By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Coaches have programs like synergy in order to analyze their opponents and predict what’s going to happen. Fantasy players have statistics. Fantasy is all about stats -and not about a player who may score 20 points, while allowing his opponent to get 30. So, we must “read” the past and the future through the numbers.
This will be our philosophy this week. First of all we must see the available credits for Eurohoopsnet team. Thanks to the wrong last expensive choices (we picked Dragic over Kinsey last week and we still regret it) we have 195,8 available credits after the departure of Nocioni, Dragic and Hendix plus our 14 unspent credits.
So, the best possible choice this week is Bogdan Bogdanovic. The Serbian guard of Partizan is doing excellent and he ‘ll be alone in the perimeter because any other quality player is injured. But who would be the next pick?
Most of times when we think about the trades we think about duos. Our dilemma this time was Preldzic and Hines or Delaney and Dunston. Based on the opponents and their latest performance we picked the second duo. Fenerbahce has to play Laboral and Efes, two of the weakest teams in the group. Also, Hines is a nice choice but while Krstic is in such great shape, it’s wiser to pick someone else.
The best pick among the expensive big guys is Bryant Dunston. Printezis is doubtful for the game vs Efes and any other big guy will not take so many shots. Moreover, Olympiacos is the second best rebounding team in the Top 16 and Efes allows 39 rebounds to its opponents in the Top 16, more than any other team. Bryant Dunston is the second best rebounder of Olympiacos and he’s a safe choice.
And now let’s talk about Delaney. He’s is getting better and better and thanks to his all around game he has every week big scores. Specially against Maccabi he has a big chance to shine. The Israelis won the first four games in the Top 16 and lost the last one to Real Madrid. The common thing in these matches was that the best player of the opponent was a backcourt player (Rudy had ranking 23 and Llull 17 for Real, Bogdanovic 17 and Kinsey 16 for Partizan, Dentmon 27 for Zalgiris, Kalnietis 24 for Lokomotiv and Arslan 14 for Galatasaray) because of the bad defense of Maccabi in the perimeter. So, the best guard of Bayern is Delaney and it’s obvious to pick him.
Enjoy fantasy!
Points Guards
Sergio Rodriguez 73,4 credits (-1,5)
He is the game changer for Real Madrid and he is in good shape after the Final Eight of Copa Del Rey. Bykov is out for Lokomotiv so his work will be easier.
Dimitris Diamantidis 66,4 credits (+0,1)
The Greek cup final wasn’t stressful for DD who must step up in a crucial game for Panathinaikos who wants to come over after the last two defeats.
Shooting Guards/Small Forwards
Rudy Fernandez 78 credits (+1,6)
He comes from three excellent games on the way to the Copa del Rey triumph. He’s in good shape and can make it easily against Lokomotiv.
Malcolm Delaney 73,5 credits
Although his percentages are low (34% in 2ps and 41% in 3ps) in the Top 16 he has big scores (15 ranking per game) thanks to his all around game. The rhythm of the game vs Maccabi will be the one he wants. Fast.
Vassilis Spanoulis 68 credits (-7,2)
Olympiacos’ captain rested last weekend and the home game vs Efes is the perfect moment for him to erase his worst Euroleague night (against Unicaja).
Bogdan Bogdanovic 59 credits
Partizan will rely on its next best thing in Kaunas. Kinsey is injured, Pavlovic isn’t eligible and Bogdanovic must step up against Zalgiris. He has great numbers in the Top 16.
Power Forwards/Centers
Bryant Dunston 61,8 credits
Olympiacos won the last two games and he was great. He is getting better and so does his team. His teammates will feed him and he is expected to score a lot vs Efes.
Zoran Erceg 59,2 credits (+1,9)
He has the third best ranking per game in the Top 16 after Kinsey and Krstic. He scores a lot in every game, but the big difference in his game has to do with his increased numbers in every category (rebounds, assists, foul drawn).
Nenad Krstic 51 credits (+6,7)
He started 2014 in great way, he is the MVP of January and keeps doing better and better. He’s a safe choice in the front line.
Alex Tyus 34,8 credits (+1,8)
His choice was successful after James’ injury. He will play a lot and can score many points and get many rebounds against Bayern’s big guys.