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Euroleague Fantasy: Top16

February 12, 2008

Euroleague FantasyA 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 in the Top16. Her is what Arkadios has to say – make sure you read this – very informative!

If you are reading this article then you are probably familiar with Euroleague Fantasy and there are not many new things I can tell you about it. But let’s do a little review. Euroleague Fantasy is generally a mixed game of scouting, tactics and strategy. If you find the perfect balance between these elements then the chances of you doing well are more than likely.

When I say scouting I mean the players’ performance in their respective domestic leagues during the weekends, some on Friday and some other on Monday nights. Sure, their weekend performance doesn’t guarantee anything and they might have different roles in Euroleague games but surely you can get a very helpful general idea of what you are dealing with.

Tactics is the way you allocate the 500 (or 400 or even 600 or whatever is the amount you got) credits you get to spend on your 10 men squad. Generally speaking the front line players usually score more ranking points so it might be a good idea to spend most of your credits on big men. You should also avoid purchasing players with limited playing time. Another thing you  should take into consideration is the player’s next opponent. For example a big and heavy center will do better than average against soft big men who are mainly power forwards.

Strategy is the thin line between ranking and the players’ value. You should try to get the players with the best ranking points average but you should also look to purchase some players who will rapidly increase their value with 1-2 good games and provide you some extra credits to spend and therefore make your life easier.

I am writing this article on a Monday night, therefore I can not be sure about some players’ injuries who might play or not in Euroleague Top16 Week 1, but I can already spot some mistakes on Euroleague Fantasy official site.
Euroleague lists some healthy players as injured such as Will Bynum, Jeremiah Massey, Kostas Vassileiades, Kennedy Winston, Pete Mickeal, Fragiskos Alvertis, Esteban Batista, Michael Batiste, Hanno Mottola, Romain Sato and so on. Some players who are doubtful but are likely to play are Arvydas Macijauskas and Reyshawn Terry.

I will try to suggest a full 10 men squad worth of 550 units as I think that this is about the average amount average Euroleague Fantasy players such as ourselves have available. I will try to make it as diverse as I can, meaning that I will try choose 10 players from as many different teams as I can.

Point Guards:

Darius Washington: He might have signed for Aris just a few weeks ago but he is already their starting and indispensable PG. He runs the court well, is a decent shooter and can penetrate rather good. He has already played 1 Euroleague game and scored 14 ranking points. Plus he will hit a limit up of 5 credits even if he scores a lousy -5 ranking points. After all a player who was playing for the NBA champs earlier in the season must be worth something, right?

Scoonie Penn: OK, he and his team might be facing one of the best Euroleague sides, Panathinaikos that is, but Penn has been nothing but gold for Efes since he signed and got in form and he has had his fair share of quite good games vs Panathinaikos when he played for Cibona and (mainly) Olympiakos.

Shooting Guards/ Small Forwards:

Louis Bullock: He has been in a terrific form in the past 2 weeks scoring 19, 23, 19, 21 ranking points in his last 4 games. So, playing a relatively easy home game against Zalgiris I see no reason why he shouldn’t keep up his good form. Do you?

Kostas Vassileiades: He started off slowly in the season. He then accelerated but got injured. But now he is back he is at his best. Especially with Macijauskas out of the rotation due to an injury and with the new coach Yiannakis trusting him and letting him take plenty of shots Vassileiades has been performing at the top level. His last two games averages with Oylmpiakos: 23 minutes, 18 points (3.5 3pointers) and the most important 19 ranking points.

Ramunas Siskauskas: One of the most stable and consistent players in Europe. He might not be at his best lately, but that is one reason more I would pick him. He must resume his high standard games and lead CSKA after their Russian Cup humiliation against local arch-rivals Khimki.

Dusan Kecman: Averaging about 25 minutes and 15 ranking points this solid player should be a safe bet. Partizan’s opponents Siena in the opening game are not in their best shape and Partizan will look to take advantage.

Power Forwards/ Centers:

David Andersen: He has been in excellent form for the past 2 months and so and being the only healthy creative big guy in CSKA he gets a lot of balls and gets to shoot the ball a lot. His good long range shot helps a lot and so does his height to grab rebounds.

Michael Batiste: With Dejan Tomasevic, Kostas Tsartsaris and Nikola Prkacin all sidelined Batiste should and will get more than his usual 22-23 minutes of playing time. He has almost fully recovered from his injury and looks safe and confident to get back in fantasy lineups. Played a great game on Saturday scoring 25 points with flawless statistics. A bargain if you ask me.

Jeremiah Massey: He has been one of the best centers of Euroleague for the past 2 seasons. He is already a target of major European clubs and is getting better and better. He always does his best for the team, especially in Alexandrion. And starting off with Fenerbahce he is set to dominate the paint.

Jordi Trias: With Mario Kasun out of the picture until further notice Trias has stepped in for good. Just lok at his rankign points in his last 3 games: 36, 16, 22 ranking points. Reminds us his value-for-money performance last season.

P.S. If you feel like gambling you could try to sign winter signing such as Viktor Khryapa, Jackson Vroman, Damir Markota  and Ibrahim Jaaber. Even Mamadou N’Diaye for that matter.

Good luck. Arkadios.

Feb 12, 2008ballineurope
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This post was published on February 12, 2008
Another sad story: cocaineA musical good bye to the unqualified
Comments: 12
  1. belalik
    17 years ago

    Good, informative post. Indeed, this week is very interesting with regards to the fantasy challenge … I haven’t followed domestic leagues during the break so I don’t really know players current condition, but I will try to add a couple choices/questions you might consider. Since I haven’t followed recent matches however, I might be off completely with some player (injured or other) – so take my suggestions with a (big) grain of salt as they say…

    On group D:

    I also thought of Batiste. However, it seems almost a tradition for teams that face pao, whether they win or lose (and generally they lose), that big men perform well. I would consider Loren Woods or even Hutson as possible good choices, especially if they game turns on efes side.. Also, how about McIntyre? He has been big for Siena at the end of regular season, and I dont think partizan has such a strong defense – would not surprise me if he delivers 15+ points.. Or some other siena player with good home record…

    On Group E:

    I very much agree on Massey, I believe he ‘ll have a good game. Also, Tsaldaris is a possibly good (cheap) choice. He didn’t do that well against Oly in domestic matches, but he might bounce back in Alexandreion, and if he does, it ‘ll be good points… On the other game, Petravicius has been constantly good in home matches but tau has good big men.. Tough match.

    On group F:

    I see the logic behind Vasileiades, he ‘s been on fire. However, there is an added risk because Macas might get playing time, and Woods will definately get some time too and might want to prove himself on Giannakis. Even Blackney might play a bit perhaps with Greer or even Teodosic on ‘2’ for short times.. Vasileiades might get less playing time as a result, alhough it all depends on how the game will go.. Marc Jackson however also seems a logical move, although a bit expensive, he also performs well in home matches and Tsakalides will almost definately be sidelined again.. On real madrid, I guess papadopoulos is out so that would naturally mean more time for Hervelle and Reyes? Good choices perhaps if real dominates the paint..

    Group G:

    CSKA should win, Andersen and siska are the obvious choices. I would also consider Tomas VD Spiegel, he ‘d want to prove himself, should get some playing time – Holden has been one of the ebst players for cska recently, he ‘s also quite cheap, even papaloukas has to step up at some point…

    Over all, difficult fantasy choices, but good matches to watch … I also have to add the undeniable truth that luck is a very important factor, I ‘ve been blessed with it so far and hope to continue that way 🙂 …

    ReplyCancel
  2. Marcutis
    17 years ago

    I’ll ad my opinion as well:

    Group D:

    Efes vs PAO. Considering Efes fans and atmosphere at home I would bet on really tough match. I wouldn’t bet on Penn, knowing that Diamantidis and Jasikevicius are well known of their defence (yeah Jasikevicius not so much). Also regarding Arkadios comments about Batiste. I wouldn’t bet on him either. There should be a good day for Woods for sure as I don’t see Batiste stopping him and Efes definitely are going to dominate the paint.
    MDP vs Partizan. We all know that MDP play very good game this season especially at home. We all know that one of their leaders Kaukenas is out for the rest of the season. So taking that into consideration I expect McIntyre scoring big time as he is playng ~30 minutes since Kaukenas is out. But still, Partizan has big guy who’s name is Nicola Pekovic. So I would bet on Pekovic (and scoring a lot) dominating the paint as Lavrinovic is still waiting for the moment to come.

    Group E:

    Lietuvos Rytas vs TAU. As I see TAU win it is a very interesting game to follow. Splitter plays only 20+ minutes this season but shows very good numbers every game (almost). Knowing that Petravicius, Bajramovic and Nielsen couldn’t stop Woods (tall guy) I would go for Splitter scoring some great shots and dominating the paint that night. As Matthew Nielsen is out (they have signed Jackson Vroman to replace him), Petravicius and Bajramovic are too slow for Splitter. BTW Teletovic was showing some great moves during that break.

    Aris vs Ulker. Aris has a new man Darius Washington. He has played only few matches since he came to Tseloniki but is showing reaaaally good shape. He should get even more minutes as Terrel Castle is out to Unicaja. I am looking forward to this match to see Willie’s and Darius’s fight. Also Massey is going to score ALOT and those who know Ulker know why :).

    Group F:

    Real vs Zalgiris. There should be an easy walk for Real. Considering that Papadopolous is out and Zalgiris has 2 big men (Zukauskas 2.20m tall and N’Diaye 2.12 m.) I expect them to play not their regular game run and shoot, but slower than ever. Knowing their coach Grigas I expect plenty of minutes for N’Diaye. Also they have Brown that has been shining in few games during first leg and DeJuan Collins have scoret 27pts and had 7 rebouds vs Lietuvos Rytas last week. What about Real… Have have many great players but I see Reyes playing ~30minutes and scoring lots of points.

    OLY vs Maccabi. There have been a lot of speculations whether Macas is going to play. Anyway, we hasnt played for ~6 wks so he definitely won’t be at his best so there goes a plus for Kostas Vassileiades. Also Quyntel Woods will try to impress the new coatch as he wasn’t showing his best shape last month.

    Group G:

    CSKA vs Roma. I’ve seen a Russian cup game between CSKA and Chimki and Thomas Van den Spiegel with David Andersen look awful playing together in the field. So I expect doing some homework and giving at least 25minutes to Andersen as he is showing great stuff during past few months. Talking about Siska, I wouldnt pick him. Not yet as in my opinion he will only shine during top4.

    Barca vs Unicaja. I would pick Gary Neal (new comer for Barca) and Marcus Haislip from Unicaja. Carlos Cebezas is out for at least 2 weeks and there was too little to for Terrel Castle to get along with the team. So in my opinion there should be a good game for Haislip.

    ReplyCancel
  3. Arkadios
    17 years ago

    Thank you for your comments. Really interesting ones I must say and I agree with a lot of them. But I made a lineup which shouldn’t cost more than 550 units. Some of us got some teams which got 600+ units but that is not the case for the average player.

    My info says Macas will miss the game, other people insist he is fine. We’ll see but I guess that’s another reason not to risk.

    By the way, I’m hearing Roma will play without many of their regular players, so I might consider purchasing Jaaber after all.

    ReplyCancel
  4. Eric
    17 years ago

    Washington is also a credit-worth buy. His credit will improve.

    ReplyCancel
  5. Christophe
    17 years ago

    I just did a few minor moves, so here is my actual roster

    Theo Papaloukas
    Sarunas Jasikevicius
    Ramunas Siskauskas
    Dimitris Tsaldaris
    Igor Rakocevic
    Kostas Vasileadis
    Tiago Splitter
    Jeremiah Massey
    David Andersen
    Nikola Pekovic

    ReplyCancel
  6. Arkadios
    17 years ago

    Except the team that I posted in my post here is my strongest team:

    McIntyre
    Jasikevicius

    Siskauskas
    Spanoulis
    Vassileiades
    Nicholas

    Petravicius
    Andersen
    Morris
    Lorbek

    ReplyCancel
  7. belalik
    17 years ago

    I probably had my worst week since the beginning, if I remember well.. Although I counted very rapidly, I should not get more than 120-130 …

    Disappointing McIntyre, Tsaldaris – average Trias and some others I can’t remember now …

    Nevermind, interesting top-16 though, a lot of close matches, unfortunately referees seem to decide some of them (according to some forums I read, I did not watch any games tonight) …

    We ‘ll talk fantasy next week I guess, Arkadios post raised the standards so I wait for a good discussion next week …

    ReplyCancel
  8. Christophe
    17 years ago

    my above mentionned team, and only team i have this year made 124.4 pts
    thats ok considering that i have tsaldaris and vassileadis on it

    ReplyCancel
  9. Arkadios
    17 years ago

    belalik it might have raised the level but my picks were a disaster (most of them anyway)… the good (?) news is that it was an avergae week for everyone…

    I think next week will get only better…

    belalik you were right about Woods stealing minutes from Vassileiades, I hope Yiannakis is happy and proud of his decision now (I really doubt it though…)

    ReplyCancel
  10. Marcutis
    17 years ago

    Disastrious week 🙂 One of the most dissapointing.. Most of my picks were wrong.

    ReplyCancel
  11. Eric
    17 years ago

    You are in another division than I am : 106 pts (I am not happy with this)…..but you guys, complaining at a 120 pts score, made me wonder how weak I am.

    ReplyCancel
  12. Tobias
    17 years ago

    Dont worry Eric – I feel the same 😉

    ReplyCancel

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