Tips from the Euroleague boss: Week 6

Hi everyone, this is once again Javier Gancedo, as always from the Euroleague Basketball headquarters at Palau Sant Jordi. Well, not always, since it is my day off today, and I’m at home chilling out in Barcelona.

First of all, the fact that I know nothing about basketball kills me. I come up with The Golden Rule about CSKA and you know what happened: Armani Jeans Milano downed the reigning Euroleague champions and David Hawkins had a fantastic game. I was shocked to see Real Madrid rally from a 28-point deficit only to lose on a running layup by Aaron Miles. Hopefully, Miles will no longer be missed in my hometown Sevilla since DeJuan Collins is in town. I’m already going to the game against DKV Joventut next week with stuff from KFC and some private DVDs to make sure he plays well.

Like I said, I am still fortunate to keep my spot here at BallinEurope. OK, I choked with the CSKA Golden Rule thing, but I think that my team is doing a pretty good job this season. It’s not easy to anticipate what you do and still be one of the top teams in the private league. Making it to the Top 3 will be difficult: There are very good teams out there. First of all and above all, keep in mind that THE DEADLINE IS ON TUESDAY AT 19:00, because Alba Berlin has an early game this week. You have been warned…

As for my team, let’s see what we have - I always do the trades live as I write this article, I think it makes it fresher. You don’t know how many times I erase parts of the text and come back. Anyway, Mirza Begic has to go because I think he reached his maximum level already and this is a little bit like the stock exchange. Let’s see what happens with the new coach and then Begic may be back.

I’ll stick to my CSKA Golden Rule, so Aaron Miles is my second trade this week. I’ve already opted to release Mirsad Turkcan because Semih Erden is back and so Turkcan will play fewer minutes. The game against Alba is a good one for him, however, but I want Tiago Splitter in my team no matter what; not because I think he will do well against Olimpija - Begic is tall and Vladimir Golubovic is aggressive and tough - but because I want to keep him for the remainder of the season.

My second trade is Terrell McIntyre, even when he will play against Barcelona in two weeks’ time and I don’t expect a big game for him then. Still, he should play well against Zalgiris this week. I have very limited money for the third trade, so I’m going to shock you all: Vedran Vukusic. He’s coming off a couple of good games and playing good minutes lately. He faces Cibona, so he can open the court with three-pointers. If they fall in, I will strike gold. If they don’t, well, erm… What’s next? Ah yeah, my team looks like this, then:

Terrell McIntyre - should be a good game for him against Zalgiris. A bit afraid that Mantas Kalnietis guards him.
Lynn Greer - Would have traded him if I had a fourth. That game against Unicaja in Malaga doesn’t look good.

Jonas Maciulis - The Bull is ready to go against the entire Montepaschi backcourt. He played well vs. L.Rytas this weekend.

Rimantas Kaukenas - I don’t like to have players that face each other, but I expect Kaukenas AND Maciulis to do well.

Juan Carlos Navarro - It’s a make-or-break game for Barcelona to win its group. Expect “La Bomba” to deliver.

Chris Warren - Well, I had other priorities, to be honest. Warren is solid and plays at home against a high-scoring team.

Tiago Splitter - Chose him over teammate Igor Rakocevic. Should stay in my fantasy team for good.

Andre Hutson - Has been rock-solid lately and is still underpriced. He’s had good games in Badalona before.

Vedran Vukusic - The big gamble. Hopefully he will read the game well and bomb Alain Koffi and Pape Badiane from downtown.

Mike Batiste - Honestly, I would have prefered Nikola Pekovic, but Batiste should do well against Regal FCB.

As usual, good luck, make wise choices and see you next week!

Who profits from all the injuries?

This week, a lot of bad news happened and some fantasy owners have to some major changes in the fantasy teams. Sani Becirovic was injured and as one of the major contributors, lots of managers need to go for some changes. And as one of the hottest players of the moment in the SG/SF position was also injured  (according to some internet rumors) — I’m speaking about Charles Smith here — it will be tough to go for a good move on this position.

My problem of the week is the following, though. I wanted to get rid of two of my players at the SG and SF positions and replace them by Becirovic and Smith. Now both are injured so I’m asking myself what to do. The first player I wanted to sell is Immanuel McElroy from ALBA Berlin, but with Julius Jenkins still out and no Becirovic in Rome, Imac may come up with a good game so he’ll stay on the team. The second guy to move was Emir Preldzic. He’s on the decline right now, so he’s out. With Becirovic injured, I see another player stepping up for Roma this week, and that’s Rodrigo de la Fuente. As Allan Ray may miss the game, too, the Spanish veteran should see a lot of minutes and could come up with some interesting stats.

In order to improve my team even more, I chose then to finally trade Sergio Llull away. The Spanish youngster had a great run, but now it’s time to cash in and get a real big-time guard rotation. In order to do so, I needed to get a bit more credits so Felipe Reyes left the boat. Reyes was replaced by last week’s MVP Edu Hernandez-Sonseca, who should bring solid ranking points against Olimpija and should also gain in value. So I have enough credits to bring Lynn Greer to my team. So, recapping my moves:

OUT: Emir Preldzic (Fenerbahce), Felipe Reyes (Real Madrid) and Sergio Llull (Real Madrid).

IN: Lynn Greer (Olympiacos), Rodrigo de la Fuente (Lottomatica) and Edu Hernandez-Sonseca (Joventut).

Fantasy Challenge: Follow your own tips!

Another week is over and once again, my team finished somewhere in the top half of the “middle-of-nowhere” range. Across the board, my players performed well (8 out of 10 were between 9.9 and 22.0) but none went for an extraordinary MVP-level performance. But I have to say that I am happy with the trades I made: Bringing in Zoran Planinic and Nikola Pekovic were good moves, as the two combined for 35.2 ranking points instead of the 0 I would have gotten without the changes.

On the other hand, I don’t know what happened to Emir Preldzic, who made a nice 0 and Mirza Begic who threw up came up with 9.9 ranking points in just 4 minutes of play. I would suggest to Mirza that he be sick a bit more often but play 40 minutes despite throwing up constantly. I have to think on my forward rotation a bit this weekend, as Immanuel McElroy seems to be on the downturn as well. We will see what comes up.

If you check on who I advised you to sign last week, I can only say, “Christophe, why do you tell the guys out there who to sign but don’t take the guys yourself?” Carlos Jimenez (23.1), Mike Hall (18.7) and Charles Smith (27.0) were three names I mentioned. And I didn’t pick up any of these three, despite having an unused trade. No wonder I have a new favorite song:

Luckily, the standings still show that I’m not doing everything wrong. I am currently ranked at the edge of the Top 10 and so I’m still in the race for new K1X shoes or some Euroleague goodies. At the top of the table is still the fight between djalix and EVICROCK, separated by only 0.5 points. Looks pretty tough at the moment and neither player has given up on winning those Euroleague Final Four tickets.

And because I was so harsh on myself before when I was talking about the moves I did not make, I would like to mention my current good ranking in two other fantasy leagues. In the league hosted by our friends at Basketsession, I am currently ranked 4th, which may sound nothing special, but I am in front of French Euroleague fantasy guru Bricko and his CSKA Brickowski team. Additionally, another 4th place is in the books for me in the Interbasket Private League, which I also consider a nice performance.

Have a nice weekend…

Tips from the Euroleague Fantasy boss: Week 4

Hello everyone, this is Javier Gancedo, always from Euroleague Basketball. Looks like it has been yet another great fantasy week for me. I am beginning to get worried after modifying all my previous entries because of injuries. Seriously. We’ll see what happens this week.

It has been a fantastic week in Euroleague, especially the nine-game marathon last night. We all finished at 2am, totally destroyed but happy to have experienced the best regular season in Euroleague Basketball history.:Buzzer-beaters, Louis Bullock, double-overtime games, Vlado Ilievski missing again at the buzzer, close games, passion, drama, upsets… Seriously, the Euroleague is getting better than ever, and it is impressive that CSKA is the only unbeaten team, despite being without J.R. Holden and Matjaz Smodis.

Before anything else, I would like you to introduce our new online game, the Eurocup FabFive Challenge!

fabfive.eurocupbasketball.com

This is a very down-to-earth, exciting game in which you can pick five players, one from each range, with no restrictions whatsoever. If you want to have five point guards, go ahead. Five centers? Be my guest. Just keep in mind that players may move from one group to another depending on their index rating and you will need to trade every week to have a valid, five-player team. The trades after Week 1 should be exciting. Players can go from the top group to the bottom one if they have a really bad night, and vice versa! Just build your team and maybe we all can put together a private league. OK, well, keep reading and then make a team, but don’t forget: It’s a great game, we all think.

As for Fantasy Challenge, I had a pretty decent week with good trades, especially Emir Preldzic. Preldzic rolled against Olimpija, showing he is the closest thing to Toni Kukoc in 1990 that European basketball has seen lately. If he keeps developing, Preldzic will be a hell of a player, mark my words. I moved up to 9th place in the BallinEurope private league and yes, I erased some of my deficit in the Kuqo situation. I even cracked the Top 40 with a different team. I’m telling you all this because bad times will come, no doubt about it. Of course, beating EVICROCK will be tough, as he is doing very, very well.

As for this week, I wanted to trade early because honestly, I wanted you all to know about FabFive as soon as possible. I may regret my trades before the deadline and if so, I will notify you right away - especially since it’s quite probable that someone will get injured, anyway.

Remember when I told you Nikos Zisis would be there until Holden comes back? I’ve changed my mind, since Belgrade is a tough place to play and I expect the game to be low-scoring. I also traded Bracey Wright due to the showdown against Tau Ceramica and then removed Felipe Reyes because Kerem Gonlum may out-rebound him. Those are my three trades this week.

I believe Armani Jeans Milano has been playing well lately and, since they play Panionios On Telecoms at home, I think it’s time for them to do well in front of their fans. Therefore, I added Michael Hall at power forwards and centers, a big moneymaker. My main move this week was picking up Chris Warren of Air Avellino. Warren plays against Cibona and even while Rawel Marshall will also be extremely motivated, I am sure that the Avellino swingman will have a good game. At point guard, I had to choose between Lynn Greer and Earl Calloway. I’m going with Greer for the sake of Euroleague experience, even though I wrote the Cibona-Olympiacos game report and Calloway was just UNSTOPPABLE in the third quarter.

So my team goes like this:

Aaron Miles - Another Cajasol playmaker that leaves the team and becomes a Euroleague star. Oh my.
Lynn Greer - Should have an interesting shootout against Dewarick Spencer in Le Mans.

Jonas Maciulis - The Bull returns home to play Regal FC Barcelona. He should be a solid choice.
Emir Preldzic - Has been unstoppable lately and is way underpriced.
Sani Becirovic - Sanny Boy is the Euroleague superstar he was several years ago. In top shape right now.
Chris Warren - Again the X factor. He should be ready to do well against Cibona.

Mirza Begic - It’s more than seven extra credits in our teams. You have him, right? C’mon, don’t lie.
Mike Hall - I liked what I saw in Madrid this week. Few power forwards are playing more minutes right now.
Mirsad Turkcan - Even when Andre Hutson knows him well, Turkcan should out-rebound EVERYBODY!
Mike Batiste - Big Mike always plays better on the road and the game in Sopot should be no exception.

As always, good luck in the Fantasy Challenge… And try the Fab Five, the great game with the gangsta name!

Last-second choices for the NIKEiD Fantasy Challenge

This week looked like a very tough challenge to me as I did not expect to trade away my top performer at the moment: Pops Mensah-Bonsu. But a shoulder injury stopped the British national team player, and so I had to give him away. But for his value, I could buy two “certain” gainers instead, so the deal looks not too bad. But first things first.

My first move was to check my team with the updated Euroleague fantasy tool at HoopsStats.com. Not too much to change, though, except a few minor errors on my team. But it helped my to set up my strategy for this week. Next to the obvious trade of Mensah-Bonsu, it gave me the idea to go for a two maximum winners trade by acquiring Bouroussis and Begic for Mensah-Bonsu’s value approximately.

The other player that I wanted to give away was Carlos Jimenez. As much as I like him on the court, he could not stand his recent nice statistical efforts and so he goes out after only week of action. Together with the now reduced minutes of Will McDonald at TAU, I had enough cash to go big at the forward position. So I brought in Josh Childress. who I think should be a very regular contributor at a 20+ ranking points level. So here are the moves I made on my team this week.

OUT: Carlos Jimenez (Unicaja Malaga), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (DKV Joventut) and Will McDonald (TAU Ceramica) - 185.3 credits

IN: Josh Childress (Olympiacos), Mirza Begic (Union Olimpija) and Ioannis Bouroussis (Olympiacos) - 176.35 credits

Who are the other players to sign?

Point Guards: If your goal is to gain credits and you don’t own Sergio Llull on your team, take a look at Damir Kaan (Fenerbahce - 30.3 credits). The veteran only needs a 5.7 ranking to gain the maximum value and the upcoming game against DKV Joventut looks like a good opportunity for some backcourt scoring.

Daniel Ewing (Prokom Sopot - 68.4 credits) looks like a nice pick this week, too, and Prokom will play against Zalgiris and its heavily reduced backcourt.

Shooting Guards and Small Forwards: With the return of Julius Jenkins (ALBA Berlin - 50.2 credits), it may be interesting to take a look at the ALBA Berlin guard. His poor opening game reduced his price nicely so he may be a bargain at the moment, as he can be regular 20+ guy like he showed last week; at least he should be a nice investment for the future.

If you have a bigger wallet, Romain Sato (Montepaschi Siena - 77 credits) looks right now like a very regular contributor at a fair value. If you need to increase your buying volume, Saso Ozbolt (Union Olimpija - 33.2 credits) may be the right choice for you, as he only needs 2.9 ranking points to remain idle; compared to his current average of 11 ranking points, he should be able to give you a nice return.

Power Forwards and Centers: Besides the usual suspects Mirza Begic and Ioannis Bouroussis (see above), Pat Burke (Asseco Prokom - 33.2 credits) may be an interesting choice for the discount seekers. Zalgiris’ frontcourt is not known for being the toughest in terms of defense, so Pat can come up with some of his trademark moves or three point shots.

Another pick if you want to fill your roster but have no money left is of course Enes Kanter (Fenerbahce - 9.2 credits), as the 16-year-old kid will increase his value even without playing.

Let’s make some crazy bets!

As you can see above, I made some very safe choices this week. But isn’t this game about winning and going for some crazy bets? Currently, as I am writing, I’m not so sure about bringing Josh Childress in at 83.6 credits. As I really believe in one of my other choices described above — I’m talking about Julius Jenkins — I may change my trades and bring in the ALBA guard instead of the former Hawk and save about 30 credits for next week’s trades. Maybe that’s not too bad an idea, as both Begic and Bouroussis probably won’t stay on my team forever and having additional buying power makes the future look brighter. Yes, I changed my mind to bring in Jenkins (by the way, who should stop him at TAU Ceramica, Rakocevic?). So here we go:

OUT: Carlos Jimenez (Unicaja Malaga), Pops Mensah-Bonsu (DKV Joventut) and Will McDonald (TAU Ceramica) - 185.3 credits

IN: Julius Jenkins (ALBA Berlin), Mirza Begic (Union Olimpija) and Ioannis Bouroussis (Olympiacos) - 142.95 credits (42.67 credits in reserve)

Eduardo Hernandez-Sonseca (DKV Joventut - 39.4 credits) could be the big winner of the Pops Mensah-Bonsu mess. Not only because both have hyphenated names, but Hernandez-Sonseca came up with 22 ranking points this weekend in the ACB and should be able to go for a similar score against Fenerbahce at home.