the paradoxes we have to deal with. I myself have to grapple daily with my love of bacon cheeseburgers with my love of The Smiths. It can be tough.

This is a good time of the year to start reflecting on next year...even if you're riding high in your league. Hopefully, you're in a league with a keeper function. Don't get me wrong. I like a league that allows me to arise anew with each passing season. But keeper leagues are just somehow more...ahem...enhanced.

I am obsessed with the future. Not in the Dionne Warwick kind of way, but more in the way ESPN's Chad Ford used to be, before he left us for what we could only hope was a better life. I really enjoyed the pre-Darko era, where you could log onto ESPN.com every ten to fifteen minutes and read a new report about some five-foot-eight power forward from Madagascar with what scouts would term as "great hops."

Even though we're reflecting on keepers (yes, that is what we're doing), I want to assure those of you who are not in keeper leagues that there is value for you in this week's column. Real, lasting value, as opposed to that Tyco stock I have sitting in the kindling box by me and the Current Mrs. Cregan's fireplace.

Ah, March is indeed a special time. My Redskins acquire an entire new roster. This is followed by several Len Pasquarelli columns pleading for President Bush to include Dan Snyder in his "Axis of Evil." (Even if you're a passive fan, take a look at that stuff. It's Walter-Winchell-esque. Pasquarelli feels about the Redskins the way I feel about fantasy football. If anyone knows what happened to earn all that vitriol, email me and I will send you a free t-shirt. Maybe a pre-worn Elvis Costello T-Shirt from 1991, but a t-shirt all the same.)

As teams both real and fantasy fall out of contention, they will start to insert new, less-known players into their lineups to see if they're going to have any value for next year. Different roto leagues have different keeper rules. But these are the basic tenants I like to follow:

I would rather have one Chris Bosh than two Mehmet Okurs. Not that the Okurs aren’t very good producers, but if you’re in position to do a two-for-one, even if it is a slight upgrade, do it. You’ll always be able to replace “the very good”s at next year’s auction.

It’s why I’d rather have Zydrunas Ilgauskas than Marcus Camby. In that, I mean, I’d rather have a player people still think is always injured instead of a player that actually is always injured.

There is no more precious commodity for the fantasy basketball enthusiast than solid, dependable production for the center spot. That and a six month’s supply of Patron (for some reason, I don’t get a lot of fan mail from Utah). Do whatever you can to lock up your centers now, and you’ll find that draft next October to be more psychologically freeing than last year’s.

There’s no reason to finish seventh when you can finish eighth. If your season is somewhere at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, there is absolutely no reason to not leave your roster a tattered remnant of its former mediocre glory...save for the two or three stud keepers you can build around for next year. The people still in the running might complain (especially in head-to-head leagues), but you don’t have a responsibility to those people other than to continue to fill out your lineup every week.

On this matter, I am as immovable as the Rock of Gibraltar. Or Danny Fortson. Really, you do owe it to the other people in your league to fill out that lineup these last few weeks. You must evidence your sense of ROTO HONOR™, even in defeat.

In roto baseball you see a lot of what is termed as a “dump trade.” That’s a trade where a last-place team deals a large amount of short-term value to a contending team for someone with better long-term value. Lots of owners decry these trades. Not I. All’s fair. I learned early in my fantasyhood to always be willing to talk trade with a team looking to dump, even if it meant disrupting a well-oiled lineup or losing a valuable keeper for next year. If you’re in position to win now, you need to do whatever you have to to secure first place. Don’t worry about next year, or you might see one of your competitors receive the “dump” windfall instead of you.

I’m going to try to avoid the most obvious names here, and list some second and third tier keepers that I like for next year....

Chris Kaman, C, LAC: I made this list before last night’s explosion. For more on Kaman’s ascendancy, there’s a great article about the rise of early man in this week’s Time magazine.

Boris Diaw, F/C, PHX: Now, when Amare Stoudemire comes back (next year?), Diaw probably won’t be manning the low post. Who gives a &(*&? If he has center eligibility in your league for next year, grab and en-joy!

Andrew Bogut, C, MIL: If they lose Jamaal Magloire (as is the rumor) this summer, Bogut will be the man in the middle for years to come.

Channing Frye, F/C, NY: I hate recommending any Knickerbocker, but one would think, I mean, logic would seemingly dictate, that the Knicks would play and rebuild around their young stud. But, it is the Knicks. If you want to divine their decision-making process, I’d suggest a “Magic 8-Ball.” It’s like the one Wes Unseld used to use when running my beloved Wizards.

Eddy Curry, C, NY: See Knicks note above.

Darko Milicic, F/C, ORL: Yes, it’s a hot name right now. We’re all happy for Darko, for his improved play and improved lifestyle. If he can get 30 MPG, we’re talking about the next coming of Theo Ratliff, people. Don’t everyone get too excited all at once....

Josh Smith, G/F, ATL: Kind of like a less productive, less Ukrainian version of Andrei Kirilenko. He’s my favorite of the Hawks’ armada of 28 small forwards.

Ryan Gomes, F, BOS: Will probably start ahead of Al Jefferson next year. The new David West.

Danny Granger, F, IND: The new Eddie Griffin. I can see it already: Granger will be the roto tease of 2006-07. Let’s hope the steadier situation in Indiana allows Granger to produce in the way he’s capable of....

Hedo Turkoglu, G/F, ORL: If Grant Hill is gone, the minutes will open up, bringing a new era of roto-promise to fantasy’s favorite sixth man. There’s a good chance Orlando will be a hotbed of fantasy goodness come October.

Charlie Villanueva, F, TOR: Another player (like Granger) capable of exemplary across the board production. Who knew he could shoot threes? Rob Babcock, that’s who.

Luol Deng, G/F, CHI: Scott Skiles is to fantasy basketball as Andre Maginot is to national defense. I predict Skiles will react to Deng’s recent gonzo play with a long, life-draining benching. Or maybe a trip to the developmental league.

Raymond Felton, PG, CHA: If Brevin Knight leaves, Felton flourishes. And even then, they’re proving they can play together.

Jameer Nelson, PG, ORL: Is he truly the PG of the future in the Happiest Place on Earth? He’s showing he should be.

Mike James, PG, TOR: He’ll be a hot commodity on the free agent market. If he lands back with the Raptors, look out.

Deron Williams, PG, UTA: Williams is lending credence to Jerry Sloan’s absolute refusal to mollycoddle. I’m using that word because that’s how I envision Sloan actually speaks.

John Cregan is a fantasy expert for NBA.com. His column Grand Theft Roto runs every Wednesday as part of the NBA.com Premium Scouting Report. Contact him at g5yp@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.