Euroleague Fantasy Challenge Week 5

Preview

As the first round of the regular season is approaching its end, we are learning more and more about the prospects of the fantasy game. In the first four weeks, we learned that there are steals, and players whose price will fall enough to make them purchasable.

However, after the fourth week, we have a lot more to learn. As mentioned in our first, introductorary part this year, the value of each player equals his score times four. Exactly the same applies to the value of our teams and the score that we have gathered. Now we have the first chance to see whether we have been successful value-wise, point-wise or we have reached an equilibrium, which is probably the best than any other case, especially when it comes to a high score concerning both perspectives. If, for example we have scored around 660 both in value and score, then we have a 165 score per week, something that keeps us on track for our final, winning goal and gives us also the necessary value to invest on players that we consider the best bets.

What we should consider as a must is that from now onwards, we will need to buy players in a stable pace concerning score more than value, because the score will give us the win. So, use the value to purchase the players that you trust the most and become more flexible with your investements. Wait for a couple of weeks to see if it pays off and then you decide to get rid of it. The longer you seek for value, the more it will haunt you and leave you behind in the final winning race. From now on, credit is the target!

Week 5

The Point Guards

Carlos Cabezas is back, but this isn’t the big news. He did pretty bad last week and, if it wasn’t for the weekend game, he would be a guy to avoid this week, especially when it comes to the opponent, as Unicaja is facing undefeated and the worst opponent for any fantasy player, Panathinaikos. Nikos Zisis and Marko Popovic are no longer on top of the list, but Zoran Planinic surprises everyone with his improving and steady game for such a great and competitive team like Tau. Davor Kus, the other trustworthy point has reached heights with his excellent back-to-back games, especially after scoring most of his 22 fantasy points in the fourth quarter and two overtime sessions in the loss against Partizan last Wednesday.

Reaching season lows, great PGs Theo Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis are now purchasable, while the latter had a spectacular 30+ weekend game. Rumours have Willie Solomon out for a month due to injury. Terrel Castle, Bojan Popovic and Scoonie Penn finally had their best games last week and now need less than 20-fantasy point games to reach max.

Both Ender Arslan and Teemu Ranikko are doubtful for the Olimpija-Partizan match-up, making Vonteego Cummings’ job easier. Climamio Bologna’s coach substitution and Tyus Edney’s injury may affect the game of Steffen Hamman, but no-one knows towards which direction.

Ricky Rubio should keep rising this week too, with plenty of playing time, as both Lubos Barton and Rudy Fernandez are reportedly injured, yet this means nothing when his value is so low.

The Swingmen

Is Alex Acker the steal of the fantasy league so far? The U.S. rookie has emerged as the top player of undefeated Olympiakos, not only fantasy-wise, but also when it comes to the game itself. Most importantly, Acker never leaves the court and is the 3rd best player of the year in terms of his average score, behind only Juan Carlos Navarro and Mike Batiste, who are both much more expensive. Navarro is in a league of his own this season, but nobody wants to buy him at these 100+ levels. Marcus Faison and Kenny Gregory are also excellent picks so far, as both their teams, despite being underdogs, have achieved important wins. Marcus Brown is welcomed back in action with an average first game, something that will help us purchase him in a cheaper price in the future. His Unicaja teammates, Berni Rodriguez and Kostas Vasiliadis had awful games and saw their price losing the max last week. Domen Lorbek has been unstable since everyone purchased him before the third week, while an injury could keep him out from Game 4. Chris Warren could be also missing Game 5 due to injury. Trajan Langdon had another great game and remains a top swingman this season.

Jonas Maciulis, the most bought player last week, remains a top prospect, pushing for max value with a score no more than 3 credits. Partizan youngsters Milenko Tepic and mainly Luka Bogdanovic might be great in home games, but are unstable and untrustworthy when they leave Belgrad. Ricky Greer “killed” every single user interested in him last week with a –3 score and now needs at least 25 credit points in order for his value not to move downwards.

Draft prospects and perimeter stars Marko Belinelli and Uros Tripkovic remain terrible fantasy players, being unable to become steady forces and contribute in other statistic categories but scoring. David Hawkins is still going down, but a promising domestic game reminds us of his potential. Tony Delk will probably miss the Panathinaikos-Unicaja game due to injury. Anton Ponkrashov keeps doing well, but his low price isn’t a great thing for us.

The Big Men

Luis Scola and David Andersen probably won’t go any lower and they are both amazing players considering their scandalously low price. Mike Batiste is a top-3 player value-wise and a top-2 one score-wise, but the best steal of the year remains Jordi Trias, a player that seems to have a guaranteed 7-week max-rise with his amazing games and stability. Peja Drobnjak is one of the only 4 players to reach max score for all the four first weeks, following Trias, Alex Acker and Davor Kus. Ronnie Burrell scored a 39.6 last week, the second best score of the season. Mirsad Turkcan and Brent Wright are back to form, after instability surrounded them the previous weeks. Lazaros Papadopoulos will be out this week too, as his injury is much more serious than expected. Eric Campbell’s value fell for the first time, but it’s not impossible for him to be one of the best and steadiest players all season long. Andrija Zizic has just reached a peak and a new rise seems almost impossible, so its better to sell him now. Kosta Perovic and Paulius Jankunas are exceptional and rising young players, doing great as they gain more confidence and improving from game to game. Tanoka Beard, Marcus Goree and Michael Wright belong to the big men elite and are among the best and most stable fantasy players. Tiago Splitter’s debut game for the year was negative and will keep his value diving for some time, making him a potential steal down the road, like last year.