Euroleague Fantasy Challenger: the winner
March 24, 2008
After a week-long battle, the BallinEurope Private League has come to end and crowns a lucky but respected winner. And as BallinEurope is putting its readers in the middle, we also have a little gift for the best manager among our readers.
Euroleague Fantasy Challenge: Do or Die
March 18, 2008
Yet another Euroleague Fantasy Challenge has come to an end. Another year of rookie surprises, injury disappointments, a few correct picks, many unlucky ones and a lot of time spent on building a team (or teams). All in all it was fun and a nice little side dish to the Euroleague main course itself. Let’s proceed to this week’s picks. Read more
Euroleague Fantasy Challenge - week 5
March 12, 2008
As every week we get an insight from Euroleague Fantasy expert Arkadios, who shares his thoughts about this week.
Week 4 was the best week for me in the Top16. Mainly because everything went on as expected, except for Olympiakos’ win in Israel. Whoever had Lyn Greer in their roster should feel happy and lucky. I must admit I didn’t see that one coming. Week 5 is a do or die for most of the teams. Lose and go home or win and still hope to make it to the play-offs. Panathinaikos-Siena, Zalgiris-Olympiakos and Real Madrid-Maccabi will be the most crucial and probably the most interesting games to watch.
Point Guards:
Theo Papaloukas: We all knew that Papaloukas always steps up when then going gets tough, and he has proved it once more during the entire Top16. Theo is a winner and a vindictive personality, so he will look to take his revenge from Unicaja for the heavy lost they sustained in Malaga some weeks ago. He was rested in CSKA’s domestic game on Sunday, so he will look fresh.
Zoran Planinic: TAU is the only team who has qualified to the play-offs. They will also probably have the easiest game of the week, versus Aris. Aris doesn’t have a PG tall or versatile enough to guard Planinic. Planinic had been playing 23 minutes per game and scoring 13 ranking points during the Top16 first round, but against Rytas he played the whole 40 minutes scoring 31 ranking points. He scored 19 ranking points in 32 minutes in TAU’s weekend domestic game.
Shooting Guards/ Small Forwards:
Vassilis Spanoulis: Against Siena Spanoulis had scored -4 ranking points but in the rest three Top16 games he has been averaging 18 ranking points with drawing an average of 7.5 fouls! I believe this is his main weapon on the offensive side and I do believe that he will be using it against against Siena. And let’s not fool ourselves, Panathinaikos is probably going to get that extra couple of easy calls from the refs. His playing time will probably grow as Hatzivrettas and Becirovic are doubtful for this particular game. He wasn’t used much by Obradovic in the weekend domestic game in order to get some rest.
Mindaugas Lukauskis: Lukauskis has been re-finding his good old Regular Season self and he has been improving his ranking points record during the entire Top16. Rytas has shifted its offensive efforts to the perimeter since both of their best big guys are our injured, Nielsen and Petravicius that is. And this is exactly what I will be betting on in order to see Lukauskis taking some extra shots. After all this is one of the do or die games I was talking about in the beginning, Rytas must win this one in order to qualify. Lukauskis scored 21 and 20 ranking points in his two domestic weekend games.
Trajan Langdon: The unquestionable CSKA leader this season will lead them once more to the win which will guarantee them the qualification to the play-offs. He has been very consistent in the Top16 and getting a lot of playing time. He was used for just 16 minutes in CSKA’s domestic weekend game, so he will look freshen up, just like his teammate Papaloukas.
Louis Bullock: Can Bullock be what Lyn Greer was last week, this week? Why not? Maccabi has not been convincing for the opposite lately and they struggle even in their domestic league games lately. Bullock has been consistent during the entire Eurolegue both in his playing and time and his ranking points scoring. He is Real Madrid’s go-to guy when it counts and he rarely lets his coach down. He scored 15 ranking points in just 18 minutes in Real Madrid’s weekend domestic game.
Power Forwards/ Centers:
Kenan Bajramovic: Bajramovic has seen his playing time increasing by 12 whole minutes in the Top16 due to Nielsen’s and Petravicius’ injuries and frankly he has been doing just fine. But luck wasn’t on Rytas side so far as they lost three games with a total margin of 10 points. However i believe this will change against Fenerbahce Ulker and Bajramovic will be a major factor in that.
Mamadou N’Diaye: Probably one of the best mid-season transfers in Euroleague. N’Diaye is a great strong player with great experience from some of the world’s best leagues, including NBA. The only Olympiakos player who can match his strength is Jackson, but he hasn’t been in the same form in the Top16 as in the regular season and he has missed some training session due to a trip to the US. And I don’t think that Bouroussis or Mavrokefalides are a match for him. All in all I expect a good game from him with a bunch of rebounds. He scored 17 ranking points in his weekend domestic game.
Nikola Pekovic: Pretty much the same reasons for which I picked him in Partizan-Efes game. And no without Woods, there is no one to mess around with Pekovic who will dominate the paint once more. I’m expecting a great game by Pekovic with a lot of playing minute, points, rebounds and drawn fouls. He scored 28 ranking points in his weekend NLB game, against a Euroleague team, Olimpija.
Andre Hutson: I always thought that Hutson is a Euroleague material player and he has been doing just fine for Efes this season. Being the only one of the ‘magnificent’ four who was spared the axe for refusing to travel to Serbia some weeks ago he saw his playing time increasing and has motivated himself to repay Efes’ GM trust in him. He was amazing against Panathinaikos in OAKA last week where I had the chance to enjoy his show and was holding Efes alone in the game. I believe he is one of the few offensive threats to Partizan with his good low post moves and even better mid range shot. So Hutson it is for me.
Euroleague Fantasy league - It only can get better
March 5, 2008
I think Week 3 wasn’t as bad as the previous two. But I hope that no one of you had picked one of Hutson, Woods, Wright and Nicholas Read more
Euroleague Fantasy Challenge - what to do?
February 27, 2008
Another mediocre week for Euroleague Fantasy players across Europe, or so I have heard anyway. And judging by my own scores I’d say it is true. Is it me or have most Euroleague clubs and players lost their balance in the Top16 phase? Nothing goes as expected and planned anymore. For example I picked Petravicius last week and he played 10 minutes less than his average playing time. I picked Mickeal and he went down injured before the half time. I picked Morris and Batista had the game of his life in Kaunas almost reaching a double double figure by the end of the first quarter!
The only thing that hasn’t changed is the ability of Partizan to push Panathinaikos to their limits and then somehow manage to lose the game in the dying seconds. Happened three times so far… and of course the pleasant surprise of the two Lithuanian teams which have been gold in their Euroleague campaigns so far.
Point Guards:
Ibrahim Jaaber: I think I’m going to stick to Ibrahim Jaaber for a bit longer. His performances have been exceptional for a Euroleague rookie and you couldn’t ask for anything more than a 16 ranking points average from a guy who was literally unknown and playing in some Athens suburbs team some weeks ago. Plus he needs less than 8 ranking point to hit a new limit up for 10(!) credits.
Theodoros Papaloukas: At last Papaloukas has been showing some, even if it was just a glimpse, of his class in the last few games. With the problems that Unicaja has with its PGs and with the height advantage that Papaloukas has over them I believe he will have a very solid game leading CSKA to yet another win in Top16. Let’s just hope that Messina leave him on the court for more than his usual 20 minutes.
Shooting Guards/Small Forwards:
Romain Sato: Sato has been a great help to Siena in the past few weeks and he has scored more than 19 average ranking points in Top16 so far. He has benefited (if we can use this term) by Kaukenas’ injury and has increased his playing time from 24 to 34(!) minutes per game! He is a very solid SG who can shoot well, draw easy fouls and rarely turnovers the ball. If he could only be more precise in his three point shootings he would be even greater. Maybe the time has come?
Jonas Maciulis: Maciulis is the top scorer of the Top16 so far. He is one of Lithuania’s top prospects and is known for his passionate game. Although he is below 200cm he has the rebounding ability of a center and can easily guard taller opponents. I think that Olympiakos lacks this kind of a player who would be able to stop him and he can do some serious damage. He is self-conscious and won’t take any shots in a hurry but only when he is sure about it. Oh yes, he is scoring an average of 23 ranking points in the Top16.
Marcus Brown: Yet another Zalgiris player for me this week. Most of Olympiakos’ opponents shooters find way too many open shots, especially from behind the arch, even in the SEF arena and they usually don’t miss. Just remember McIntyre (4/7 for 3 and 19 points, Winston (7/8 for 3 and 26 points, Halperin 2/5 for 3 and 21 points, even Marcus Brown himself 2/4 for 3 and 19 points). And we all know what is Brown capable off when he is left unmarked for even a split second.
Drew Nicholas: Somehow I believe that the Partizan-Efes game will be a high scoring one. Add Partizan youth and Efes run and gun style and you get the picture. And this is exactly the kind of a game that Nicholas loves. After storming over Panathinaikos in the opening day Nicholas was slowed down by the best Euroleague defense and earned himself just 9 ranking points but Partizan is far from a defensive side even though they are top in the rebounding category. Let’s hope he draws some easy fouls and grab a few rebounds as a bonus.
Power Forwards/Centers:
Shaun Stonerook: Panathinaikos has one of the most short front lines of the Euroleague. And as that wasn’t enough, its two tallest centers, Tomasevic and Tsartsaris are injured and out. Stonerook is an undersized PF and has been registering an average of 31 minutes per game so far in the Top16 average and helping Siena in every aspect, either by scoring, rebounding or even stealing. I expect him to shine tonight taking advantage of his aggressiveness.
Terrence Morris: To be honest I was between Morris and Batista. I just don’t know who will do the best tomorrow but I believe that they will both have a good game. Morris might have disappointed us last week but I’m gonna trust him and hope that a packed Nokia Arena gives him that extra motive and of course the put a pressure on the refs to call easy fouls against Morris by Real Madrid front line.
Nikola Pekovic: Back to the favorite Euroleague Fantasy player of the current season. This young Montenegran (?) giant has been impressive so far and is dominating the boards and scores a double digit amount of points in almost every game. His playing time has dropped in Top16 but I believe that his coach will leave him on the court for a considerable more time to deal with Woods.
Marcus Goree: All of you who can’t wait to buy Smodis or your teams please hold your horses. Messina said that Smodis needs a couple of weeks before being able to compete in a higher level such as Euroleague. Thus Goree will get to keep his playing time at 25+ minutes and help CSKA to defend efficiently against Unicaja and draw some fouls in the low post.
Good luck. Arkadios.
Euroleague Fantasy Challenge: day 2
February 19, 2008
After that great response last week, we had to ask Arkadios again what he thinks about this weeks’ fantasy challenge. Here you go Read more
Euroleague Fantasy: Top16
February 12, 2008
A few days ago I talked to Arkadios, who also does his own blog and is very well known around the “Euroleague Internet”, what his thoughts are on the Euroleague Fantasy Challenge Read more
Euroleague Fantasy Challenge : My Top 15 Picks
January 23, 2008
The 15 players you should keep an eye on this week to move up the rankings.
The Return of the Euroleague Fantasy Challenge Tips
January 8, 2008
Things are getting more and more serious. Wanna keep your spot in the Top 1,000 ? I would read that if I were you…
Euroleague Fantasy Challenge : Tips of the week
December 19, 2007
Hurry up guys, only 4 hours to go !
