Dimitris Ritsonis
Continuing with our coverage of the Euroleague, DraftExpress will attempt to give some tips/advice to the players of the progressively rising Fantasy game of the Euroleague. We will try to check on every single player of the 24 Euroleague teams and give some hints to our readers on a game-by-game basis for the coming week, discussing both the games the players had in the previous Euroleague week, as well as their weekend domestic league performance.
There are two types of fantasy players; the ones who look poised to gain more value and the ones looking to give you actual fantasy points. The value reflects the improvement of the player from the moment you bought him till the moment you decide to sell him. Each team starts with 500. The actual fantasy points is the score that the player will produce, regardless of his value. The winning team is always the one with the better score, but when considering value, gaining more money to spend long-term will get you more expensive players and therefore a better chance to win. Here, we will be checking players, trying to look both approaches in a quick, as well as effective way.
To find out what is the Euroleague Fantasy Challenge, how do you sign up, what the rules are, and much more, please read our introductory article.
Games This Week
Tau Ceramica Dynamo Moscow
Stay away from Luis Scola, whose value will be declining for weeks, after his bad game vs Olympiakos
Mirza Teletovic is a question-mark, killing many users last week and kept it going in the weekend... Igor Rakocevic is on fire, but he was never stable
Zoran Planinic is improving but is still expensive at 65 and will need a 24 to see his price rising
Bojan Popovic will be seeing plenty of time this week, given the likely absences of Eddie Gill and youngster wunderkid Dmitriy Khvostov and he is still tempting at 44
Travis Hansen earns a lot of fouls, but is overrated at 71
Dmitriy Domani disappointed, but is still cheap at 42
Lazaros Papadopoulos can be a safe pick, but at 84 still ultra-expensive
In the meantime, the Euroleague included Khvostov in the fantasy lists, after an excellent debut, giving him the beginning price of 8
Climamio Bologna Olympiakos
After his good weekend game, Id be giving James Thomas a second chance
Marco Belinellis inconsistency makes him a player to avoid
Tyus Edney is the guy to watch, but not to trust, especially at 76
Vasco Evtimov is one of the best rebounders per minute in Europe, but sees limited PT... Stephen Hamman had a stable game this weekend and his value can rise easily from 32
Alex Acker is an absolute no-brainer after his 37 point explosion last week
Andrija Zizics value can get max rise, even if he scores only 1 fantasy point
Ryan Stack is overrated at 70, after a bad weekend game
Scoonie Penn might be a nice player to buy at 61, looking better after this weekend
Sofoklis Schortsanitis wont have a tough time against the opposing bigs, but fatigue limits his fantasy potential.
Prokom Le Mans
Justin Hamiltons great weekend game doesnt necessarily make him a steal, even at 41, since hes not known as a scorer
Filip Dylewicz is consistent and cheap at 28
With his team playing at home, Huseyin Besok is a good pick at 72, but he is doubtful for this game
Christian Dalmaus inconsistency doesnt help us look at him as a fair deal
Eric Campbell is one of the top steals early in the season and a mediocre domestic game shouldnt affect our will to purchase him
Kenny Gregory needs only 9 credits to increase his value by 11 points
Sandro Nicevic has gotten too expensive to consider
Yannick Bokolos stability might be possible, but he is still a risky pick, particularly since his minutes are inconsistent and he tends to not look at the basket at times.
RheinEnergie Efes Pilsen
Marcin Gortat is unstable, but started off well and is cheap at 47
Ronny Burrell fell to 44 and is good in weekend games
First home game for RheinEnergie might give motivation to Desmond Mallet to elevate his game
Marcus Faison is an overrated pick at 64
Alvin Jones might get maxed out, but its a low number
Cenk Akyol is a top fantasy pick, but not for long, as Efes is rumoured to have agreed with Casey Jacobsen for the SF position
Stay away from Horace Jenkins, who is unstable at the Euroleague level
Erman Kuqo is always stable in the Turkish league, but needs a chance to reach form in Europe and this seems to be a good one
If you need a safe pick, Karem Gonlum is your man.
Union Olimpija Lottomatica Roma
Teemu Ranikko has guaranteed playing time and seems more attractive now at 51
Manuchar Markoishvillis strong weekend appearance makes him tempting at 30
Ivica Jurkovics good outcome wont necessarily be repeated soon, while latest updates have him in the injury list
The team is doing badly so far and had its coach resign earlier this week, so a 10% wont be likely from those players
Jacopo Giachetti can give you a lot of value for free this week
Wait for David Hawkins price to fall more before you buy him
Alex Righetti is a safe 10+ case up to now
Dejan Bodiroga should not fall much this week, but there are better options in the market
Jerome Moiso is the most stable guy in a mediocre frontline.
Panathinaikos Cibona
Mike Batiste can give you both value and credit this week
Dimitris Diamantidis may not play that much, but is a great pick when he sees 30+ mpg
Tony Delk will fall a lot and avoiding him is the best thing at the moment
Dejan Tomasevic can have another great game with his all-around stats
Dimos Dikoudis and Ramunas Siskauskas shouldnt even be considered
Chris Warrens great start makes him a cheap pick at 57
Davor Kus might be unstable, but had one more strong weekend game
Stay away from Jerry McCullough, whose game is yet to stabilize
Barisa Krasic had a nice domestic performance, but buying him now only harms your team
Brent Wright is a great pick and probably will further increase his value, but is expensive at 83.
Unicaja DKV Joventut
Rising Unicaja players should get even better after the team is improving.... Last weeks Euroleague MVP Carlos Cabezas is on fire and will give your team both value and points
Kostas Vassiliadis wont be a steal for long, so purchase him this week, and watch his value rise again
Berni Rodriguez is a safe pick to keep for a long time
Carlos Jimenez is still too expensive to consider
Florent Pietrus became a risky pick, since Daniel Santiago took his minutes
Ricky Rubio is a nice steal, whose value will climb in the long term
I wouldnt trust Rudy Fernandez, whose game is unstable
Charles Gaines game is declining and so does his value
Marcelinho Huertas is a good pick now that he has gotten cheap at 36.
Partizan Maccabi Tel Aviv
Peja Drobnjaks average weekend game shouldnt be a reason to stay away from him.... Kosta Perovic had too many good domestic games so far to ignore
Dont even think of purchasing the unstable Uros Tripkovic
Vonteego Cummings is getting important for Partizan at a good price
Milenko Tepic could have done better, but sees playing time and is cheap
Dusan Kecman is all-around and fills the stats
Nikola Vujcic is great but has gotten too expensive to consider
Jamie Arnold might give you some value, even at an off-night due to his great last game
Lior Eliyahu is stable and approachable at 46
Will Bynum is too expensive at 84
Yotam Halperin might explode versus an average perimeter team like Partizan.
CSKA Moscow Aris
Its an easy game for CSKA and, thus, Anton Ponkrashov might be given some playing time
Whoever had bought David Andersen should get rid of him immediately
Trajan Langdons value will probably go down, so its better not to touch him
Theo Papaloukas and Matjaz Smodis are still expensive, so its better to wait
Tomas Van der Spiegel is injured for the game... Aleksey Savrasenko had a good game last week and he might be a nice addition at 54
Giorgos Kalaitzis plays well both in the Euroleague and in the domestic games so far and is cheap at 23
Giannis Giannoulis will be out until December with an injury... Terell Castle sees low playing time and you may find him cheaper in the future
Mike Wilkinsons and Jerome Masseys stability may not be good this week against such a great frontline
Fenerbahce Ulker Pau-Orthez
Mirsad Turkcan is an awesome fantasy player with his rebounds and scoring... Will Solomons off-night last week forces us to wait before buying him
Kaspars Kambala may not be found again at 60, especially facing a weak frontcourt
Ibo Kutluay is a big scorer, but doesnt pass or rebound
Paus great form in local games may not translate to a win in the Euroleague
Ricky Greers value is too low to ignore
Michael Wright is not a risky pick and will probably raise his value
Mike Bauer is one of the steadiest players in the French league so far
Despite a strong domestic game, C.C. Harrison might be a bit too expensive to be bought this week..
Zalgiris Eldo Basket Napoli
Zalgiris frontline will be led by Tanoka Beard, who needs a strong game to bounce back
Paulius Jankunas is one of the safest picks in this fantasy game
Marko Popovics bad weekend performance is not a reason to ignore him
Mantas Kalnietis can give you some fantasy points at a low value
Kirk Penney was a steal from week 1 and will likely keep rising
Napoli will probably not win this week, so Tierre Brown wont get the 10%
Dont trust Mason Roccas fantasy value before it further drops
Michael Morandais is steady lately and will probably give your team a boost
Barcelona Benetton Treviso
Barcelonas game has finally picked up and so has Juan Carlos Navarros fantasy value
Unfortunately and though hot as anyone, Navarro is too expensive at 108
Gianluca Basiles strong weekend outcome makes him an interesting guy to consider at 44
Dont purchase Fran Vasquez before he has a couple more good games
Jordi Trias' value will grow this week, regardless his score... Check on Roko-Leni Ukic, who is cheap at 31
Dennis Marconato is the most trustworthy bigman of this team
Marcus Goree is on fire and proved it this weekend too
Nikos Zisis is still cheap and one of the steadiest PGs
Spencer Nelson had an awesome game last week and only needs only 11 fantasy points to raise his value to the max
Dont ignore Marco Mordente, who seems good and rising
Stay away from Terrell Lyday, who is unstable and overrated at 64.
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